A Day Out at Holkham Hall

A one–hour drive from North Cottage Cromer

You get a real sense of how glorious the North Norfolk countryside is when you drive from Cromer towards Holkham, near Wells-next-the-Sea. The journey is a treat in itself – but don’t follow the direction signs for coaches as you approach Holkham, because they lead to the wrong gate. If, like us, you make this mistake, you’ll have to drive all around the estate, alongside the nine-mile-long early Victorian brick wall built to keep the deer inside the estate. The wall took six years to build and was completed in 1839.

It’s over twenty years since I last visited Holkham Hall – a rather guilty omission that we finally put right this August.

You may remember “Coke of Holkham”, Thomas William Coke, the 1st Earl of Leicester, from studying the eighteenth century Agricultural Revolution at school?

His innovations helped transform farming – from crop rotation and leaving fields fallow every fourth year, to growing turnips as winter feed for cattle rather than slaughtering them. His annual Sheep Shearings agricultural show demonstrated these new ideas to farmers from across the country.

Farming is just as important today at Holkham as it was then. The Holkham Estate grows the grain for local brewery Adnams. Under the guidance of conservation manager Jake Fiennes, the estate is also reintroducing species of wildlife believed lost by cultivating vital habitats to attract them. Conservation is a vital part of the Holkham story.

Living History

The Coke family still owns Holkham today. You can visit some of the rooms the family uses daily in the vast house. These rooms are surprisingly homely with inviting furnishings and family photos just as we might have on display – although we don’t all have greetings cards from the Royal Family as the Cokes do.

Your admission ticket gets you access to a considerable number of rooms, and you can’t help but be awed by the scale as you venture over lavish rugs through room after room of treasures. Don’t forget to look up – some of the ceilings are incredible!

Knowledgeable guides bring the house to life

If you fancy testing the knowledge of the staff, who stand duty in each room, you will certainly be impressed by their enthusiasm for all things Holkham. Ask about almost anything from the movies filmed here (“The Duchess”) or why there are so many holm oaks around the estate (the family treasures shipped back from the nineteenth–century Grand Tour were packed in acorns from the Mediterranean, acting as an equivalent to our protective bubble wrap) and the answers are shared with infectious glee.

We especially enjoyed the introduction to the estate and its occupants over the centuries shared by a super-enthusiastic guide at the Holkham Experience building in the courtyard. It’s a great way to fully appreciate what you are about to see first–hand.

The Walled Garden – work in progress

2026 has been a challenging summer for gardeners. In Norfolk we experienced a remarkably dry spell, with virtually no rainfall for several weeks. The grass wasn’t just brown – it was completely dormant. As I write about our Monday day out, the heavens have finally opened, with three days of rain breaking the dry spell.

The walled gardens at Holkham are part of the full admission ticket, although you can pay just to see inside the hall if you wish. We never miss a garden. This one is vast, but it’s still under restoration so not yet as impressive as Houghton Hall or Felbrigg Hall. There are promising signs for the future with a new mini-maze and a large kitchen garden with exotic and plentiful produce. We enjoyed stepping inside the sunken glasshouse and seeing the maturing melons – a sure sign of a long hot summer.

Holkham Pottery

From 1951 until 2007 Holkham had its own pottery studio exporting all over the world. On our family visits when I was a child my mother used to collect the Holkham Owl Eye mugs. I immediately recognised the design among the displays. There’s a fascinating film showing the story of the pottery, and featuring one of its most prolific collectors; Ryan Mills, who has over 3,000 pieces. We really appreciated the display of china table lamps, some of which really capture the mid-century aesthetic we love in furniture of the period.

Plan your visit to the Holkham Estate

This really is a full day out – or a long half day.

• We arrived at midday and left at 4.30pm.
• Parking is charged in addition to the admission ticket.
• You can rent a bicycle if you really want to explore the estate.
• You can buy a ticket for the tractor-train tour.
• There are cafés in the courtyard and at the entrance to the Walled Garden.
• Toilets and baby change are available in the main courtyard.

Marvel at the sunken ice house, one of the oldest buildings on the estate, and one of the less enviable servants’ jobs, trekking up the hill from the house to hack chunks of ice from the winter store.

To complete a full day out you can add a lengthy walk to Holkham Bay where the expansive beach will captivate you, or venture to adjacent Wells-next-the-Sea to see the iconic beach huts on stilts.

We really enjoyed our day out at Holkham. We won’t leave it so long this time before we return, and we’re keen to see how the walled garden develops.

Tickets and information to plan your day here https://www.holkham.co.uk/

If you’re looking for a large, luxurious house to rent in North Norfolk we’d love to welcome you to award–winning North Cottage Cromer for your holiday.