LOLLOPING by the water’s edge at sundown, soaking up the last of the rays while the waves lap nearby, is most people’s ideal way to spend a holiday. It’s not me doing the lolloping this time, though. Instead, it’s the 50 seals, who are reclining at leisure, just around teatime, as if mimicking the laissez-faire attitude of the holidaymakers at the nearby campsite and caravan park.
I’m at the peaceful Waxham Sands holiday park in Norfolk is a great spot for watching seals bob in the ocean and is more like glamping than a caravan park, next door to where the creatures gather in their numbers. The site lies directly behind the grass-covered dunes at the back of unspoilt, sandy Horsey Beach. It’s a well-known spot among the locals for watching seals bob and play in the water and, if you are lucky, come out to bask on the sands in the evening.
The animals are so common there are even signs warning tourists not to play with ring-frisbees on the beach to prevent discarded ones becoming trapped around the seals’ necks. We could have watched these gentle lumbering giants go about their businesses for hours, honking at each other and shuffling to and fro. My three children — Henry, ten, Nicholas, seven, and three-year-old Estella — were especially mesmerised watching their interactions.
Seal spotting and messing about on the sands at Horsey became our evening routine during our delightful stay at Waxham, and the site’s direct beach access made this so easy. Run .