Village and Hemsby Beach. Hemsby Village is mainly the residential area, about a mile inland. Kingsway is an area of the village which includes a Co-op shop, hairdressers and a Chinese restaurant. This is also the main location for buses into Great Yarmouth and Martham. St Mary the Virgin Church was built in the 12th century and is a landmark in the village. The Scroby Sands wind farm was built in 2003 and is clearly visible from the village and the beach. The Blood Hill wind farm is also near the village in Winterton. The Met Office operated the Hemsby meteorological station (WMO ID: 03496) from 1948 to 2001. The site hosted a suite of surface and upper observations (including radiosonde), and an Upper Air Training School during this period. Hemsby Beach The tourist-based part of the village lies along Beach Road and is commonly known as Hemsby Beach. It features funfairs, crazy golf courses and children's rides. The beach end of the road has cafes, shops and amusement arcades, while at the upper end are houses and accommodation parks, consisting mainly of chalets and caravans. Herbert Potter purchased land in Hemsby; this was the original site of the first permanent and mixed-use holiday camp in the United Kingdom, Potters Resort. The holiday camp opened in 1920 with wooden huts as standard. The camp was moved down the coast to Hopton-on-Sea in 1924, and the original site was sold. The largest of the accommodation parks was a branch of Pontins, but this closed in 2009. Former Pontins holiday camp For many years, there were two holiday camps, Seacroft holiday camp on the North side of Beach Road and Maddisons Camp on the South side of Beach Road. There was friendly rivalry and football matches held and overall brought prosperity to the village. Both were bought by Fred Pontin. The original 9 acre holiday camp was opened in 1920 by Harry Maddison, and run by his family until 1971. Pontins replaced the wooden chalets with new apartment-style pre-cast concrete accommodation blocks. At its peak, the camp of 22 acres had four single-storey chalet blocks and 44 two-storey chalet blocks, providing 512 individual chalets in three grades that could accommodate up to 2,440 holidaymakers and 50 onsite staff beds. The 50 onsite buildings provided: reception and information centre; amusement arcade; fast food outlet; a play area; an entertainment hall seating 1,700; smaller