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

Make sure you go to Blakeley to see the seals too!

That is a brilliant trip.

Go to Wells OP. You’ll have a lovely time.
Get down the beach, it’s glorious.

It’s a ferry trip to Blakeney Point , from Morston.

https://www.sealtrips.co.uk

Timetable is tide dependent, the boats are open so best to know the weather forecast before you book.

I second Wells. We’re going there in September. I’ve booked a house with a parking space and small garden (for my granddaughter). I’m surprised the choice you’ve got is just two places (one in Wells and one in Stiffkey)?
We use Sowerbys Holiday Cottages - quite a lot of choice there although not as much as there used to be - presumably because of tax changes for second home owners. I wouldn’t stay in Stiffkey - it’s blighted by traffic in the summer and wouldn’t be safe for a pram and a child walking. There’s lots to do in Wells for your four year old including a playground.

Also if it’s breeding season. We went in June last year and saw three seals in the far distance. Nice boat trip though. 😂

Wells for sure - Stiffkey is small, with a busy road. The small shop and cafe is on the busy road with no pavement so won’t be nice to walk to, and isn’t particularly worth it, esp if it’s busy.

If you’ve got parking, and are intending to drive to the beach anyway, Wells has much more going on in terms of little cafes, shops and is a friendly town.

Plenty of lovely beaches a small drive away.

A trip to Horsey (along the coast) might satisfy a desire to see seals… there are towards a hundred seals that sleep on the beach there! We saw them in July last year.

I went to gone wild near wells next the sea summer 24. One evening we took the kids crabbing by the Quay, Ordered takeaway pizza from that Italian with the hatch window. I remember just feeling so relaxed eating my pizza with my little cocktail watching the kids crab in the early evening sun, It was a heavenly place.

The trouble with Sheringham is it gets very busy and has the one way system from hell, let alone not much parking and a beach that disappears at high tide. Lots of people come in on the Norwich train for a day/evening out. It has become a real foodie venue recently though so worth going in the evening when parking is free and seeing what’s on offer. Stubby’s Pizza is fantastic but books up weeks in advance, and if you like seafood it’s worth going a bit further on to Rocky Bottoms in West Runton - that also needs advanced booking. Cromer is great with older kids on wet days - the arcades and little cinema have come to our rescue on many occasions, and if you are there during the festival it’s amazing to stand waiting for the Red Arrows to appear over the sea. Very dramatic.

Because of a terrible storm about 18 months ago, the seals are much more dispersed than they used to be as a great chunk of the Spit was washed away, but you still see lots. The storm changed the lie of the land so they don’t have the big area they all congregated on as before and it also wiped out a lot of the area the Turns nested on. We had seals swimming with us off Wells beach last year.

Second Bewilderwood. Great day out.

I think the seal boats have old family loyalties. We have always used Beans!

https://www.beansboattrips.co.uk

Out of those options definitely Wells. You can be peaceful at your cottage, or take the four year old for buckets/spades/crabbing/ice cream on your doorstep. You can catch the vintage bus down to the beach for a lot less £££ and hassle than parking down there. Great park in town centre. Perfect for all ages IMO.

If you’re open to options, Mundesley has a great beach and a nice village centre - less crowded than Wells.