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    Home › Travel Guides›Eastern England

    East England

    For beautiful counties steeped in history, visit Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire or Lincolnshire and enjoy relaxing caravan holidays in East Anglia

    By Practical Caravan
    Published: February 11, 2014

    Why not visit Cromer Pier on your caravan holidays in Norfolk
    Why not visit Cromer Pier on your caravan holidays in Norfolk
    There's lots to see on caravan holidays in Essex, Mersea Island just one of the many coastal delights
    There’s lots to see on caravan holidays in Essex, Mersea Island just one of the many coastal delights
    Visit Lincoln Cathedral and much more on your caravan holidays in East England, with Practical Caravan's expert travel guide
    Visit Lincoln Cathedral and much more on your caravan holidays in East England, with Practical Caravan’s expert travel guide
    During your caravan holidays in Norfolk, walk round the Queen's beautiful Sandringham estate
    During your caravan holidays in Norfolk, walk round the Queen’s beautiful Sandringham estate
    Visit Cambridge when you're in the east of England and see stunning architecture such as here at King's Parade
    Visit Cambridge when you’re in the east of England and see stunning architecture such as here at King’s Parade
    The Broads are one of the reasons people visit Norfolk on their holidays
    The Broads are one of the reasons people visit Norfolk on their holidays
    Colourful beach huts line the long sandy beach at Southwold on the Suffolk coast
    Colourful beach huts line the long sandy beach at Southwold on the Suffolk coast
    If you visit Skegness, the Natureland Seal Sanctuary makes for a good day out
    If you visit Skegness, the Natureland Seal Sanctuary makes for a good day out
    Why not visit Cromer Pier on your caravan holidays in Norfolk
    There's lots to see on caravan holidays in Essex, Mersea Island just one of the many coastal delights
    Visit Lincoln Cathedral and much more on your caravan holidays in East England, with Practical Caravan's expert travel guide
    During your caravan holidays in Norfolk, walk round the Queen's beautiful Sandringham estate
    Visit Cambridge when you're in the east of England and see stunning architecture such as here at King's Parade
    The Broads are one of the reasons people visit Norfolk on their holidays
    Colourful beach huts line the long sandy beach at Southwold on the Suffolk coast
    If you visit Skegness, the Natureland Seal Sanctuary makes for a good day out
    Level land doesn't have to be uninteresting and East Anglia is far from that

    Things To Do

    Take a trip to Anderby Creek beach on Lincolnshire’s coastline where you can visit the Cloud Bar. Far from from selling alcoholic drinks, the Cloud Bar is the UK’s first purpose-built cloud viewing platform where, with mirrors and ‘cloud menus’ to help with identification, you can literally watch the clouds go by. The Cloud Appreciation Society has even sanctioned it. Honest!

    When you visit Cambridge, take a chauffeur-driven punting tour along the River Cam, through the centre of historic Cambridge. Lie back and enjoy views of King’s College Chapel, the Wren Library and the Bridge of Sighs, just some of the architectural beauties that you can expect to see as you float by. 

    Visit Sandringham, the Royal Family’s Christmas retreat close to Norfolk’s north coast. The house and gardens at Sandringham are open to the public from April to October while the Estate is open all year. Both the Caravan Club and Camping & Caravanning Club have campsites on the estate, making it a perfect destination for a caravan holiday.

    Visit Suffolk’s most dramatic areas of coastline. There’s Dunwich Heath, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that colours purple in the summer months with a carpet of heather. Alternatively, visit Orford Ness National Nature Reserve, a wild and remote shingle spit finely attached to the mainland just south of Aldeburgh. Its fragile ecology is rare and of international importance even though, as a former military testing site, there may be unexploded bombs! The spit is only accessible by National Trust ferry from Orford Quay.

    Visit Saffron Walden and the surrounding area and go to Audley End House and Gardens, an English Heritage property of sizeable proportions. With an opulent Jacobean house, ‘Capability’ Brown landscaped parkland providing views over rural Essex and a vast organic kitchen garden, there’s something for everyone.

    When To Visit

    There’s always something going on throughout the year in East Anglia, whether it’s witnessing new drifts of snowdrops, beach carnivals or Christmas tree festivals. Of the major events however, is in April, when the flat racing season begins at Newmarket, Suffolk, while in May you can get your boots on for the Suffolk Walking Festival. May also welcomes the now annual 1000 years of Traditional Crafts Festival, held at Lincoln Castle.

    The summer months showcase musical talents in various forms: the Aldeburgh Festival, one of the world’s most iconic celebrations of classical music, in June; Latitude at Southwold in July; the Cambridge Folk Festival, deemed one of the most prestigious folk festivals in the world, in July and August; and the V Festival, held near Chelmsford, Essex, also in August.

    Then in September, it’s the turn of the performing arts in Great Yarmouth when the five-day Out There International Festival of Circus and Street Arts brings a riot of colour to public venues across the town.

    Getting There

    The East of England is one of the least motorway-friendly parts of the country. It’s likely that much of the driving required to get to your caravan holidays in East Anglia will be on A-roads.

    The M11, off the M25, will get you to Cambridge and parts of Suffolk, with the A12 heading to Colchester and Ipswich. Access to Lincolnshire via the M1 and then cross-country through Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire or South Yorkshire is possible, alternatively the A1(M)/A1 reaches Grantham and the A15 to Lincoln.

    From the Midlands, use the A14, which travels west-east through Cambridgeshire and on through Suffolk to Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich. The entire route is riddled with speed cameras every few miles – you have been warned! You can peel off the A14 at Newmarket onto the A11 for Norwich and the Norfolk Broads.

    All of the roads are perfectly good for caravans, but journey times tend to be slow – the A14 and A12 are often busy with lorries, they being the only routes to and from the east coast ports of Felixstowe and Harwich.

    Allow plenty of time to get to your chosen campsites in the East of England.

    Location

    Locations in this Region

    South East England

    Horam Manor Country Park

    St Helens Caravan & Camping Park
    North East England

    St Helens Caravan & Camping Park

    Chain Bridge Caravan Site
    North East England

    Chain Bridge Caravan Site

    Kent

    Thriftwood Country Park

    Isle of Wight

    Appuldurcombe Gardens

    North East England

    Seaside Caravan Park

    York Caravan Park
    North East England

    York Caravan Park

    North East England

    York Meadows Caravan Park

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