There is so much to inspire artists in Norfolk. In his poem ‘Norfolk’, John Betjeman wrote of ‘a whispering and watery Norfolk sound’. Immerse yourself in that ‘Norfolk sound’ by sitting on the crest of a seawall. Sea walls are engineered to protect the dynamic nature of the coast from erosion by reflecting the power of the waves back to the sea. They mark humanity’s line of defence between land and sea, a tension between elemental forces and human endeavour.

Hundreds of miles of Norfolk’s green embankments maintain an uneasy truce with the waves, for this land is borrowed from the sea and the sea demands it back. So from the Wash all along the coast to the eastern end of Salthouse Marshes, sea walls abound. Follow any footpath alongside a seawall and walk through a windswept world of movement and light. Where it’s safe, perching aloft gives superb views, or tuck down the slope out of the wind. Look how light pierces banks of cloud, spearing fields with brilliant shafts of sunlight like rays from a spaceship, most dramatic at dawn and dusk in the winter months. Huge skies become one with land and sea, a pearly symphony of elements. Breezy days are made for kites, dancing above golden dunes shimmering with silvery green marram grass. Watch them dip and turn, riding in the wild air like gulls. Take a hot drink and find a sheltered spot to sit down with a drawing pad and create your memories.