Hunstanton - Hunstanton Beach

Hunstanton in Norfolk is a lovely beach to visit with young kids. Our usual haunt is Skegness, but for a change we decided to go to Hunstanton, having heard many parents say how nice it was. From Leicester, the driving distance is about the same.

The drive to Hunstanton Beach was not too bad, although it was along A roads, we had left early to avoid travel (well, what we can early for a Sunday!). Up to Kings Lynn, I thought to myself "this isn't too bad," but then we got stuck in the traffic on the A149 in and out of Hunstanton from Kings Lynn. Be prepared to move very slowly on your way to Hunstanton and back! Not ideal if you have a child who gets travel sick, although you are moving so slowly, you can keep the windows open for lots of fresh air.

Once in Hunstanton we found parking very easily, close to the beach and amusement park, ideal if you have got kids and need to take lots of things with you and reasonably priced. There are toilets next to the car park (ideally placed after the slow drive in), however they are best used at the start of the day, not recommended at the end of the day! As you walk through the amusement park the beach is in front of you. The amusement park isn't huge - great if you don't want to give in to pester power.

Hunstanton beach is very pebbly and rocky towards the shore, but is sandy once you pass this part. Most people were sitting on the pebbly part, as the sandy part was too wet to sit on - unless you have the appropriate beach furniture with you (which many people had). We arrived at the beach just after 11am, which was as the tide was still going out. Nice if you like lots of sandy beach - not so good if you have kids who want to play in the water. You have quite a walk up to the sea and if you have set up your 'base' near the promenade, where the sand is dry, kids cannot go any where near the water without an adult walking them up. We noticed later on at around 3pm, that the water was not so far out, this would have been a better time to sit and relax on the beach i.e. time your beach time at around the mid-point between low tide and high tide.

The striped cliffs are a must - see, there is also a lovely sandy beach in this area. It is also less busy than the area around the amusement park.

Food wise, you can buy burgers, chips, candy floss, ice-creams, delicious fresh doughnuts etc. I was looking forward to having fish and chips on the seafront, however they were a bit disappointing - our local chippy does nicer, bigger and better! Maybe we just went to the wrong fish and chips shop.

There are donkey rides for the kids, but ours didn't ask to have a ride. There is also a boat ride and crazy golf.

All in all, the kids had a fabulous day! Sun, sand and a bit of sea (if you go when the tide is out). Great if you want to avoid spending too much money on rides and arcades and just want a pleasant day at the beach.