Sheringham Park, Norfolk: A Family Day Out (National Trust)

Sheringham Park is the late-Humphry-Repton landscape garden a few miles west of Cromer, on the gentle hills behind the North Norfolk coast. It is best known for its enormous rhododendron and azalea collection — peaking from mid-May to mid-June — and for the views from the Gazebo, where on a clear day you can see the steam trains of the Poppy Line and the sea beyond. Free parking and gentle paths make it one of the easiest National Trust days out in Norfolk for families with younger children.

Visitor essentials

• Address: Wood Farm Visitor Centre, Sheringham, NR26 8TL, Norfolk
• Operator: National Trust — www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/norfolk/sheringham-park
• OS map: OS Explorer 252 — Norfolk Coast EastBuy from OS →
• National Trust members: free entry and parking on showing your card. Non-members pay the standard property rate at the gate.

What to expect on a family visit

Allow two to three hours. From the car park at Wood Farm Visitor Centre, the main loop takes in the rhododendron walk, the Gazebo viewpoint and the Bower (a wooden tree-house style folly) before returning to the courtyard. The paths are well-graded but a single-pushchair friendly route is signposted from the visitor centre — worth picking up the leaflet on arrival. Older children enjoy the climb up the Gazebo’s spiral staircase for the panoramic view across the parkland to the sea.