Hunstanton's Ingredients for a Family Holiday
What are the ingredients for a classic holiday by the sea? How
about a lighthouse perched on candy-striped cliffs with rock pools and
a shipwreck for the kids to explore on the beach? Welcome to Hunstanton
in Norfolk!
Hunstanton contains an interesting blend of the brash and gaudy things
you expect in any seaside resort together with stately Victorian
buildings in the quiet residential area where you will find many guest
houses. And it is all surrounded by the beautiful Norfolk countryside.
The splendid seafront has a promenade, funfair, bowls, pitch-and-putt,
Sea Life Sanctuary and the award-winning Esplanade Gardens. Along the
seafront at Hunstanton are stalls selling candyfloss, doughnuts,
seaside rock, ice creams, buckets & spades, and all the things
needed for relaxing on the beach. Music drifts from the bandstand on
the green on Sunday afternoons in summer, serenading sunbathers and
passers-by. You can also go for a donkey ride, take a trip around
Hunstanton on the land train, or take a sea tour on a World War II
amphibious craft.
Less than two hundred years ago the area occupied today by the
Promenade and Esplanade Gardens consisted of no more than cliff-top
fields, with a few grazing sheep in place of the throngs of
holidaymakers seen there today. During this era the Victorians invented
the idea of the bathing resort, convinced that bracing sea breezes and
chilly waters were a healthy tonic. So, the Lord of the Manor in the
area today known as Old Hunstanton envisioned a purpose-built resort on
his land, and started it by building a hotel (the Golden Lion) in 1846.
When the railway reached the town in 1862, Hunstanton's position as a
leading east coast resort was assured.
Apart from seaside entertainments, the town today boasts a range of
other attractions, including the arts festival, family entertainment at
the Princess Theatre, the kite festival, and the UK's largest tennis
tournament. Outdoor activities include walking along the coastal path
and water sports especially sailing, kitesurfing, windsurfing and
jet-skiing.
And there's a unique experience in store for the traveller to
Hunstanton. For it is the only coastal town in East Anglia where you
can see a sunset over the sea - you might need to look at a map to see
why!