“THIS isn’t a house, it’s more like a mansion,” squealed six-year-old Eva as we set foot inside what was our home for the weekend.
We were staying at five-bedroom, four-bathroom Cleveland House in Winterton-on-Sea, a pretty coastal village in Norfolk.
Best of all for our big family of six, the house is dog friendly — meaning our 18-week-old cockapoo Stanley got his very first holiday.
Cleveland House is one of Winterton Cottages’ luxury self-catering holiday homes on the Norfolk Coast.
There are lots of options available, from cosy bungalows perfect for a couple on a romantic weekend away, to more sprawling properties like we shared, or even barn conversions.
Many of them are dog-friendly too.
In fact Cleveland House has space for four pooches plus ten people.
But being happy to host four-legged friends does not mean it was lacking in style.
Beautifully decorated in calm, beiges and blues, everything was top notch, from the cosy conservatory with huge oak table seating ten to the vast, modern kitchen.
The downstairs fifth bedroom would be ideal for those going on a multi-generation getaway — or simply wanting to get far away from the excited little ones come night time.
Winterton-on-Sea is the kind of place you go to escape busy life and reset, although that’s easier said than done with four kids in tow.
There are miles of brilliant walks and beaches right on your doorstep, and it was these sandy seafronts that provided us with the real highlight of our trip.
From November until early February they become home to hundreds of grey seals who wiggle up to the shore to give birth.
We knew this before we arrived, but none of us expected the sight to be quite so spectacular.
Thanks to a fairly violent storm lashing the UK — and four girls who hate walking — we decided to drive ten minutes to nearby Horsey Gap rather than go by foot.
It was definitely the right decision.
Even though we parked three minutes’ walk from the dunes, Jess, ten, and seven-year-old Izzy both managed to get their feet drenched by bowling straight through puddles on the path.
When we got to the top of the cliff, there were seals as far as you could see.
My partner, Dan, and I were expecting them to be squashed together like you see on David Attenborough’s nature documentaries.
But it wasn’t quite like that. They were spread out for miles.
Volunteers from the Friends of Horsey Seals, a group that looks out for the animals, explained there is a walking loop that takes just under an hour, which features the animals the entire way round.
The Thursday before we visited, there were 3,426 adult seals on the beach, and 2,782 pups had been born so far in the season.
As wonderful as the seals were, there are only so many minutes you can spend looking at them.
As Emilia, nine, suggested — maybe we should just walk to the top of the cliff rather than “all the way along the path”.
A cosy pub lunch in the Fisherman’s Return was a hit with everyone, and Poppy’s tearoom offered a great cooked breakfast.
We stayed local to Winterton during our visit, enjoying a family game of Pictionary where the kids thrashed the adults in the huge lounge with its vast brick fireplace complete with wood-burning stove.
Just the ticket as the storms lashed the windows.
And when it did finally stop raining, the kids couldn’t resist a dip in our holiday home’s toasty hot tub.
Great Yarmouth is only a few miles away though, offering a great range of amusements and fish and chip shops.
Or if you want shopping and markets, the historic city of Norwich is an easy drive away.
Our kids were happy just enjoying the “mansion” though. It’s not every weekend your puppy goes on his first holiday, after all.
STAYING THERE: Four nights’ self-catering for up to ten people plus four dogs at Cleveland House is from £1,203 in total, or £120pp. Arriving January 13.
Book at wintertoncottages.co.uk.
