Wells-next-the-Sea

Wells-next-the-Sea is nestled between Holkham beach and the unique bird sanctuary of Blakeney Point. Wells has a harbour with wonderful views, a charming town with leafy Georgian Square and on Staithe Street you'll find a mix of traditional and contemporary shops as well as eateries. The bustling quay is full of life, with the unloading of shellfish including whelks, crabs, lobsters and mussels.

Wells is a base for the Sheringham Shoal offshore windfarm with an outer harbour. Its port retains a vibrant fishing fleet, as well as RNLI station – home to historic lifeboats and lots of events – and angling charter vessels. From Wells harbour, visitors can enjoy a chartered boat trip, where you can relive history through experiences afloat and take in views of the marshland and beach.

Berthed at the quay is the historic vessel Albatross, a North Sea Clipper built in 1899 near Rotterdam, which ferried cargo around Europe for almost a century. During the Second World War her brave crew used the ship to smuggle Jewish refugees and political dissidents out of Denmark and return with weapons for resistance fighters.

Keep an eye out for the Lifeboat Horse, a sculpture made from steel bars and whisky barrels. It was created by artist Rachael Long as a tribute to the horses that once pulled the town’s lifeboat more than two miles from the quay to Holkham Gap.

According to Waghenaer’s map of 1586, together with Blakeney, Wells ranked highly as a coastal port. It was in the eighteenth century that Wells harbour rose to significant fame, exporting a third of the malt from England to the continent. Together with Gt Yarmouth, over 250,000 quarters went across the channel in 1750. It was in that century that the great houses in Wells were built. Today, the harbour is still used by sailing and crabbing boats and is overlooked by an imposing granary dating from 1904. Sheltered by salt marshes, the harbour is now an ideal for sailing and other water-based leisure activities, including crabbing, with a sailing club and a water ski club in the town. (Please note that jetski-type craft and hovercraft are not permitted. Motor cruisers and visiting yachts are welcome on the refurbished pontoons as well as in the outer harbour).

Throughout the year, there is a full programme of events including the Wells annual carnival in the summer, lifeboat events in the harbour, a Christmastide weekend and annual carol service and Wells Maltings offers a busy programme of theatre, film, music, talks, exhibitions, family based and drop in events. 

On the outskirts, is Wells & Walsingham Light Railway, a charming four-mile train ride to Walsingham on the world’s smallest public railway. It's a real journey back in time traveling past a hill-fort and a real ghost platform.

Not too far from the town is Wells-next-the-Sea beach, which forms part of the Holkham Estate. You can catch a lift to the beach from the football club car park in Wells town, all the way to the roundabout at the end of Beach Road. The bus service includes a fully electric bus and a 1951 Leyland Tiger and it runs daily throughout the summer until October.

Take a walk through the shady pinewoods to the sandy beach, and you'll be greeted with a row of colourful beach stilted huts and seals basking on the sand banks. The beach continues eastward but can be cut off by the tide which comes in very quickly (you can check tide times here). A siren can be heard when the tide is coming in.  

Set in north Norfolk’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Wells is part of the largest coastal nature reserve in England and Wales and is a magnet for bird watchers. Its marshes provide the perfect habitat for wading birds, bitterns, avocets, marsh harriers and the winter geese arriving from their breeding grounds in Iceland and Greenland to spend the winter here. It really is a magical sight!