Wells / Holkham Beach (Holkham beach)

If you want to get an all over tan, this is a cracker of a beach to head to. The naturist section is a good hike from the car park and the easiest route is to stay on the footpath that heads west, parallel to the back of the beach. After the farm, there’s a track through the woods that brings you out at about the right spot. The Holkham estate puts up signage saying that the beach ‘maybe used by naturists’. The tides here are huge and if it’s out, the walk to the sea is some distance. Most naturists set up their tents/windbreaks about halfway and are usually easy to spot. The occasional walker on the coastal path and sometimes horse riders are the only others who come this far and as it’s an official naturist beach, there is no confrontation. Under the huge Norfolk skies with sand and sea as far as one can see, it’s a place where the term ‘free-range naturism’ truly applies and you can walk for miles wearing nothing other than a smile. The Estate workers regularly patrol in a 4x4 and are friendly. The dunes are out of bounds after past lewd behaviour had the beach closed for a year. Please don’t spoil it!

Wells Next the Sea has a gorgeous long sandy beach with shallow sea safe for children to splash about in. Lots of brightly coloured beach huts, pine trees, a little railway, free parking, cafe and shops make this an idyllic holidaydestination.

Beautiful expanse of beach with sand dunes. My favourite beach

The naturist beach at Holkham is ‘‘tolerated’’ by the Holkham estate. They have employed a new beach warden who appeared my wife and I and told us to move nearer the sea as we were , in his opinion , in the wrong spot despite being well away from the dunes and surrounded by other naturists.
And when I say ‘‘approached’....I mean he drove up to us in the estate 4x4 and spoke to us out of the window..bearing in mind we were laid on beach mats the vehicle was about 3 feet away…This was not a pleasant experience and I told him politely to go away and check his facts…He then proceeded to place multiple signs on a rope boundary near the dunes saying ‘’ do not enter - birds nesting’‘...The bird nesting season had long ended ..and strange that the signs were only placed in the areas adjacent to the naturist Beach.This is yet another attempt to rid the beach of naturists as the local horsey brigade and dog walkers dont like it…and I know this as Im a local and I hear the moans and groans from people in the local town of wells .!!  The beach overall is very good and clean..apart from the horse droppings. There are the usual textile gawkers who like to walk up and down…tutting and giggling but overall its a very safe place.