Welcome to the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty

The Norfolk Coast Partnership was set up in 1991 to promote the sustainable use of the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Its aims are to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the area, to facilitate and enhance the public enjoyment, understanding and appreciation of the area and to provide sustainable forms of social and economic development that in themselves conserve and enhance the area's natural beauty.

Partners’ web area:
Click on this link to access this new working area for members of the partnership. It's password protected - if your organisation is a member of the partnership and you would to access it please contact us.

The Norfolk Coast was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1968, under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. It has a total area of just over 450 km2, which is mainly undeveloped coast and hinterland (up to 6km inland in places) and includes intertidal areas as well as many small towns and villages. A summary of the story behind its designation can be found in supporting information to the Management Plan.

Stretching from the silt expanses of the Wash in the west through the coastal marshes, soft cliffs and hinterland of north Norfolk, to the dune system at Winterton in the east, it is an area of remarkable beauty, diversity and scientific importance.

The designated area comprises three separate areas of coast and hinterland.
The main section is a long coastal strip from Old Hunstanton in the west to Bacton in the east. The designated area excludes the settlements of Sheringham and Cromer and the coastline between them, and the settlements of Mundesley and Bacton, because of existing development at the time of designation. This main part of the AONB includes the remote coastal marshes of the North Norfolk Heritage Coast from Old Hunstanton to Weybourne – a dynamic landscape of sand and mud flats, dunes, shingle, saltmarsh, reedbeds and grazing marsh which has a strong wilderness atmosphere, with its internationally important and renowned bird life. It also includes the soft, eroding cliffs of glacial sands and gravels east of Weybourne, which are important geologically as well as scenically, and the rolling farmland, estates and woodland of the coastal hinterland, with important areas of heathland.

In addition, there are two small outlying designated areas. The western outlier, north of King’s Lynn, includes part of Sandringham Estate and comprises part of the Wash mudflats as well as coastal marshes and lowland heath and bog, along with farmland.

The eastern outlier, between Sea Palling and Winterton, comprises sand dunes and the low-lying marsh and arable farmland behind them. There is a small area of overlap with land designated as the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads.

Keep the Norfolk Coast Special

There's plenty to do on the Norfolk Coast, from birdwatching to golf, history and heritage, galleries and craft shops aplenty, estates and nature reserves, walking and cycling and, of course, many places to take on refreshments and watch the world go by - and with the superb Coasthopper bus service you can forget about problems of driving and parking.

In this section, we don't attempt to provide details of all the activities available in the area, though we do list events run by our Partners and provide links to many other useful websites.

Instead, we provide information which will help you to protect the area and use it in a sustainable way - whether by using public transport, cycling or walking, taking appropriate measures when walking with your dog or supporting the local economy by buying local products.

See the summary (below) or click on the entries in the left menu for more details.

In summary, you can help by . . .

A wide range of organisations and interests play a part in managing the Norfolk Coast. They work together within the Norfolk Coast Partnership to co-ordinate management of the area.

This section gives information about how the Norfolk Coast Partnership operates and the partner organisations involved, with links to those organisations.

The Sustainable Development Fund (SDF) supports projects that bring sustainable environmental, social and economic prosperity to the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). In doing so, the natural beauty of these unique areas will be conserved, enhanced and enjoyed by future generations.

This section tells you all about the fund and how you can apply for a grant.

Applications are now being invited for 2010-11 funding. See Guidance for applying for more information.

This section contains frequently updated information on current projects and initiatives, press releases, events and new publications. LAST UPDATED August 2010

The life and character of this special area is shaped in many ways by the people that live, work and play here. This section lets you find out how you can be involved.