People often ask us why we reduce our shop opening hours so drastically during the depths of winter here in North Norfolk.
The answer is a simple one. "Seasonality." Please see the opening hours at the bottom of our Home Page.
Like so many other holiday destinations here in the UK, visitor numbers to this part of the county, and specifically Little Walsingham, wain during the winter months. From Easter to October-end each year, we see visitor numbers swell through a combination of holidaymakers/tourists and pilgrims. Approximately 350,000 pilgrims alone visit the village each year during the holiday/visitor season before the village once again falls back into its annual winter hibernation.
Little Walsingham is a picturesque and historically important medieval village and a famous pilgrimage centre since 1061 – when the Lady of the Manor had a vision of the Virgin Mary. The subsequent shrine became one of the most important in Europe (the present one was built in 1931). Timber-framed buildings and fine Georgian facades adorn the village. There is an octagonal pump house. An 18th-century court house, museum, 18th-century Bridewell (prison) and the ruins of a 12th-century Priory and 14th-century Friary also remain. The village also accommodates an Anglican Shrine, Catholic Basilica, Orthodox Chapel, and two public houses along with several shops and quality cafes.
The historic village centre at Christmas, looking towards the High Street & Medieval Priory entrance.
The village is home to our antiques shop, namely Holt Antiques at Walsingham Mill, a globally recognised antiques business specializing in antiques spanning 500 years from the 15th-century to early 19th-century. Featured on television on Drew Pritchard's "Salvage Hunters", BBC1's "Antiques Roadtrip" and Amazon Prime, there is no other shop like it in the UK!
