History

Prior to 1967, the area now known as Forest Park was home to neglected woodland and overgrown heath. Following a successful planning application in 1967, the site was developed into a caravan park offering basic amenities for touring caravanners.

After a couple of years, the location proved to be so popular that it expanded to accommodate 400 static or semi-static pitches and nearly 400 pitches available to tourers. Along with more accommodation sites, visitors also had the benefit of a reception office, shop, licensed Club House, heated swimming pool, children’s play area and a hairdressing salon.

At the same time as these improvements, a great deal of time and effort was put into Forest Park’s unique surroundings. Large areas of bracken, gorse and bramble were cleared and restored to original heath lands, rubbish was cleared, tree surgeons were employed to trim overgrown branches and many hundreds of young trees and bushes were planted.

Over a period of time Forest Park has developed into the haven of wildlife and natural beauty that so many holidaymakers know and love. But the work doesn’t stop there - the Park is being constantly maintained and improved to ensure that holidaymakers, new and old, reap the rewards of this unique setting.

Cromer Pill Boxes

In 1940, after the retreat from Dunkirk, an invasion of Britain was considered almost certain and Cromer was one of the locations the enemy was expected to choose. Its pier had been partly demolished, but could easily be repaired, and would make a first rate landing dock for the invaders and their equipment.

Among the many defensive schemes was a string of concrete ‘pill boxes’ built several hundred yards inland. Each was manned by a dozen ‘Home Guards’ equipped with heaving machine guns – these brave men could not be expected to hold out for long and would then face almost inevitable death. Before this, however, they could have killed a large number of enemy fighters and even held up their advance by several hours. As we know, they were never actually needed, but the bravery of these volunteer crews could not go unrecorded.

After the war most of the local pill boxes were demolished, but my late father hung onto his one as a memorial and we proudly preserve it at Forest Park. Just above this, near where the TV mast now stands, was an enormous Beech tree and, hidden in its extensive root structure, an entrance to a small dug-out. This held a powerful transmitter and two operators, one of which was the late Mr Joe Gurney, founder of Forest Park. He and his colleague were sent to a top-secret course on operating high power transmitters and, as soon as the invasion started, these two men would be installed with a fortnight's rations and a supply of water. Long after North Norfolk was overrun, they would still be sending vital information back to HQ. They would almost certainly have liked to preserve the old tree as a memorial to their own heroism, but sadly it was blown down in a gale and the transmitter had already been taken away by a party from Royal Signals.

Smuggling

Going back nearly 200 years, Cromer was a local smuggling centre. The coastguards patrolled the coast but, half a mile inland, the smugglers had established a signaling station at Sea View – flashing their colleagues to say whether it was safe to bring their contraband ashore. It was these men who invented the ghostly hound ‘Shucks’ to frighten the locals into staying indoors ‘when the gentlemen went by’.

Forest Park has a great history, a romantic past and, within living memory, a record of stirring times not unmixed with a measure of courage and indeed gallantry.

If you would like to learn more about Cromer’s historic past, visit www.thisiscromer.co.uk