Truly Great Norfolk

Cycle out down little lanes across lands not just associated with Tudor and Elizabethan queens, but with Queen Boudicca and her Iceni tribe. A ride dotted with farmsteads and woodland leads to Swaffham, a town with a Regency feel including a fine domed Buttercross, yet still dominated by its medieval lantern-towered church with its truly awesome angel roof.

Then it’s northwards towards Great and Little Massingham, with other treats in store along the way at historic West Acre. The village is renowned for its walled gardens, but these will turn out to be just a taster for the award-winning ones you’ll discover later at Houghton Hall!

Great Massingham oozes history too. It’s green is impressive and the extensive ponds are the remains of ancient ‘fisheries’, dating back to the time of an 11th century Augustinian Abbey here. Just a little pedal pushing later, Houghton Hall comes into view, with the promise of more wonderful walled gardens and a sculpture park alongside a perfectly Palladian mansion built by Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole.

The final rural stretch of the day heads further coastwards to the set of villages known as ‘The Burnhams’ and in particular to the stylish spot of Burnham Market aka Chelsea-on-Sea for your next overnight.

Overnight: Burnham Market

Mileage: Rec 33

Coast or countryside? Promenades and floral fields or a right royal estate? Whichever one of our day rides to plump for today, we don’t think you’ll be disappointed with your discoveries.

Head out west from Burnham Market on the National Cycle Route 1 towards Hunstanton, the only resort in East Anglia on an east coast which faces west, and pick up quiet country lanes leading southwards close to fields of lavender, all within reach of the sea breeze.

Or seek out the Sandringham Estate, a long-time royal favourite and now H.M. The King’s Norfolk country retreat. It is set in beautifully informal parklands and gardens which are renowned for their Rhododendrons and Camelias. Don’t miss the great state ballroom or the stable block, packed full of royal mementoes and bygones celebrating royal country life.

Overnight: Burnham Market

Mileage: Min 28 Max 31

Leave Burnham Market to visit nearby Burnham Thorpe where Lord Nelson’s father was once the local rector. Alas the parsonage where Horatio was born in 1758 is no more, but a plaque marks the spot.
From here it’s a countryside route to the North Norfolk Coast with some stunning cycling through the smart grounds of Holkham Estate. Enjoy the vistas as the landscape unfurls towards obelisk and ice house and down to the magnificent fountains in front of the Palladian home of the Earl of Leicester. A visit to Holkham Hall is a must, but there’s always the call of the coast too…
Holkham Bay is a sandy beach on the grandest of scales and breathtakingly beautiful, but the ride along the North Norfolk Coast Path through pine woods to the beach huts on stilts, the promise of a paddle and the historic quayside at Wells-next-the-Sea is a gentle enough journey.

Steer you handlebars south and its time to discover the mysteries of Walsinghams great and small. Little Walsingham became a place of pilgrimage second only to Canterbury following a holy vision in 1061 and makes for a fascinating visit. It’s an unexpectedly-busy-for-rural-Norfolk spot that’s somehow lost-in-time, with abbey gardens and an atmosphere that is very special, so do plan to stop a while.

The treasure church at nearby Houghton St Giles was a ‘pilgrims’ rest’ too. Its golden painted medieval rood screen is a remarkable survivor of the Reformation, but then there’s something equally as charming in the simplicity of North Barsham’s tiny tower-free church and lazy little lanes which lead to destination for the day, South Creake.

Overnight: South Creake/ in the Fakenham area

Mileage: Rec 23 Min 9 Max 23

Pop into the church at South Creake to admire the angel roof before you head back southwards today. Your route steers you to enjoy a final moment or two with the Massinghams great and small, before picking up the time-honoured Peddars Way to arrive at a truly inspiring Norfolk gem – Castle Acre.

Castle Acre is simply history in microcosm: a tiny medieval town, sandwiched between a 12th century castle with massive earthworks and one of the largest and best preserved monastic sites in England, dating back to 1090. It’s a perfect place to let your mind wander and where a stroll back in time is a reality.

There’s a chance to revisit West Acre and doff your cycle cap at the Peddlar on Swaffham’s town sign, before you point your handlebars back towards the Tudor treasures of Oxborough and enjoy a relaxing pedal through the estate villages and sandy landscapes of the Brecks.

Overnight: Oxborough

Mileage: Rec 34 Min 31 Max 34

It’s your call this morning – lock up your hire bikes and head home if you will, or alternatively make the most of a great little circular day ride, created just because we’d hate you to miss a truly different ancient site like no Norfolk other!

About a quarter of the ride is off road, along gravel forest tracks as you pedal via Breckland woods and heaths to the haunting, pitted landscape known as Grimes Graves – an area of flint mines dating to Neolithic times. The on-site museum reveals the secrets of this other-worldly area which still bears the scars of glaciers. Learn about its history, geology and its settlers, then don a hard hat and descend by ladder into the depths of an original Neolithic flint mine yourself. The grey, glassy rock dug out from across this vast site, was a valuable commodity. It was ‘knapped’ to create sharp tools – a highly skilled job – and millions of years later, flint was mined, knapped locally and exported to supply the gun trade.

Return via the forest fire tracks to Oxborough to lock your hire bikes away in the accommodation’s bike store, before heading homeward.

Mileage: Min 28 Max 31