File:The tide is out - geograph.org.uk - 909835.jpg

English: The tide is out But not all the water has made it back into the sea; the beach here is bisected by shallow rivulets which can easily be crossed. The view is in easterly direction, towards the pinewood (seen on the horizon) that runs from west to east inland from the beach. The trees were planted on the dunes by the 3rd Earl of Leicester in the late 19th century with the intention of creating a shelter-belt to protect the reclaimed farmland

Holkham beach consists of many miles of clean golden sands, white sand dunes, mud and shingle patches and an area designated for naturists; there are no beach huts or deck chairs. Voted best British beach for a bank holiday break by readers of The Times, Holkham beach is three miles long and, at low tide it takes a half mile walk to reach the water line.

One of the footpaths leading into the Holkham Nature Reserve can be accessed from the A149 east of Burnham Overy Staithe. The first section of this path leads through marsh pastures > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/908439 - https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/908447 which were reclaimed in the 18th and 19th centuries, beginning at Burnham Overy in 1639 and ending with the construction of the sea wall at Wells in 1859. Further seawards, the marsh pastures turn into saltmarsh > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/908459. Sediments deposited by the sea have built up into a skim of mud and silt and, over the years, evolved into saltmarsh. The middle and upper levels of the saltmarshes at Holkham are covered with plants such as sea aster and sea lavender > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/909205. Leaving the saltmarsh behind, extensive dune systems > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/909088 form an impressive barrier between the saltmarsh and the foreshore > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/909116. The dunes at Holkham sit on old shingle ridges and their landscape is continuously changing due to the effects of wind and water.