WEEKEND AWAY
Affordable and welcoming, Great Yarmouth has everything you need for fun at the beach and is spliced with delicious layers of history too, discovers CAROLINE WHEATER
One of Norfolk’s best-known resorts, Great Yarmouth has been making happy seaside memories for over 170 years, with its golden beach and battalion of amusements along the famous Golden Mile.
Intrigued, we enter the town across the River Yare and drive past an impressive array of Georgian and Victorian buildings on the South Quay before arriving at the long promenade and clean-as-a-whistle sands that have drawn tourists here since the railway opened in 1844.
En route, we’ve seen trawlers and small ships that service the North Sea renewable energy sector, while at the shoreline we’ve passed two piers, three theatres, a circus, a Sea Life aquarium and the Pleasure Beach amusement centre. Already, it feels like a town of two halves – ahard working business hub and a fresh air and fun haven.
Our first stop is the Venetian Gardens and Waterways at North Beach, a 1920s seaside park and boating lake that was restored in 2018 thanks to a £1.7m Heritage Lottery Fund grant. It has a nostalgic air that we enjoy (venetianwaterways.com).
Lunch is close by, at the Beach Hut Café on the Esplanade. Sitting outside, we gaze over the marram grass towards Scroby Sands wind turbines and start to unwind. The welcoming café owner, Alberto Menezes is an ex-Londoner who relocated here in 2015 with his wife Sandie to enjoy a more relaxed way of life and start a business. The clam chowder is tasty, as are the dirty fries we order to go with it. No wonder Alberto has a local fan club. (facebook.com/beachhutGY)
HERRING TALE
On civic buildings and within the Minster’s stained glass windows we keep spotting a heraldic emblem of England’s three lions rampant with fishy tails. This is because herring has played a vital role in the town’s success.
A century ago, it was the most important herring port in the world, as abundant shoals migrated down the North East coast every autumn, harvested by the fishing fleet and processed by an army of herring lasses. Great Yarmouth may be a seaside resort, but herring put it on the map.
We want to know more and head to the Time and Tide Museum for an overview. Tellingly, it’s opposite a large section of medieval wall, part of the second most complete urban defence structure in the country. Who knew?
The Museum is housed in the old Tower Fish Curing Works, c1850, which close
