It was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1968, under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.

The area includes Hunstanton, Wells-next-the-Sea, Blakeney, Sheringham, Cromer and Mundesley.

The terrain behind the coast is rolling chalk land and glacial moraine, including the almost 300-foot (90m) high Cromer Ridge.

The Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path National Trail pass through the AONB.

Managed retreat is likely to be the long-term solution to rising sea levels along much of the rest of the North Norfolk coast,[1]