Entries in Brancaster - holiday cottages, businesses, community information etc.

Brancaster

Brancaster, the village to which families return year after year, very often because their parents and grandparents did so, is where Wildlife, not Nightlife is key, and where the Old England sort of seaside resort still exists. The miles of sandy beach stretching as far as the eye can see, bordered by sand dunes and mere yards from the car park is as good as it gets. Crowded? Only ever on sunny August weekends and Bank Holidays (see photo) Turn left and a 10 minute walk brings you to where the seals, just inland, bask on the marsh and where children can dangle bits of bacon to catch crabs in the creeks. The idle needn't walk anywhere beyond where they choose to dump their picnics and pitch camp. Turn right and walk away from where many people bunch and you will have swathes of deserted sand for your cricket or sandcastles. The very tidal sea leaves lagoons where children can safely splash, and at low tide the ship wreck is visible with its barnacle covered bilges and superstructure used for wartime target practise. But don't dally. The tide turns quickly and loiterers can find themselves wading back through the inrushing sea.
If you stay in the village you can expect to be woken by the chatter of skeins of geese flying overhead to their inland pastures, returning to the marshes again at dusk.
There are pubs, excellent restaurants in many of the local villages including a popular pizza place, and of course the Royal West Norfolk Golf Club, recently elevated to the ranks of 'Legendary Golf Links of the British Isles.' Birdwatchers will have one of the RSPB's finest reserves at nearby Thornham, and sailors will be in nautical heaven at Brancaster Staithe. No need to bring your high heels or smart clothes, and there are no amusement arcades, sticks of rock or even hotels. You can find them in nearby Hunstanton. Brancaster, with its self catering or B & B tradition is where binoculars, boots, books and beachwear rule. But be warned - if you sample it once, you'll be back. Should you need retail therapy, you'll find it big time at nearby sophisticated (and crowded) Burnham Market. But you'll have problems parking there!