Where to find the secret places: North Norfolk illustration

Everyone’s heard of Hunstanton, Sheringham and Wells. But where are North Norfolk’s secret treats — the places the locals love? An actress, a cheese-maker, a shopkeeper and others reveal all.

AMANDA HOLDEN

The star of sitcom and musicals is back on television this winter in ITV1’s new drama series Wild at Heart — and at her home near Brancaster most weekends

“The only trouble with having a place in Norfolk is I no longer get to stay at the Hoste Arms in Burnham Market. It’s one of those inns that is smart and completely civilised, but manages to feel like your village local. I still insist on going for Sunday lunch there — it’s so good that I order beef, even though I’m a vegetarian. I want the Yorkshire pud and the trimmings.

“Before lunch we go walking on Holkham beach. Day-trippers never seem to venture far from the car park, but you need to keep going through the pine woods into the wilder reaches of the dunes. It feels like being on the moon. Once I stumbled across the Queen’s beach hut deep in the forest — she walks her dogs at Holkham when she’s at Sandringham. It was this gorgeous little cottage, and I peeked through the window and saw corgi footprints all over the benches.”

Details: the Hoste Arms (01328 738777, www.hostearms.co.uk) has weekend doubles from £80, Sunday roast £10.

CATHERINE TEMPLE

A pharmacy lecturer turned farmer’s wife, Catherine hand-makes award-winning cheeses from her herd of Holsteins at Wighton

“Everybody goes for walks on the north coast, but my big treat for days off is wheeling out my bicycle and exploring the brick-and-flint villages inland. The prettiest is Binham — it’s got a village green with a cross on it, a nice pub called the Chequers, and cottages built from the spoil of Binham Priory, which was trashed by Henry VIII. There’s also Howell’s Superstores, a corner shop in the old tradition. The two old boys who run it can sell you anything you like, so long as you don’t mind chatting for 45 minutes while they find it.

“Then I’ll wobble on to Walsingham, which has tea-rooms and good arts and crafts, and a ruined abbey with masses of snowdrops in February. It’s all so bucolic, and the gentle gradients make it perfect cycling country.”

Details: there is bike hire right on Catherine’s eight-mile circuit, at Nutwood Farm near Wighton (01328 820719, www.norfolkcyclehire.co.uk); £11 per day, £5 for under-11s.

HENRY HEAD

Henry is Britain’s biggest lavender farmer, still tilling and distilling the 100 aromatic acres at Caley Mill in Heacham that his mother planted 50 years ago

“For me, a Norfolk walk is more about sky than sea. That’s why I love the Peddars Way. It’s the trackway the Romans built to suppress the Iceni after Boudicca’s revolt, arrowing over undulating fields and woods. It doesn’t take much imagination to hear the tramp of the legion today.

“Pearly winter mornings are my favourite time to go. The hoarfrost stands an inch thick on the hedgerows, and there are wild geese strafing overhead, commuting from their roosts on the Wash to feed in the cornfields. Skeins and skeins of them. You get the glint of the sea from the west, these enormous, ethereal, Breughelesque skies, and a fantastic feeling of space.”

Details: sample Henry’s favourite stretch by walking the Peddars Way north from Sedgeford to Ringstead, then south again along a quiet lane: six miles; OS Explorer map 250. The Gin Trap pub at Ringstead (01485 525264) has good ales and seafood.

RICHARD PARK

The music mogul is programme controller at Magic FM and headmaster of the BBC’s Fame Academy

“Some pubs in North Norfolk have gone a bit too posh and nouvelle- cuisiney, but I always know I can escape to the Three Horseshoes at Warham. It’s south of the main coast road, so the only tourists tend to be people who’ve taken a wrong turn looking for Holkham.

“The pub is properly unspoilt, with open fires, gaslights and grainy black-and-white photos of the royal family on their Norfolk adventures.

A local once told me one of the princes used to dine there in Edwardian times. It’s my all-time favourite place for winter comfort food: things such as game pie, ham hocks and braised sausages. Real man-sized portions — perfect when you stagger in on a crisp day. And their boarding-school puddings are to die for.”

Details: The Three Horseshoes (01328 710547) is open 11.30am-2.30pm and 6pm-11pm; game pie, £9.

ANNA PARK

Her shabby-chic boutique in Burnham Market has spawned “Anna” stores in Primrose Hill and the King’s Road, where she dresses Kate Winslet, Jules Oliver and Zoë Ball. She’s also Richard’s wife

“Living in North Norfolk with kids, the thing you dread to hear is, ‘Can we go in the sea?’ Yes, we can — but if the tide’s out, it might take us two hours to walk there. That’s why Scolt Head Island is so fab. It’s essentially a whacking great sand dune, with creeks and marshes, and even on a summer bank holiday you can find a deserted stretch for yourself — and guaranteed swimming. It’s a wildfowl reserve, but the main reason to go is for privacy and picnics. The whole thing is very Swallows and Amazons.

“We sail across in our Twinkle 12, a traditional Norfolk clinker, but in season there’s a tiny ferryboat from Burnham Overy Staithe, with a nice grumpy ferryman.”

Details: Scolt Head Island (01603 598400, www.english-nature.org.uk) has a 1km nature trail. The ferry (01485 210456) runs April 1-October 30, depending on tides; £3 adults, £2 children.

GALTON BLACKISTON

When not trading recipes with best mate Delia Smith, North Norfolk’s top chef is running his Michelin-starred restaurant-with-rooms, Morston Hall

“The place my children ask to go back to again and again is Thursford. It’s a spectacular museum in a very unlikely setting, on a farm in a hamlet outside Fakenham. But you step inside a big old barn to find the most magical place: it’s like walking into an old-fashioned fairground. It is known for the huge collection of barrel organs, but there are also vintage rides and carousels, all beautifully painted in their original colours. There are steam engines chugging and music going, and you can not only touch the exhibits but ride on them as well.

“They do live Wurlitzer shows every afternoon, and there’s an adventure playground, so while my four-year-old is on the gondola ride, my 11-year-old is swinging about on an assault course.”

Details: the Thursford Collection (01328 878477, www.thursford.com) is open from April 14, Sunday to Friday, noon-5pm; adults £5.75, ages 4-14 £3.25.

Times recommends

• Oasis of the Seas: the Times review
• The 20 best new year party places to stay
• Green Spaces 2009: are you the winning writer?