FAmily fun on The deep history coast

Family days out at the seaside have been enjoyed for generations and with 45 miles of coastline, Blue Flag beaches and much of the coast in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, there is plenty to see and do all year round. Try your hand at surfing at Cromer, stroll through the pinewoods and play by the colourful beach huts at Wells, stretch your legs along the white sands at Holkham, fly a kite at Brancaster beach or enjoy a traditional seaside resort at Mundesley. 

Along the stretch of the Deep History Coast there’s even more for the whole family to enjoy from beach combing to fossil hunting to rock pooling and even creating a virtual journal! See our top ten activities below.

Beaches are fascinating places to walk and search for treasure. Whether it’s an ancient fossil, a colourful nugget of beach glass or something washed up from a passing ship there’s always a story to tell.

You will often come across a fossil millions of years old or maybe even a piece of amber! Be sure to have a handy bag to keep your treasure and maybe make up your own story about your finds.

FOSSIL IDENTIFIER GUIDE

Every rockpool is like its own little ecosystem bustling with creatures and habitats. West Runton has the ideal beach for checking this out at low tide. Have a net and bucket of seawater handy to get a close-up look at any finds. Some are really not much different from the creatures living here millions of years ago. Find prawns, tiny crabs and fish but please be gentle and don’t forget to release them back into their pools.

BEST PLACES TO GO ROCK POOLING

The Deep History Coast is well known for its amazing fossils and there’s plenty to find if you know what you are looking for. You may not find another mammoth but you never know! Easier fossils to find include ammonites, belemnites and even hyaena coprolites (fossilised dung!) Check out our fossil identifier guide to find out more about what you can find. Or take any fossil finds to Cromer Museum or Sheringham Museum for identification.

FOSSIL HUNTING ON THE DEEP HISTORY COAST

Please note: As long as you are not in a protected area, you can pick up small fossils that are lying around on the ground. Please do not remove any fossils from rocks or cliffs, and large fossils are best left for all to enjoy. If you are lucky enough to come across a rare find, please report it to a museum and if you're in a Site of Specific Scientific Interest, please follow any rules they might have. They are there to protect geology for future generations.

Want to find out more about fossils? Cromer Museum’s Geology Gallery has an excellent collection of fossils, all found in Norfolk. There’s also more about the famous West Runton mammoth, plus a cast of the skull of a Mosasaur, a huge marine reptile common in the seas that covered Norfolk over 80 million years ago. Just along the coast is Sheringham Museum, where you can step inside stunning galleries and walk amongst an extraordinary historic fleet of lifeboats and fishing boats. Enjoy seeing a variety of photographs, social history items, agricultural and fishing artefacts and a fascinating geology gallery.

There are eleven points along the Deep History Coast Discovery Trail. Along the route, at each Discovery Point, you can find out lots of historical information about the kind of people who lived in the area and the animals they would encounter, plus details of the flora and fauna. Download the Deep History Coast App and each Discovery Point will reveal facts about that part of the route. 

DISCOVERY TRAIL

WALKING IN NORTH NORFOLK

The Deep History Coast App makes learning about the past extra fun with interactive things to do and see. A Hominin family will become your tour guide as you explore and find out more about their life. Collect virtual mammoth bones at West Runton or Mundesley to complete the mammoth reconstruction task. It’s all good fun and it’s free too.

DEEP HISTORY COAST APP

Print out the Deep History Coast I Spy sheet and have a competition to see who can tick everything off first. Keep your eyes peeled on the shoreline and out to sea, and see if you can spot seals, crab shells, belemnite fossils, barnacles and much more! Can you find them all?

DEEP HISTORY COAST I SPY

Taking a dip in the sea is part of every beach holiday, plus you might see some of the marine life which lives off our shores. Stick to the lifeguard patrolled areas of the beaches for safety. More experienced swimmers can snorkel along the chalk reef just off the shores of Cromer and Sheringham. 

DISCOVER MORE NORTH NORFOLK ADVENTURES

If you’ve conquered your traditional sandcastle building skills, try your hand at creating a Deep History Coast landscape. Build cliffs and rivers in the sand, use shells and stones. Alternatively use pebbles and shells to create a mammoth work of art! Don’t forget to take a picture and share on social media using #DeepHistoryCoast.

Imagine what it was like to live in the area thousands of years ago. Let the Hominin family take you on a tour on the Deep History Coast App and play your own game of hapy Hominins. What animals would the family hunt or run away from? Imagine the sea was land and how far it stretched. Build a shelter and hide from predators.