The Globe at Wells Chestnut

Situated right on the pretty Georgian square of Buttlands, at the top end of the high street of the busy seaside resort of Wells-next-the-Sea, and more or less at the centre of the North Norfolk Coast, this 19th-century inn is many things to my people. First of all, it's a good place to drop by for a drink, and many people do; it's also an excellent restaurant, serving some of the best food you can find in an area where the standards are frankly set pretty high; and it's a terrific place to stay, too, with a set of comfortable overnight rooms that make it a ideal base for seeing this fabled stretch of coast.

​The pub features 19 bedrooms – a wide selection of Classic,  Deluxe and Superior doubles and larger suites with kitchenettes; they even have a single room (the 'Bolthole') which they promote to solitary hikers or birdwatchers. Some are on the ground or first floor of the original pub building, others in the newer Courtyard Wing. All the rooms and suites combine the quirky Georgian charm of the original building  with home-from-home comforts, top-quality pocket-sprung mattresses, duck-down duvets and luxurious bathrooms complete with Duck Island toiletries; they all come with flatscreen Freeview TVs and tea- and coffee-making facilities and seven rooms welcome dogs. It even has 3 self-catered rooms with open spaces and kitchenettes, for you to enjoy your own seclusion and space, but with the option of inn-hospitality just outside your door whenever the need should arise.

Meanwhile the food they serve in the restaurant is a seasonal and local blend of Norfolk and foreign influences, with Norfolk Coast bouillabaisse sitting alongside local beer-battered fish and chips, seafood platters, crab salads and local steaks – all at moderate prices. They also serve renowned wood-fired pizzas – naturally all made with local ingredients – in summer.

Just eight miles from Blakeney, and a few miles inland from swanky Burnham Market, Wells-next-the-Sea is a pleasantly unpretentious seaside town, quite unlike some of  the more chi-chi spots you find along the North Norfolk Coast. That alone is a reason to visit, but Wells also benefits from being close to one the country's best expanses of sandy beach at nearby Holkham Bay: backed by a grove of scented pines, you'd be mad not to come here and not get at least  some sand between your toes. The Holkham Estate adjoins the beach and is similarly alluring, with extensive grounds centring on a magnificent Palladian pile crammed full of paintings and sculptures. But really you have the whole of this gorgeous coast to explore in both directions from Well's relatively central position: from the seal colonies of Blakeney to RSPB reserves of Cley, with the long-distance Norfolk Coast Path offering an easy route between them. What are you waiting for?