'If we worry about erosion, we will never get any sleep'

When Derrick Bowler and his wife moved to Trimingham on the Norfolk coast they thought they would leave the village "feet first" after being told they had 100 years before their "dream home" would be lost to the sea.

The couple moved to the village in 2011 with Bowler's wife hoping to replicate her fond memories of going to the beach every day when she lived in Cape Town, South Africa.

Over the past 20 years dozens of properties in the village have become uninhabitable in a battle of man versus nature with the most recent home demolished in May 2024.

"We've had to revise our opinions and our thoughts because of the coastal erosion, but it's not something we think about every day - you would go mad otherwise," he said.

Built in 1780, the Bowlers' home was sold to the couple as the "house of their dreams".

In recent years Bowler said North Norfolk District Council told them the property was expected to be a victim of coastal erosion in about 20 years' time.

When they first moved in, he said there was a 45-degree slope you could walk down to access the water's edge, however now, it looks as if "a giant has taken two big bites" out of the cliff.

He said: "In comparison to the inhabitants of Hemsby and Happisburgh, we are so lucky. We don't think about it too much."

However, the couple try to not worry about the threat of erosion for "peace of mind".

He said: "If we worry about that, we will never get a night's sleep. Let's just enjoy it while we can and when the time comes we'll have to find something else."

However he knows it is a fight that cannot be won, adding: "Even if I was to win the Euro Lottery, you still can't stop what's happening from happening.

"Everything has a lifespan. We might be able to pass it on to Liz's children but we'll just have to see."

Instead of fighting the erosion, villagers have introduced their own mitigating measures to give their properties and livelihoods a better chance against the inevitable.

Terry Brown moved to the village 17 years ago and bought his home knowing where it could end up.

Back then, the village hall was only expected to last up to 20 years so villagers set to build a new one.

While the cliff at the back of the hall has "barely receded", Brown said it was important to act before it was too late.

"We've got to make sure this village has a future and is able to roll back and continue to be," he said.

Despite Trimingham being a part of Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Brown believed building social housing ready for homeowners who lose their properties to the sea would help future-proof the village.

He said: "Nobody knows how quickly it's going to go. You come here because you like what you've got. You like the surroundings, you like being able to get on the beach, you like the people that live around you.

"You've got to be on your toes. We've had little movement through this part of the village but you could wake up tomorrow morning and suddenly you're faced with something quite dramatic."

Alex Ponting, the operation manager for the MacKenzie Hotel Group, said it would be "foolish" to build anything in the village.

Two years ago, five mobile sea view lodges were built on the grounds of the Sea Marge Hotel at Overstrand, near Cromer.

Ponting said: "We have done this purposefully as we are concerned about coastal erosion.

"These five lodges were built off site and transported… if you take down the wooden cladding you can unbolt them and they are reusable somewhere else."

He said in the 30 years the hotel has been there, the threat of coastal erosion has been constant.

"We are very lucky here that there has been very little degradation of our coastal point but to the right and to the left of us there has been some erosion so we had no choice," he said.

Along the coast £1m is being spent on reinforcing the sea wall at Overstrand in the hope of giving the village's properties another 30 to 40 years.

Harry Blathwayt, portfolio holder for coast at North Norfolk District Council, said: "Overstrand is a remarkably vibrant and economically viable community so we can actually say, 'we need to expend this money' because this is what we are protecting.

Blathwayt said the sea level has been rising more rapidly than predicted about 50 years ago, however the strategy is to put infrastructure in place now to make sure homeowners were prepared for the eventuality.

He said: "I would say there should be a level of concern. Everyone should know the risks they face, but there isn't anything to stay awake about at night.

"[Residents] can thrive. It's not a survival issue, it's how we best thrive and how North Norfolk District Council can support people thriving in this community."

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