Lake camping in Holkham National Nature Reserve
Expect wide-open skies, huge beaches, forest-fringed dunes, and abundant camping.
- Holkham National Nature Reserve
Popular camping styles for Holkham National Nature Reserve
Dog-friendly getaways
12 top lakeside campsites in Holkham National Nature Reserve
Whitlingham Broad Campsite
Arthur's Retreat Suffolk
Chigborough Farm
Brightwell Country Park
Piggles Retreat
Purple Badger Camping&Fishing Lakes
Little Island Retreat
Serenity Lakes
Lakeside Fishing Cabins
Unique Shepherds Huts on a Vineyard
Little Otchan Glamping
Ultimate Lakeside Glamping Getaway!
Under £50
Lake camping in Holkham National Nature Reserve guide
Overview
England’s largest NNR is still vaster than you think because, while stretching only 13 miles between Burnham Overy Staithe (west) and Blakeney (east) along the Norfolk Coast AONB, the amount of land between the closest coastal road and the sea is more expansive than meets the eye. This is all a tantalising tract of beach and dunes backed by enchanting pine forest and interspersed with mudflats. Discover secretive shoreside trails and sleepy lanes for cycling; wildlife-watch for seals around Blakeney Point or for the region’s many overwintering wildfowl. There are many places to peg up a tent on the flat fertile ground behind the coast – not least within the grand grounds of an 18th-century landscaped estate!
Where to go
Holkham Hall & Around
Within the NNR and south of Holkham village, this majestic early-18th-century, Neo-Palladian house and grounds were created out of formerly wind-blasted land transformed by the planting of thousands of trees. There is a pop-up campsite open between mid-July and mid-September near the lake on this majestic estate. Also on the Holkham Hall grounds is Ambers Bell Tents Glamping at Branthill Farm. Holkham Bay’s pine-backed sands are an easy walk north, where you can connect to the Norfolk Coast Path.
Scolt Head Island NNR
West of Holkham NNR, more of the same sort of coastline continues and here you find the sandy, shingly barrier island of Scolt Head Island NNR. The four-mile-long island is particularly important for its birdwatching and is accessed from either Burnham Overy Staithe or Brancaster Staithe. Deepdale Camping & Rooms at Burnham Deepdale is linked by footpath to the trail out to Scolt Head Island from Brancaster Staithe: pitch up yourself or camp out in already-erected safari tents.
Blakeney & Blakeney Point
At the eastern end of Holkham NNR, charming Blakeney is the village from where you can walk (or get a boat trip) to Blakeney NNR and Point, England’s biggest grey seal colony. Much of this reserve is off-limits to protect the seals, but trails run through the wetlands adjacent. Camping at the tranquil, informal Scaldbeck Cottage Campsite, near the departure point for seal-watching boat trips, is tough to trump.
Hunstanton & Around
Eleven miles west of Burnham Overy Staithe, 19th-century beach resort Hunstanton knows how to give its holiday-makers a good time: fairground, promenade, amusement arcades and aquarium are all here, alongside an array of camping and caravan parks. There is camping fairly centrally at Searle’s Leisure Park (camping tradition here dates back to 1934) but the best pitching is northeast of nearby Old Huntanton at the several sites along the edge of Holme Dunes NNR (more empty beaches, more ethereal dunes).
