Staying seafront in a UK resort with the last of its kind pier is like going back in time

Right at the top of Norfolk is a which feels like it's slipped through the cracks of time.

Cromer is about as far away as you can get from civilisation when in Norfolk, sitting resolutely as it does at the top of the headland, a good 50 minute train from Norwich.

A full century and a bit after its heyday as a playground for the rich Victorian goer, the town has kept much of what made it so popular with the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle. Boarding houses perch on the (apparently eroding) cliffs; fishing boats come and go; the pace of life remains delightfully relaxed. For a blissful weekend I stayed in a beautiful seafront Airbnb and soaked up all the joys it has to offer.

In the centre of the seafront is the jewel in Cromer's coastal crown - the pier. The 151m long Victorian construction has a sign slapped on its entrance declaring it '2024 Pier of the Year', having scooped the gong for a third time at the National Piers Society awards. The pier is a testament to endurance, a structure of some sort having stood there since 1391. During WWII the British Government blasted a hole in its middle to stop invading forces using it as a landing strip, accidentally employing so much dynamite that debris ended up in the middle of town.

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The repaired pier nearly found itself at the bottom of the North Sea eight years after the end of the war, when a ferocious gale wrecked it once more. Seven major repair jobs following storms since then, and a commercial resilience that has seen it remain open where half the British piers standing in the early 20th century are now shut, leave it in excellent and buoyant nick today. When I visited the bar was bustling and the side rails were populated with crab fisherpeople dangling bacon into the sea. Sadly the UK's last remaining all-season end-of-pier show had packed up several weeks before, to return next June for another three months of glitzy spectacle.

Had I visited during the early war years, we might well have been showered with bits of pier when leaving our very central, very-close-to-the-seafront Airbnb. with sea views' provided very much that. It is a three storey property on Jetty Street which sits about 10m from the front, offering incredible views of the long sweep of Cromer beach from its kitchen/living room. I'd chosen the home from of properties that'd ranked 4.9/5 or higher.

After restful nights in four-poster beds that filled two of the four spacious bedrooms, our happy crew drank coffee and watched as dogs splashed through the shallows of a sea which held a dozen or so surfers throughout the day. Even for a cold-water weakling such as myself, the proximity of the home to the beach made a dash into the churning October waters too good a chance to pass up. One tip picked up between swells from a Spanish arts student up from London is that £25 for two hours hire of wetsuit and surfboard from the seafront shack may not be a great price.

The Airbnb was also perfectly located to make the most of some other of Cromer's delights. Foremost amongst these is, of course, the crab. It is said that the relatively shallow chalky waters off the beaches of Cromer provide clean, unmuddied sustenance to the crustaceans, leaving them with a sweet and unique flavour. This, and probably the alliteration, has rendered the Cromer Crab a crab of international standing.

Our group decided to try out this delicacy by making the three minute walk from our Airbnb to No1 Cromer: a traditional chippy downstairs and a more upmarket restaurant above. A charming young waiter regaled us with stories of how his grandfather is now keeper of the Cromer lighthouse as we happily tucked into the restaurant's delicious offering. The crab received two thumbs up from everyone in our party and the blackboard providing provenance details of the fish (from the Norwegian vessels Gacialis and Romeon, 'caught in the clear waters of the Barent Sea) nods of approval from us all.

With a baby in tow, our little group spent much of the weekend luxuriating in the comfort of Alex and Peter's lovely Airbnb home, unfurling ourselves on the vast corner sofa to work through the pile of board games. The visitor book was filled with happy customers who spent one or two weeks variously sheltering from the unpredictable nature of English summertime weather in the cosy home, or venturing out to discover more North Norfolk delights.

Cromer is blessed with an abundance of charity shops, the town's sizeable retired population ensuring about a dozen of them are cheerily run and well populated. Perhaps I arrived at the end of the season, but I left with no treasures and the feeling the crowds had picked knick-knack carcasses clean. Two minutes from our Airbnb gets you to The Red Lion, a suburb inn with sea views and the only pub in Cromer whose interior is listed by CAMRA (almost always the mark of a great boozer). Penny arcades, Mr Whippy shops and a packed schedule of seasonal events such as the Cromer Carnival and Crab & Lobster Festival, Folk on the Pier on Cromer Pier and a New Year's Day firework display on the beach ensure you'll be properly entertained.

Outside of town, the Tudor built Felbrigg Hall is a must for National Trust property enthusiasts and its walled gardens a treat even for those who aren't. Comically fluffy legged chickens ran through the gourd patches beneath a bustling dovecot when we visited in October. Either direction down the coast from Cromer will take you to great seal watching spots such as Blakney Point and Horsey, the latter also being home to a famed waterpump which has stood over the Broads for over a century.

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