Walk around Holkham Estate Lake Walk and Nature Trail

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An enjoyable walk around the peaceful grounds of Holkham Estate.

Join NorfolkPlaces as we take an enjoyable pictorial walk around Holkham Lake, one of several planned walks that you can follow at Holkham.

Holkham Hall - sepia photo NorfolkPlaces

The Lake Walk route is fairly straight-forward, but there are some waymaker posts to help you along the way. As there are several marked out walks you need to look out for the YELLOW arrows for the Lake walk. The green arrows are for the park walk, the red arrows are for the farm walk and the brown, blue and pink arrows indicate the cycle routes.

 

Whilst undertaking this walk you could also follow the Nature Trail and Quiz, which follows the Lake Walk route. The trail features 28 stops that explain interesting facts about the diversity of the flora and fauna in the Park.

 

Like most walks it starts at the car park. Actually, we didn’t decide to go on this walk until we were at the side of the lake. With little ones in tow, we  had to employ a cunning parental trick involving spotting things of interest to get them to go on a walk without them realising it; “Oooh look. Let’s have a look at the lake, kids. What’s that over there? A boat? Let’s investigate! That pointy thing? I dunno, let’s check it out….” and so on and so forth.

 

As mentioned above, there are arrow to follow, so I’m not going to go over the entire route. Let’s get to the photos shall we?

 

So, yep, as mentioned above – “Ooh, look boys, a boat”. Cue the NP Juniors considering sprinting toward the lake, before asking “can we go on it”?”  As tempting as it was, we didn’t as we sneakily had planned a walk.

holkham lake walk

I think this pair are Egyptian Geese, which are quite common in Norfolk nowadays.

holkham lake walk

A look back at how far we have walked and we get a great view of Holkham Hall in the distance. Oh, and the boat is still there, prompting one of the boys to ask if we can go on it again.

holkham lake walk

The Coke of Norfolk Monument, below, was designed by William Donthorne and erected in 1845–8.

Thomas Coke Monument at Holkham

Mystery stairs! A fence stops clumsy walkers from misplacing their step!

holkham lake walk

Don’t forget to look at the Nature Trail stops whilst on this walk, like this one below.

holkham lake walk

holkham lake walk

 



At the far end of the lake we enter a wooded area. Just beyond here is the A149 (Main Road), and at this point we’re about 0.8 miles from the sea!

holkham lake walk

Eye spy with my little eye, another Nature Trail sign.

holkham lake walk

As we emerge from the tree we’re on the opposite side of the lake, and there are some great views down the full length of the lake, with the stately Holkham Hall a distant site.

Below, St Withburga’s Church is within the grounds on the Holkham Estate.

holkham lake walk

holkham lake walk

As we continue on our walk almost every step provides a nice panoramic view of Holkham Hall.

Holkham Hall - Lake Walk

The littlest member of the NorfolkPlaces team decided to photo-bomb this picture. had to explain to him that this sluice/dam was not a path to get to the other side!

holkham lake walk

Field Notes

FACILITIES – Paid parking at Holkham Hall. There are also toilets at the Hall, as well as the Courtyard Cafe for refreshments.

DOGS – Dogs are welcome in the park but must be kept on the lead at all times. This is to avoid disturbing the deer and other wildlife.

SAFETY – The ground can be uneven in parts, but in the main you’re walking on even grass. The lake of course is a risk, particularly for kids.

WHEELCHAIRS – Due to the uneven nature of some parts of the walk we don’t think this would be suitable for wheelchair users.

CLOBBER – Most of the time normal everyday footwear would be fine. On one of our walks it had rained a lot recently and at the far end of the lake wellies might’ve been handy for little kids.

DISTANCE – The walk around Holkham Lake is approximately 3 miles.

ANYTHING ELSE – Keep an eye out for what else you can see on this walk, including animals such as deer & owls, or structures such as the Ice house or the Coke Monument. Kids may enjoy playing on the outdoor play equipment at Holkham Hall before/after the walk. Remember to close gates on the walk.

 

Where to Next?

Read more articles on walks or browse the rest of our articles.

Why not check out our Norfolk quizzes and games.

 

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