Norfolk experts: stay in Wells or stay in Stiffkey?

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Family with a 10 week old and a 4 year old. Where’s better to stay in July? In the centre of Wells Next The Sea, or in central Stiffkey? Both holiday cottages, both same size and price. We plan to go to the beach, the occasional pub lunch, burn off some energy in nature, potential seal trip. Assume baby will need to nap indoors some of the day.

my musings but happy to be wrong!

• Stiffkey might allow one of us a nice little walk to the cute shop with it the four year-old
• Wells might have more general amenities/ closer to beach car park.
• can’t yet figure out logistics of newborn. Assuming 4 naps, do most of on the go or some at the holiday let? Probs need to think about where we can walk with sling or push pram to force a nap whilst the other parent entertains the pre-schooler

I would pick Wells.

One very busy cafe and an ice cream van at Wells beach car park. Not cheap to park.
Stunning beach and lovely woods.
Queue for cafe, ice cream van and toilets likely to be very long.
No experience of Stiffkey.
Bacton has a lovely beach with at least one decent (dog friendly) cafe and easy walk to Walcott with a chippy and a nice pub. Bit further round the coast.

Love Wells but you've got a longish walk down to the beach unless you're planning on driving or staying at Pinewood. Parking can be difficult.

Yes, we are planning on parking either way. Guess I’m just interested in the disadvantage or advantage between Stiffkey and Wells. Those are the options available.

Wells for me, a beautiful place.

100% wells

A friend of mine stayed in a holiday cottage in Wells last summer and she said parking was difficult. There was allocated parking at the cottage but access was tight and the town centre and beach car parks were full by 9.00am and expensive.

If parking at the beach is a requirement I would say Stiffkey. The parking at Wells beach quickly fills up.

You could always get the bus to Wells to go crabbing.

In Wells, you've got the beach bus that runs out from the town to the beach. Lots of shops and places to eat in the village - we love it.

Here's some info about the beach bus: wellsguide.com/about-wells-next-the-sea/beach-bus/

Wells.

Lovely little town with shops, bakery, quay to stroll along, excellent chip shop, walk along the bank down to the beach, or the path along the East Quay.

Stiffkey is really just a few houses on a road that can get gridlocked several times a day a caravan meets the bus…

But if parking at the beach is a requirement … there’s no beach at Stiffkey! So you’d be driving to a beach anyway.

Loads of different beaches along the coast, and they do open up a field as overflow parking at Wells.

I'm very fond of Wells. There used to be a little train that ran to the beach. No idea why it was discontinued.

Stiffkey is just a pub and the tiny shop, you can walk onto the beach.
Wells has a bit more going on so I’d pick Wells. You can do crabbing at Wells on the quay, there’s a chippy and a few nicknack shops etc. The beach at Wells is lovely, huge and sandy. Just go early or late to get in the car park. Lovely cafe in the car park and the RNLI station and shop. There’s dunes and forest at the back of the beach, lots to explore. You could walk from town down to the beach with the pram, it’s a good path, 4 year old could do it on a scooter.

Wells 100%

Can walk to the
beach depending on where you
Restaurants/ pubs/French's fish and chips
Crabbing
A few shops/ arcade/ sweet shop if its raining
Ice creams

OK thanks! The only thinking with Stiffkey was it has a big garden. Potentially for the four-year old to burn off some energy. If it's Wells it's a large flat, no garden and steep stairs. Hmm.

Hmmm, well, you might enjoy the garden for just sitting in and relaxing while the 4 yo plays and the baby sleeps, so that does change things a bit.

Basically one way and another you will end up driving to beaches. Between Hunstanton and Sheringham only Brancaster is directly on a beach, or Weybourne on a pebble beach. Everywhere else has a stretch of marsh between the road and village and the beach.

Do both options come with a car parking space?

The little shop in Stiffkey is along the main road with no or very little pavement

Wells - as others have said the traffic in Stiffkey becomes very problematic. If you are in Wells, you can potter in the back lanes, walk to the beach, have fish and chips at the harbour or go to Two Magpies for breakfast. Even with a garden over a flat, I'd still take Wells.

If you gave a child and parking it's wells. The walk to the beach is about a mile. I wouldn't bother trying to park there. Great fish and chips, a variety of shops. Worth being in the national trust if holidayING in Norfolk.

Two large houses with gardens, Sheringham Park. Blakeney harbour, all free to nat trust.

Stiffkey a bit of a small place, not much going on though garden would be useful.

Add Morston Quay to the list of free places if a National Trust member, you park there to take trips out to see the seals, which my ds always loved when he was little, indeed still loves it now he's grown up, to be honest.

Another good day out from either Wells or Stiffkey, is the Thursford Collection with its steam engines, and Pensthorpe has a great children's playground as well as the nature reserve.

With children, id go to Wells. If you have early risers the beach car park is fine. Its also very safe. Never queued for the loo, and there is more than one. Lots of child friendly restaurants, fish and chips etc. Wells can be busy in the summer. But if weather is bad there is an indoor swimming pool near by.
Stiffkey is lovely and you can always drive there but not as easy for a young family.

The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway might be fun for a four year old?

I assume you’re not taking a dog, there is a large dog-free area of Wells beach. Also, do check the tide tables.

Once you are past the dog free area alongside the channel though, the beach is dog friendly so it's really not a problem if you do have a dog with you. Wells is our dog's happy place, though we tend to go down late/early in the day in the summer when the beach is mostly empty of families.

As a PP poster alluded to, you do need the tide tables with Wells - when the tide is out, it's really, really out for pretty much as far as the eye can see.

You can rent a beach hut on Wells beach, not cheap but good to know you have somewhere out of the sun/rain.

Edited for spelling mistake.

I don’t know Norfolk but I would 100 percent choose the cottage with the garden. What time of year are you going? If it’s summer months then a garden to sit in is lovely, rather than being cooped up in an apartment. Also having to lug the baby seat and paraphernalia up and down the stairs isn’t going to be fun, or even an excited 4 year old on steep stairs. If you have a car you can drive out to visit different places. Baby will nap in the car and the pushchair.

Googlemaps tells me it’s only a 10 minute drive to Wells-Next-The-Sea from Stiffkey anyway.

@ABeerInTheSunshineMakesMeHappy, she asked for the opinions of 'Norfolk Experts'. The Norfolk Experts who know Stiffkey wouldn't stay there as it's a linear village on a very narrow road that becomes utterly jammed in the summer months as it's difficult for vehicles to pass. As others have mentioned, the road has no pavement and so the OP would find it less pleasant to walk to the 'cute shop' than she thinks as she will find herself pinned against a brick-and-flint wall waiting while yet another Chelsea Tractor tries to pass the local hopper bus, plus there's the trail of traffic stuck in front of and behind the aforementioned bus to contend with as well - from July to September this is an extremely busy coastal road. The Stiffkey Red Lion is an OK pub - there are much better along the coast such as the Bell at Wiverton. Wells has far more to offer including a children's playground, the harbour, a supermarket, petrol station, a range of shops and restaurants within easy walking distance, the beach etc etc.