One of only two tents, beside the saltmarshes of North Norfolk and close to the coastal path, was our home for a weekend recently. We’ve stayed in North Norfolk before and loved it. With a global pandemic raging I didn’t think we’d be having any sort of summer holiday. Until Margins Glamping and walking holidays, having had to pause their walking holidays, started offering stays at their pop-up site. We stayed with them last year and knew that their tents were comfy, along with the attention to detail in making the stay hassle free and eco-friendly.
Up a country track we found our tent with the most amazing views across the saltmarshes and the sea beyond. Acres of farmland surrounded us, and our tent was spaced well away from the only other tent there. A little way from our tent was a fire pit and sun lounger, to take in those fabulous views, and as there was no electric onsite, solar lanterns were dotted around. A few metres behind our tent was a porta loo for just our use, it was decked out with fairy lights and was the cleanest one I have ever seen!
The only communal facilities on site were the converted horse box shower and washing up area – yes you read that right(!) and gas BBQ. The horse box shower was amazing, it contained a proper overhead shower with hot water at one end, and a washing up area with fridge and charging station in the other. It was beautifully decorated with hand painted flowers, had its own herb garden and even directions to the pub. Our tent was lovely with bunting, lanterns, warm bedding, cooking facilities and cool box. All so idyllic and just what we needed for a relaxing weekend, except a storm and gale force winds didn’t get the memo!
The sunshine we had arrived to, disappeared to be replaced by gale force winds and torrential rain. The quality of the tent was proved by not moving an inch and keeping us safe as the storm pounded us. Gin and her tent elves arrived the next day to add even more tent pegs and ensure the communal areas were all cleaned, for a C -word safe stay.
The awful weather didn’t put us off too much and we ventured out to walk to a nearby Iron age fort. We got absolutely drenched but stormed the fort and ran up the banking to explore. I’m sure on a lovely day it is a great place to visit and the information board tells you about the abundance of butterflies and wildflowers. Unfortunately for us they were hiding. Soaked to the skin we marched back to the tent to dry and warm up. We spent the afternoon lazing around and watching the weather.
The next day with better weather we drove along the coast to explore the villages and beaches. We stopped at West Runton, which is the beach to go to if you like rock pooling. It was still blustery, so we didn’t spend long but had a nice walk along the beach. On the way back from a drive to Cromer, we stopped at some of the delis along the coast at Salthouse and Cley, buying local gin, cake and picnic goodies. We might not have fit lots of activities into our stay, but we still managed a short walk along the coastal path.
The kids loved running around our private field and by the end of the weekend the hay bales we had shared the field with, had names. Geese, partridge, pheasant and hare all put on entertainment displays for us and we could hear the neighbouring pigs. On the last evening the weather was nice enough for us to use the fire pit and have s’mores. The weather might have been hideous, but we were sad to leave North Norfolk and enjoyed our stay. We look forward to seeing where Margins walking and glamping might pop-up next year – so keep your eyes peeled if you like glamping.
Disclaimer – We were given a discount on our stay at Warham, however all views are honest and my own.