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The village of Holkham is located on the coast road between Wells-next-the-Sea and Burnham Market in At one time the village was a port, with access to the sea via a channel to the harbour at Wells, but nineteenth century reclamation of the salt marshes has put paid to that.
Now the village serves principally as the main entrance to the Holkham park, and to Queen Anne's drive leading to the beach. Amongst the houses of the village are several estate owned businesses, including a hotel and art gallery.
Holkham Hall is one of the principal Palladian houses of England, built for Thomas William Coke, noted agricultural innovator and later 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham. The Hall is still the home of the current Earl.
The attractive park, with a herd of fallow deer, a lake that was once a tidal creek, several monuments and drives, and its own church, is open to the public, as is the Hall itself.
From the main coast road Queen Anne's Drive, a toll road owned by the Holkham estate, crosses the reclaimed salt marshes to Holkham Gap. This is a gap in pine tree fringed sand dunes which form the outer coastline. From here, an uninterupted sandy beach runs both ways to Wells and Burnham Overy Staithe . To the west of the gap, a section of the beach is reserved for the use of nudists.