Those of you who have been reading our blogs for a while will know how much we love a walk that starts or ends with amazing food.....and I think we may have found our best one yet. Not only does this walk start from the free car park at The Barns at Glandford (where you'll find the amazing Glaven Bistro), the walk takes you through the most beautiful North Norfolk Countryside, as well as taking you past pretty much every amazing independent business in Glandford along the way (and there's loads of them). You really could spend a whole day exploring Glandford and just stopping in at places on this route.
Starting point: The Barns, Glandford nr. Holt, NR25 7JP
Distance: 5.31km
Total duration: 1hr 13 mins (if you don't stop in at places along the way but we highly recommend you do)
With Glaven Bistro to your right hand side, walk to the top of the car park. Once you're past Cley Spy Binocular Shop, you'll see the start of a walking route; you're following that straight up. Just before you get to the cattle grid, take the left and meander up and past the newly planted vines (can't wait to see what's happening here - could it be a new local vineyard 👀🤞🏻).
As you get to the top of the hill and through the beautiful woods, you'll pop out to the side of an open field which is currently home to the most gorgeous pigs and piglets. You'll walk alongside this for a while and get such a nice view of them rolling around and playing in the mud. Once you're at the end of the pigs, the signposts will via you left and you're walking down, past a gorgeous carved bench and into more woodland. At the bottom of the hill you'll get to a (quiet) road and you're heading over the road diagonally left and then up and back onto the path that's signposted.
You'll head up in a hill into even more beautiful woodland which curves round to the left as you get to the top of the hill and then you're meandering down towards the road, through the beautiful open field.
Once you hit Blakeney Road you're heading straight across and through the gate, and then turning left. Once you're in this field you get the most stunning view of the Bayfield Estate Manor House and the derelict church on its grounds. As well as the beautiful river that swoops the bottom of the field.
The field becomes woodland and you're following it straight until you get to a lane (this is the drive / entrance to The Bayfield Estate). Turn right and walk up the drive (don't worry, it's not private and there's the most amazing place to stop at the top).
Once you get to the top of the drive, you're now in the car park for Natural Surroundings which is a Wildlife Gardening Discovery Centre. You can stop for a drink here in their stunning little cafe in the woods, do some plant shopping in their incredible wild flower garden centre or you can extend your walk by paying £7.50 per adult and exploring the 8 acres that are split into divided into 18 demonstration gardens, varying in size from the tiny Bog Garden to the more expansive Woodland Garden and Reptile Refuge.
Once you're done at Natural Surroundings (or if you choose not to explore here), you're going to walk right to the bottom of the car park, past the WW2 Pillbox and through the gate into the field. The field meanders you down the right of the River Glaven and you get a beautiful view out to Glandford Village.
At the end of the field you're turning left and then over the bridge that takes you over the Ford. A few seconds up the road and you're then at Glandford Shell Museum which is the is the oldest purpose-built museum in Norfolk and houses the finest seashell collection in the UK and is so worth a visit (it's open April to the end of October but check their website for specific opening days / times).
Keep walking a few minutes more and you're back at The Barns where you started and there's so many gorgeous independent businesses to be explored here too. We'd recommend checking out Glandford Craft Village which is right next door to Glaven Bistro; so many amazing small businesses there.
We has breakfast at The Glaven Bistro before starting our walk and it was amazing. The nicest Full English I've had in a long time, yummy coffee and lovely fruit juices made in-house. Their lunch menu looks amazing too; I can't wait to go back for the Cromer Crab sandwich 🦀🥪