The Seal Colonies and Pilgrimage Shrine in Norfolk

Blakeney is perhaps the prettiest of all the Norfolk seaside villages: flint fishermen's cottages tumble down a steep slope to a picturesque quay with wonderful views over the salt marshes. Beyond the harbour is Blakeney Point, the tip of a 6-km long shingle spit, a National Trust nature reserve famous for its seals.

A seal pup born at Blakeney Point. Photo credit National Trust/Ian Ward

Although you can get there on foot, it is a lot more fun, and less tiring, to be ferried in a fishing dinghy from Morston, a small marshland village 2 km along the coast from Blakeney. A round trip takes a couple of hours and includes plenty of time to explore the Point where, as well as colonies or grey and common seals, you will see hundreds of birds and unusual plants. It is a brilliant place for wildlife photography.

Tourist watching seal colony

Drive 14 km inland through a glorious stretch of ancient woodland to see the extraordinary village of Little Walsingham. Nearly a thousand years ago, in 1061 an influential local widow convinced the villagers that she had seen the Virgin Mary and persuaded them to build a shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham. This out-of-the-way little village became one of the most important pilgrim centres in Europe known as 'Nazareth in England', until the shrine was summarily destroyed in 1538 during the Reformation and pilgrimages were brought to an abrupt halt.

Victorian religiosity led to a revival of Wolsingham's fortunes, the 14th-century Slipper Chapel was restored and in 1897 pilgimages started again. In the 1930s a new Shrine Church was built and today the pilgrimage business here is thriving, especially at Easter.

Little Walsingham village square

The village retains its charming medieval character with timber-framed houses, an old courthouse, ruined priory and numerous historical and religious relics. It is a fascinating anachronism in the 21st century, an unlikely and unique slice of British heritage.

The best time to visit Blakeney is from April to October. Bear in mind the seals' mating season is in September. Be sure you visit also The Church of St Nicholas at Blakeney - a very welcoming and all too rare dog-friendly church. It even has a water bowl in the porch. There is a stupendous 13th-century vaulted ceiling and a misterious lighthouse tower, a miniature replica of the main church tower thought to have been used as a decoy light by Blakeney 'wreckers' to bamboozle passing ships into navigating so near the coast that they got beached. The wreckers would the send out a 'rescue' boat for the price of the goods on the vessel - the origins of the lifeboat service.