Pretty Corner Woods

Our plans to go to Holkham Hall on Sunday had to change at the last minute when I discovered that over 10,000 Tamil pilgrims would be heading to nearby Walsingham. My children (and hubby) aren't the best in the car for long journeys, let alone stuck in traffic so we decided to avoid the area.

We have a jar of ideas for places to visit so we had a look through them and narrowed it down to 5. Hubby chose Pretty Corner Woods in Sheringham as we had never been before. 

We grabbed a map from the car park and at the entrance to the woods we were greeted by this impressive sculpture. We decided to follow the family sculpture trail (although we had no idea how long the walk would be as this information was missing from the map!)

We started off down this very long boardwalk-it seemed to go on forever.

Harry loved this swing. It was incredibly high though so we're not convinced that it's meant for children!

I'd love to say that this impressive den was our handiwork but sadly not. 

About halfway through the walk we spotted the sea. I knew that we were heading uphill but I didn't realise quite how high up we were.

Each sculpture relates to something to be found nearby-animals, birds, plants and creepy crawlies. 

Taking a detour to dodge the mud.

My photo doesn't do justice to just how big this nest was.

Checking out some carvings in the tree.

Harry: I'm the king of the castle!

Harry managed to spot this tiny slow worm slithering in the grass. He thought he'd found a snake as he was taught about adders in nearby Sheringham Park.

We encountered a few people on our walk, mostly dog walkers, but it was still very peaceful with only the occasional noise from local traffic and there was lots of birdsong to hear.

It was generally dry underfoot but there were some really muddy spots where getting across was like trying to attempt something out of the Krypton Factor (am I showing my age here?!)

Another creature well spotted by Harry. He was well camouflaged and it took me a while to get the camera focused (badly!) on him.

The walk took about 1.5 hours, at a steady pace, and we stopped a couple of times. We did miss 3 or 4 sculptures off as hubby was in the lead and unknowingly took a short cut. Had we followed the correct route we would have come across the tea rooms but we'd taken a picnic anyway. There are two picnic tables a short way from the car park and we ate our lunch overlooking the sea.

The boys in particular had a great time exploring, climbing, running, jumping, stomping and hunting for beasties. The fresh air and exercise was beneficial for us all and we usually find we have time to 'slow down' from our busy lives and hold proper conversations when we're out together enjoying what nature at its best.

We found out afterwards that there's a Pretty Corner Explorer booklet with 31 things to discover in the woods so it gives us an excuse to return. We also plan to take a bug hunting kit with us so we'll spend a lot longer there.  I would imagine that you'd see something different every time that you visit.

 Other than the fuel and picnic costs it was an inexpensive day out as there were no parking costs and no entrance fees. We're always looking for activities like that…especially with the summer holidays coming up.

This post is linked up with Country Kids from Coombemill