Sometimes you go to a new place and as nice as it is, that will be the only time that you visit there. On occasions however one visit somewhere leads to continual return visits because something draws you back; because there are things you still want to see, because of the way the place makes you feel, because that place gives you something that you emotionally need or maybe because you simply want to relive memories.
Sheringham is that sort of place for me, after almost 20 visits there I still want to return and the place still delights me.
What makes Sheringham so special for me? This is a very difficult question to answer precisely. I imagine the real answer involves deep psychological thought so for the moment I’ll stick with the superficial answer.
I think that Sheringham has something for everyone. Many of my visits have been holidays with extended family involving young children up to pensioners and all have been equally entertained.
The beautiful shingle and sand beach at Sheringham is always clean and well looked after. I don’t think that anyone ever grows out of the fun that you can have at a beach. Good clean, healthy, outdoors fun, the sort that satisfies your soul.
At the beach there are reminders of the past fishing economy of Sheringham which still continues in reduced form. The produce caught was easily transported to market via the rail links.
Westward of Sheringham there is a lifeboat station which is interesting to look around and to hear about how the RNLI team regularly train in order to be ready to be called out to sea at a moment’s notice to help save lives. Above this station and past Sheringham golf club there is a beautiful cliff walk in the direction of Weybourne.
There is also a short walk eastward out of the village to Beeston bump which gives an excellent view of the area from above and often is a perfect palace to see stunning sunsets.
For people who love to see examples of bygone rail travel, the North Norfolk railway regularly schedules both diesel and steam trains to Holt along the Poppy line. One of the popular steam trains is the Black Prince.
The High Street features a delightful little clock tower (thank you to my very good friend Matthew for letting me use his photo of it) Beyond this tower is the lower half of the high street which leads to the sea.
The photo below features the upper part of the high street taken on a day when the air roared with the sound of a visiting group of Harley Davidson bikes.
For shoppers the high street offers all sorts of shops from supermarkets, bakeries, sweet shops, charity shops, antique shops, restaurants, newsagents, pubs to name but a few and there is a fascinating bookshop on a parallel street which stocks more second hand books that you will ever have seen in such a relatively small space!
Just a short walk or drive down the road in the direction of Cromer is a garden centre which has a maze in it. Hours of fun having enjoying the challenge of trying to get though this! Or for more advanced maze participants, hours of fun competing for the best time to get out of the maze!
There is also a market on Saturdays in Sheringham, a museum and a lovely little theatre.
I imagine that I will continue to be drawn back to Sheringham, like an old friend, feeling that same sense of warmth and familiarity when I’m there and also feeling safe in the knowledge that for the precious time that I am there I am pretty much guaranteed a happy time. I also suspect that I will continue to find new things to enjoy alongside old favourite activites. Bring it on!
Wow what a gorgeous area. I’ve already fallen in love with Norfolk, especially the Burnham Overy Staith area but you’ve opened my eyes to a new place to explore. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thank you very much for your comments, very kind of you