Its population ebbs and flows like the tides that run in and out of its picturesque harbour.
But could local democracy in Burnham Overy now be left high and dry?
The village has been told it will have to re-run its parish council elections because not enough people stood to keep it afloat.
Just two candidates were nominated in the second homes hotspot for the local elections two weeks ago.
That left five of its seven council seats vacant and the council inquorate, leaving it unable to operate.
As a result, efforts are under way in the tiny community to find more candidates willing to stand, before villagers have to head back to the polls on June 22.
Some 70pc of the 216 properties in the village are second homes or holiday lets - one of the highest proportions in the UK.
So is this a factor in the struggle to find people willing to join the parish council?
Dave Kelly, who runs a coffee stall beside the harbour with partner Sandy Nunes Vaz, thinks it might be.
"It's a small village," he said. "And there aren't actually all that many people who live here all the time."
Others agreed.
"You won't get far knocking on doors," one man said. "A lot of people who live here work away in London all week, they're only here at weekends."
But other villagers insisted that - after a false start - local democracy was stirring in the community once again.
"There's still plenty of people who live here," one said. "On the village WhatsApp group I can see there's going to be a lot of people standing.
"There has to be some new blood, you can't just have the same old cronies all the time."
Ms Nunes Vaz was confident too.
"People hadn't really grasped how it all works. The council all pretty much came to the end of their terms at the same time.
"Now we know people are stepping up, it's going to be fine.
"I run the village chat so I posted on that asking if people would stand."
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Rather than the second home factor, she said the nomination procedure - where candidates have to take their paperwork in person to West Norfolk council, rather than post it - may have driven down the number of candidates.
"That's just daft," she said. "If I wanted to do it, I'd have to take time off work to deliver to King's Lynn."
One former parish councillor - who also wished to remain under the radar - said: "They seem to have the numbers now.
"Various people have offered to stand, there's definitely three already, maybe four."
So the outlook for Burnham Overy's democracy is looking a little brighter.
After all, there is plenty to debate in the little village.
The previous regime objected to proposals from Norfolk County Council to reduce the speed limit through the village to 20mph, as part of a wider package of traffic calming measures along the main A149 coast road between Hunstanton and Sheringham.
The debate is now parked in the new council's in-tray.
"We haven't asked them for it, they're just imposing it on us," the former councillor said. "A 20mph limit would just be unenforceable."
Interested candidates have until 4pm on May 25 to get their nominations in.
As long as enough candidates can be found, elections will be held on Thursday, June 22.
The polling station in the village hall will open from 7am to 10pm.
The village known for famed seafarers, weekend sailors and second home owners
Nelson was born in nearby Burnham Thorpe and learned to sail at Burnham Overy before he joined the navy at the age of 12.
The Hero, the village's only pub is named after him.
Richard Woodget, master of the tea clipper Cutty Sark, also lived in the village and is buried at Burnham Norton.
Sailing remains the village's biggest draw, with its harbour on the winding estuary of the River Burn packed with craft of all shapes and sizes.
Nature is another visitor magnet, with bitterns currently booming out on the marshes and regular visits from spoonbills and egrets.
Burnham Overy's permanent population fell from 311 at the 2001 census, to 167 at the 2011 count.
The village is one of the coast's second homes hotspots.
Its most famous incomer was Anna, the hero of Joan G Robinson's 1967 children's novel When Marnie Was There, who comes to the Norfolk coast to recover from an illness and makes a mysterious new friend.
Its author was staying in the village when she walked past a house on the corner of the harbour and saw a young girl sitting at the window having her hair brushed.
She spent the rest of her holiday writing its first draft.
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