Guided Tours of Wells Lifeboat Station

We are an operational lifeboat station and, although we look forward to welcoming you, our crew and boats may be called out at any time of day or night. In the event of such an emergency, we trust you will understand your tour may be delayed, altered or cancelled, at short notice.

Tours must be pre-booked and will last approximately 50 minutes. On a typical tour you will learn the history and ethos of RNLI Wells Lifeboat Station; the work we do and the rescues we carry out; you will be given a guided tour of the boat hall and will be able to get up close to our Shannon class all weather lifeboat, 13-46 Duke of Edinburgh and our D class inshore lifeboat, D797 Peter Wilcox.

If you are visiting to see the name of a loved one on the Duke of Edinburgh lifeboat, please note it very much depends on where the name is situated as to whether you will be able to see it. Due to the height of the boat, names on the wheelhouse (roof) will not be visible or accessible but can be seen on a full-size replica. Names on the port and starboard sides may also be difficult to see and, again, these can be viewed on full size replicas of the decals. You can check where the name is located on the Launch a Memory website here

The format and content of the tours may vary, and we ask about the age of each attendee during the booking process, 0-9 years, 10-17 years or adult, so that we can tailor the content of each tour. Tours will start at the beginning of the slot booked, please feel free to arrive on site 10 minutes before the start time. There are informative materials to take away and souvenirs are available for purchase.

It is important to note that we ask you to provide a mobile phone number when booking so we can contact you at short notice in the event that a visit needs to be cancelled or re-scheduled.

Where to find us Wells Lifeboat Station is situated at the end of Beach Road in Wells next the Sea, NR23 1DR. There is parking available in the Holkham Estate’s Beach Road car park, parking charges apply for all vehicles (no blue badge exemptions) and details can be found at www.holkham.co.uk.

It is a one mile walk from the town quay and, during the visitor season, there is a regular shuttle bus, operated by the Holkham Estate, details can be found at www.holkham.co.uk

From the car park and bus stop there is a gently sloped footpath with handrail leading up to the coast path and the lifeboat station.

Our volunteer team wish to welcome everyone to our station and will make every reasonable effort to accommodate visitors with disabilities and special needs.

Visitors are advised to wear flat soled footwear and to let us know in advance if they may need assistance with access
The boathouse has a lift as well as stairs to access the viewing gallery
Children must be accompanied and supervised at all times by responsible adults
Dogs are not allowed to enter the boathouse except for assistance dogs which are welcome to accompany their owners
Public toilets can be found very nearby in the Beach Road car park. There is no access to toilets at the lifeboat station
We kindly request that visitors do not bring food or drinks, other than water into the lifeboat station

For more information on access or if you have any other questions, please get in touch with Lifeboat Visits Officer, John Tomlinson by email wellsvisits@rnli.org.uk

Please do not contact the lifeboat station by phone; it may be needed for emergency use.

We have a shop onsite and during the times it is open, you are welcome to visit and see the station and lifeboats from the viewing gallery. These visits do not require booking but please note that the boat and boat hall will not be accessible. You can check opening times for the shop on our Facebook page and website

Registrations are closed

Wells Lifeboat and Station Tour