Cool Place of the Day: The Peter Scott Walk, Norfolk

Every day, a new place to discover or explore, from coolplaces.co.uk

The Peter Scott Walk: A beautiful and relatively easy stroll

Peter Scott was the only son of the Antarctic explorer Captain Scott, whose dying wish was that his son should be interested in natural history, and Peter didn’t let him down.

He promoted the conservation of Britain’s wildlife throughout his life, and was also an accomplished artist, and from 1933 to 1939 lived in the remote East Bank Lighthouse on the River Nene, on the far northeastern edge of Norfolk, from where the footpath that bears his name follows the edge of the Wash to a point on the west side of the river Ouse in King's Lynn – a distance of around 11 miles in all.

You can either take the foot ferry in King's Lynn across the river to the starting-point of the walk, ending up at Scott's Lighthouse, or do the walk in reverse by taking a bus to Sutton Bridge and walking the three miles or so down the river to the lighthouse (you can also drive here, where there’s a small car park).

Whichever direction you do it in, it's a beautiful and relatively easy stroll: the views over The Wash and the salt marshes and tidal flats are glorious, as are those inland over the Fenland that used to be under the sea, and you can spot redshanks, oyster catchers, curlews and much more along the way.

Martin Dunford is Publisher of Cool Places, a new website from the creators of Rough Guides and Cool Camping, suggesting the best places to stay, eat, drink and shop in Britain (coolplaces.co.uk)