10 ways to enjoy your wildest summer yet!
8th July 2026
Take a boat ride at BeWILDerwood
This season, we’re making a case for the wild; for the muddy, the briny, the curious and the brilliant. A proper wild summer, the kind that smells of warm grass and sea salt, fills the hedgerows to overflowing, and turns the evening sky over the marshes into something that honestly feels like magic; the days long and the possibilities longer still. Your wildest summer yet starts here, says Natalie Douglas
Lose yourself (intentionally)
There are places that slow you down whether you’re ready or not, and Natural Surroundings at Bayfield, just outside Holt, is absolutely one of them. Part nature reserve, part wildflower haven, it hums with bees, shimmers with ox-eye daisies, and does something rather miraculous to an overloaded mind. Perfect for a morning amble, a flask of something warm, or simply standing still long enough to remember what stillness actually feels like. No agenda required. No itinerary necessary.
Count your blessings (and your butterflies)
Something quietly wonderful is happening in gardens, meadows and wildflower verges across the UK this summer, and all it asks is 15 minutes and a willingness to stand still. The Big Butterfly Count is one of the loveliest free activities going: find a sunny spot, count what visits, record what you see. Simple. Free. And, science confirms, genuinely good for the soul. Perfect for curious children and easily distracted adults alike. The Big Butterfly Count runs from 17 July to 9 August.
Tipples at sundown
There is no better way to end a Norfolk summer’s day than with a cold drink and a view worth staying for. Marshside at The White Horse, Brancaster Staithe – right next to the Norfolk Coast Path and the marshes – is a perfect spot for sunset watching. The Blakeney Hotel terrace overlooks the quay and saltmarshes. For something truly memorable, seek out the Owsley-Brown pop-up; bell tent, paddock, themed dinner, and an evening you’ll still be talking about at Christmas.
www.whitehorsebrancaster.co.uk; www.blakeney-hotel.co.uk; www.owsley-brown.com
Back to the woods
There’s something quietly transformative about spending time in a proper wood, not passing through it, but actually being in it: getting hands dirty, learning its language, making something from what’s there. Forest school sessions in Sandringham’s beautiful estate woodland offer exactly that: den building, foraging, and the deeply satisfying business of creating something beneath a proper canopy. Here’s the thing, it isn’t just for the children. Adults emerge from these sessions wearing an expression that suggests they’ve had the best afternoon in years. Select dates in August.
Be bewildered, be wild
If you haven’t been to BeWILDerwood, you’ve been missing out. If you have, you already know exactly why it’s on this list. This extraordinary woodland adventure world near Hoveton is built entirely on imagination: treehouses linked by rope bridges; zip wires demanding a whoop on the way down; Broads boat trips; storytelling corners tucked between ancient trees. Technically it’s for children, but… Go. Get wonderfully lost. Be wild.
Where history meets the high tide
Sheringham Museum has always had personality, telling the story of this remarkable fishing town with warmth, wit, and an impressive collection of crab pots. This summer, the new History Coast Discovery Zone takes things further: immersive, hands-on, and genuinely absorbing for anyone with even a passing curiosity about the coast that shaped this corner of Norfolk. There’s more drama in these stories than most box sets!
Up, up and away
Go Ape at Thetford Forest has been reliably brilliant for years, but this summer brings something genuinely new. The Nets Adventure strings vast aerial nets between the ancient pines: a place to bounce, roll, crawl, and generally behave in ways that no professional environment would ever sanction. Thetford is one of England’s great outdoor playgrounds at the best of times; this takes it somewhere even better. Bring the children. Bring yourself.
Open for all
Norfolk’s wild places have a rather wonderful habit of making everyone feel welcome. The RSPB reserve at Titchwell Marsh has one of the finest accessible boardwalk and compacted gravel routes in the county, winding through reedbeds and out to the shore, wide enough for wheelchairs and pushchairs alike. Pensthorpe near Fakenham offers smooth, level paths through genuinely spectacular wetland habitat and gardens. Further inland, WWT Welney’s hides and raised walkways sit right in the heart of the washes, whooper swans included. Eight or 80, Norfolk’s wild is open for everyone. Find more details on accessibility at these reserves via their websites.
www.rspb.org.uk/titchwell; www.pensthorpe.com; www.wwt.org.uk
Free range (for the teenagers)
Summer and teenagers are a complicated combination: too much time, not enough to do, and a restlessness that sets in somewhere around week two of the holidays. North Norfolk District Council’s Green Futures Youth Project is running free outdoor activity sessions on select dates in August for 11- to 19-year-olds (up to 25 for those with additional needs) who live or are educated in North Norfolk. These are, genuinely, a gift, giving young people the chance to connect with the extraordinary landscape on their doorstep, sometimes properly for the very first time. Send them outside. They’ll roll their eyes. Then quietly love every minute.
Search ‘Green Futures Youth Project’ at www.north-norfolk.gov.uk to book
The ride of the summer
Few sounds are more reliably thrilling than a child spotting a new ride and immediately demanding to go on it at least a dozen times. ROARR! – the UK’s largest dinosaur park – at Lenwade, between Norwich and Fakenham, has been delivering that kind of joyful chaos for years; think Dippy’s Splash Zone, Predator High Ropes, Dinomite, the county’s largest indoor soft play centre, and more. But this summer, it’s raising the bar. Fossil Falls, which will be opened on 18 July by Bionic from BBC Gladiators, is a spectacular 107-metre tubing slide: inflatable ring, winding slope, 12-metre tunnel, and a whoop nobody planned.
Visit websites for timings, ticket prices and any booking requirements
