From Padstow to Bamburgh: Ten Days Chasing England's Edges in a Motorhome

There's a certain logic to doing England's coast as a loop rather than a one-off trip. You start with the sea, you end with the sea, and everything in between — the moors, the marshes, the motorway services you'd rather forget — becomes connective tissue between the good bits.

We've driven this circuit more times than we'd care to admit, and what follows is the version we'd give a friend: the stops worth planning your day around, the ones you can happily skim past, and a realistic sense of what it'll cost you.

Days 1–3: Cornwall, Done Properly

Start in Padstow if you can — there's something right about beginning a trip with a pasty and harbour views. From there, point the van towards the far west. The road out to St Ives gets busy in summer, but it's worth the crawl for the light alone; painters have been chasing it here for two centuries and it's not hard to see why.

Overnight stops: St Ives Bay area has several well-serviced sites running £25–£38 per night for a pitch with electric hook-up in high season. Book ahead — Cornwall in July without a reservation is a lesson in humility.

Spend your third morning at Cape Cornwall or the stretch between Sennen and Land's End. Honest verdict on Land's End itself: the views are genuinely spectacular, the surrounding attractions less so. Snap the photo, buy the fudge, move on.

Days 4–5: Cutting Across to the Jurassic Coast

Here's where the itinerary asks something of you: a solid driving day from Cornwall to Dorset, roughly four to five hours depending on the A303's mood. Break it at Exeter or pop down to the Otter Valley if you fancy a leg stretch.

Once you're there, the Jurassic Coast earns its UNESCO badge. Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door are the headline acts, though the car parks fill by mid-morning — arrive early or arrive late. If you've got the legs for it, the walk from Lulworth to Durdle Door beats the view from the car park by a mile.

Overnight: Sites around Wareham or Weymouth sit in the £28–£40 range peak season. Several welcome motorhomes year-round, which helps in shoulder months.

Days 6–7: The Long Flat Road to Norfolk

Some people skip Norfolk on coastal trips because it requires crossing the country. Don't be one of them. The fens have their own austere beauty, and what waits at the end — those enormous Norfolk skies — is unlike anywhere else on this circuit.

Holkham Beach is the star: two miles of sand backed by dunes and pine woods, and big enough that even in August you'll find a patch to yourself. Wells-next-the-Sea for fish and chips, Blakeney for a seal-spotting boat trip if the tide's kind.

Overnight: North Norfolk sites are popular with the caravan crowd, so expect £25–£35 a night and book ahead. The sites near Burnham Market fill up fast.

Days 8–10: Castles and Empty Beaches Up North

The final leg is the longest drive — Norfolk to Northumberland is six-plus hours — but you can split it with a stop in the Yorkshire Wolds or a night near the Humber. Once you arrive, the pace slows right down again.

Bamburgh Castle is the one you've seen on the calendar covers: a stone giant perched above a beach that stretches for miles. Dunstanburgh is a gentler affair, reached on foot across fields. And the Farne Islands, when the boat's running, offer seabird colonies that will absolutely ruin your hair.

Overnight: Northumberland's dark sky status means plenty of sites lean into the stargazing angle — £22–£32 per night, and some of the friendliest site owners you'll meet anywhere.

The Honest Bit: What to Rush and What to Savour

Every itinerary writer tells you to slow down, so here's the opposite: the bits you can legitimately drive past. The urban stretch between Weymouth and the A35, the M5/A303 corridor on a Saturday, and — controversially — much of the Suffolk coast if you're on a schedule. Pretty, but not unmissable.

Savour instead: a full morning at Holkham, sunset at Bamburgh, and at least one long pub lunch with the van parked up and nowhere to be. That's the point of the whole exercise, really.

Budget snapshot: expect £250–£330 in campsite fees for the ten nights, fuel in the region of £180–£220 depending on your van and your lead foot, and whatever the pasties cost. The loop is roughly 900 miles — manageable, repeatable, and different every time you drive it.