Plum Camping at White House Farm

Think farm, farm shop and campsite and you probably think of the open countryside. So it’s fair to be surprised when you learn that this campsite, set near a secluded fruit orchard surrounded by plum and apples, is actually secreted away on the outskirts of Norwich. The result is a prime location not just for exploring the Broads and rural Norfolk but also for hopping on a bus and venturing into the historic city centre. You can visit a cathedral and busy market by morning and be padding the beaches with an ice-cream by the afternoon.

Three miles from the city centre and four miles from Wroxham (the unofficial ‘capital’ or the Norfolk Broads), White House Farm is a farm shop, butchers and café that’s been a popular pick-your-own location for generations. The new campsite, set in a meadow just beyond the public farm shop area, is home to around 30 camping pitches, along with a clutch of bell tents you can hire if you’re too lazy to pitch your own. Facilities consist of all the basics – flushing, hot gas powered showers and washing-up stations – while campfires are very much allowed and offer a rustic way to cook the fresh produce you buy in the shop.

A bus stop near the farm entrance makes for a handy way to reach the city centre but, if you don’t mind paying for parking, it’s also a very easy five-minute drive. In the opposite direction, meanwhile, adventures in the Norfolk Broads await. Hire boats in Wroxham for a day out on the water or head to Horstead and Cotishall where there are good pubs and a nice riverside walk upstream and, at Horstead, the site of a former watermill where you can swim in the old mill pond. Further afield, it’s a half-hour to the coast, with good beaches at Sea Palling, Happisburgh and Cromer, to name but a few, with National Trust properties en route including Blickling and Felbrigg Hall.