Happisburgh, a village of about 600 homes, on the Norfolk coast, centuries ago lay inland whilst another settlement was near to the sea. However, as the coast eroded, Whimpwell disappeared and now Happisburgh teeters on the edge of the sea, with bungalows on cliff tops occasionally collapsing.
Farther down the Norfolk coast, the village of Hemsby is falling into the sea and recently five bungalows had to be demolished because sandy cliffs crumbled away after storms.
In recent years, other homeowners in Norfolk, Suffolk and Yorkshire have been forced to abandon their homes because cliff tops have fallen into the sea. On average, the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire has been eroding at about 1.7 metres a year, the fastest coastal erosion in Europe.