The north Norfolk coastline has been given the seal of approval of an environmental activist, who is attempting to run around the coast of the whole country.

Luke Douglas-Home, 50, who is based in London but used to live in Burnham Overy Staithe, is passing through north Norfolk on his quest to raise awareness of the problems of plastic pollution.

Speaking after arriving at Cromer Pier on Monday, Mr Douglas-Home said: "I didn't realise how wonderful this part of the coast was. It's amazingly free of plastic rubbish.

"I've just got a couple of items in my bag that I picked up. Other than that all I saw this morning was a dead muntjac and a dead blackbird."

Under the tagline of The Coastline Runner, Mr Douglas-Home started his trek in Great Yarmouth. He is running one or two days a week - so he also has time for family life and his job as an environmental consultant - and is running of stretches of around 13 miles.

He added: "I also want to highlight how beautiful the British coastline is, at all times of year and not just in August."

In Cromer he was greeted by mayor Mike Bossingham and town crier Mark Northway.

Mr Bossingham, who is the town's first Green mayor, said: "This is part of what we are trying to do - reduce plastic. We've recently signed up to be a plastic-free town and one of the things we're doing for next summer is putting two boxes on the sea front for recycling or reusing of beach toys.

"People will be able to pick them up for free from the box and when they go return them, which will reduce the amount of plastic litter.

"We'd also like to do something about the crab lines, because that's unnecessary plastic, and in summer the pier is full of people with crab lines. If only we could persuade the retailers to sell natural material ones, that would be so much better."

A Just Giving page has been set up to meet some of the costs of Mr Douglas-Home's journey.