To pass a pleasant hour, eat an expensive meal or buy some equally daunting clothes, home and garden products or marvel at the price of modest-looking houses, there are few places more suitable than Burnham Market.
First, though, you need to find somewhere to park. It is, if you can, free. Everyone regards the injunction not to use the grass and, with patience, a space can be found. Fortunately not every vehicle is a Chelsea tractor or high-performance car so a Silver Traveller can slip in unobtrusively. We actually found a bay outside one of the largest buildings.
Apart from the central area, neither street nor square, there are courtyards with shops and of course estate agents and holiday cottage letting agents, even architectural practices. It is very much as top-of-the-range Londoners might imagine the countryside. The only other similar place I can think of is the delightful Rye in Sussex. Perhaps a stay there will give an experience to review.
It is difficult to select images from the shops but the architecture is as varied as can be hoped, and most if not all prior to the twentieth century. A walk, even on a freezing day, is rewarding.
To be fair, there are “normal” shops, and I did once buy two pairs of trousers for the price of one in a very county-style establishment. Riding boots and the like are in open evidence, however.
The great advantage, for those with only average spending capacity, is that Burnham Market is easy to reach from many other places in North Norfolk. We always take the opportunity to visit and enjoy the environment as well as its respite from what can be wild weather. Some of its items are (like the aforementioned trousers) well within any budget. And the window shopping is a delight.