The main aim was to recognise and register valuable little items of reassurance that some elements of traditional Norfolk spirit can defy the grim twin tides of too much development and a spoiling surfeit of tourists between Sheringham and Blakeney.

It had to go deeper than a regular moan about ugly clutter around the edges of Shannockland and little game of Spot the Local in Weybourne or anyone bearing the slightest resemblance to former prime minister, John Major.

He was in recent years a proud part-time resident of a village noted for heavy through traffic, smart houses, a five-storey windmill built in 1850 and parish church flanked by impressive remains of an Augustinian priory.

We had to declare a strong interest in a regular haunt for mardle-and-munch sessions over our years of meaningful meandering as we reached the Old Reading Room Gallery and Tea Room at Kelling.

Popular with “trippers and troshers” alike – as one of the cheerful serving team put it – the place excels in a rare example of cheerful co-existence between visiting clipped tones and homely broad accents

Seascape charms tend to........

© Eastern Daily Press