She was nicknamed 'Granny Canute' for refusing to move as the sea gradually carved its way through her garden and eventually doomed her old house.
And now Bryony Nierop-Reading fears she is about to lose yet another home as coastal erosion claims ever more of Happisburgh.
Mrs Nierop-Reading moved to Happisburgh in 2009, living in a 1930s, three-bedroom bungalow in Beach Road which she bought for £25,000.
The house was around 20ft from the cliff edge at the time, but just four years later it was hanging perilously over the edge.
But Mrs Nierop-Reading opted to stay put and so missed out on £13,000 she could have claimed as part of a £3 million 'roll back' scheme which bought and demolished erosion-threatened properties.
But she was eventually forced to leave - in December 2013 - after a devastating North Sea tidal surge decimated the Norfolk coast.
Thousands of people were forced to flee their homes and the surge claimed around around a third of Miss Nierop-Reading's bungalow.
A week later she watched on as the rest of the structure was demolished.
Mrs Nierop-Reading said: “It is shocking when your life is suddenly dislocated and your home is snatched from under you by the waves."
She then moved into a caravan on land she owned, but faced a second fight to keep a roof over her head when North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) told her the plot was not designated for residential use.
READ MORE: Coastal car park could close in WEEKS as nearby cliffs crumble
Now, 10 years on, the 78-year-old still lives in Beach Road, after moving into a house on the other side of the road.
But her new home is next in line to be lost to the sea.
“I’m absolutely terrified now," Mrs Nierop-Reading said. "I look out of my bathroom window every morning and see the cliff edge closing in.
“It’s not that I didn’t expect it to happen one day, but I didn’t expect it to happen this quickly.”
During the recent storms Babet and Cairon, Happisburgh lost around six metres (20ft) of coastline in as many weeks.
Miss Nierop-Reading still owns half of a field next to the Beach Road car park – both of which are now crumbling into the sea.
“I’ve left the land to my grandchildren in my will, but I don’t think anything will be left by then,” she said.
“It’s time to fight back. We need to protect our coastline.”
READ MORE: 'This could be my last Christmas here!' - Mum's fears for home as cliffs fall away
Coastal defences were constructed along the north Norfolk coast, including Happisburgh, between the 1950s and 70s, but they were only designed to last 20 to 30 years and the government never planned to renew them.
The cliffs at Happisburgh are also a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), requiring permission to build any new defences as it is a protected natural environment.
Happisburgh Parish Council recently announced the village’s Beach Road car park could close this year if access is cut off by erosion.
The car park brought in £70,500 for the parish council last year.
David Mole, chairman of the council, said: “The parish council has always said the Beach Road car park is vital to Happisburgh.
“Without it, there won’t be anywhere for people to park.
“We’ve got a solution within our grasp which we know we can achieve. We now want to push this through before we lose our car park.”
The car park opened just over a decade ago in 2012 after being moved further inland as part of the £3 million government UK Coastal Change Pathfinder programme.
In 2009, NNDC used the money to buy nine at-risk properties, paying owners the market value of their homes before demolishing them.
There are now plans to 'roll back' the car park once more to a 3.2-acre site behind the row of houses on Beach Road, which will be accessed via a new track off Lighthouse Lane.
NNDC delayed the plans after receiving local objections.
The parish council hopes to be granted permission in January to build the access road off Lighthouse House, which will temporarily be used to access the existing car park before the new one is built.
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