A family has found what is believed to be "the biggest piece of amber in years" on the north Norfolk coast.

Three generations of the Colemans, from Little Plumstead, were at West Runton beach on Saturday, May 28, when they made the exciting discovery.

Mark Coleman, 34, was there with his 10-year-old son Harry and his father Andrew.

He said they had been searching the shore for megalodon or shark teeth for about 10 minutes when they found the orange piece of fossilised tree resin.

"I knew it was amber but I didn't know the significance of it," Mr Coleman said.

It was only when they went to the Seaview Beach Cafe, staff and customers were able to tell them the uniqueness of their find.

"Some said it was the biggest amber find on the north Norfolk coast in years," Mr Coleman said.

"A crowd of people gathered around us, holding it, wanting to see it. A family came over, they said their daughter's name is Amber, after amber, and asked if she could hold it.

"People have said they go looking for it all the time but never find it," Mr Coleman added.

The family was inspired to go fossil-hunting by a story in the EDP about a six-year-old Bradwell boy who found a rare megalodon tooth dating back some three million years.

Mr Coleman said that his son is obsessed with megalodons and other prehistoric sealife.

"Going bowling or to the cinema costs so much money these days but going fossil-hunting only costs three pounds for the parking and is so much more educational," he said.

"You can make up stories about the things you find. You make a whole day of memories."

In 2019 North Norfolk District Council launched its Deep History Coast campaign to inspire more people to hunt for fossils and explore the coastline from Weybourne and Cart Gap, learning about past through a series of discovery trail points.

Happisburgh is the oldest archaeological site in northern Europe and West Runton yielded the oldest and largest fossilised mammoth skeleton ever found in the UK.

In 2013, a husband and wife who collect amber found more than 700g of the gem on Cromer beach.