Where History Meets the Sea

Rising from the dunes of Winterton-on-Sea like something from the pages of a novel — and indeed, it once graced those very pages — Winterton Lighthouse is one of Norfolk's most singular escapes. This 18th-century coastal sentinel, immortalised in Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and pressed into wartime service as a lookout tower, has been transformed into a deeply romantic retreat that wears its extraordinary history with quiet confidence. Featured in Vogue and World of Interiors, and brought to television audiences through Channel 4's Homes by the Sea, this is a property that has long captured imaginations — and rightly so.

The original tower has been extended with a luminous Garden Room of glass and timber, designed to dissolve the boundary between interior and the wild Norfolk coast beyond. Step outside onto the cedar deck and into a garden conceived by RHS Chelsea Gold-medal winner Christopher Moss — a space that feels both cultivated and elemental, entirely in keeping with its windswept surroundings. Inside, restored interiors honour the building's heritage without tipping into pastiche, and the tower rooms deliver that rarest of pleasures: a genuine sense of vertical drama, with sea views that shift and glitter with the light.

Only recently made available for holiday rentals, Winterton Lighthouse is the kind of discovery that feels almost too good to share. For couples seeking a coastal escape with genuine soul — somewhere that tells a story, holds the light, and lingers long in the memory — this is simply unmissable.