My list just got longer.
Norwich Castle fully reopens after five year closure for £27.5m renovation https://share.google/XmEaJhp43bQ3OcEP7
No date set yet but we've been loosely planning a trip to England from London-York-Durham-Bamburgh and some points in between. Norwich doesn't follow the line I've drawn to the others but the renovated castle looks interesting. Is Norwich a worthy destination to add to the list even though it's a bit off the path from my other potential destinations?
No answer to your question as I am planning East Anglia next spring. Are you a Constable fan? I found this…
Norwich has one of the great cathedrals. I have a list of the best Cathedrals and large churches and am planning to see Norwich on my October trip this year. Norwich is an Unesco Heritage Site for literature so I am going to figure out if there are any important libraries or historic literary sites there. Blickling Estate is also somewhat near Norwich.
I'm just planning out my East Anglia stops now and so far it is heavy on Cathedrals, Peterborough, Ely, Norwich, and Bury-St-Edmonds. There are lots of interesting smaller towns also so I'm debating when/whether to rent a car, or scale back my list and stick to trains and buses for this trip. A car is a problem in cities like Peterborough and Norwich. Too much to see, as is always the case.
Norwich isn't too much of a diversion as there are the hourly trains to Peterborough (ultimate destination Liverpool), change for York.
Those run via Ely- another of England's great Cathedrals, a very historic town.
The North Norfolk coast is easily accessible by train and onward bus.
So yes a very worthy diversion IMO.
Definitely add Norwich- very nice town with scenic streets (like Elm Hill), a river walk, and of course, the best part as mentioned above, the cathedral- one of the best in the country. If you have time, the north Norfolk coast is one of my favourite places in the UK- "big sky country" with beautiful flat marshland, great seafood, wonderful for walking. Blickling Hall as mentioned above is great to visit (birthplace of Anne Boleyn) and there's also Felbrigg Hall which I haven't made it to yet but is meant to be other beautiful estate.
c00smith, if you are looking to visit beautiful cathedrals in the area- we were just at Lincoln cathedral this weekend, a bit north of East Anglia, and it was one of the best I've seen. The town is lovely as well- up on a hill with an historic castle and castle walls you can walk along. In case you needed more ideas! I am curious what other cathedrals are on your list (and glad to see you are visiting Ely, another great one).
I’m glad to see that the castle has finally opened with several delays along the way. We were in Norwich for 3 weeks this spring and left exactly 2 months before it reopened. We really appreciated the barrier free access to the Norwich cathedral with parking arranged in the park by calling the cathedral office 24h in advance. I’m sure the castle’s barrier free access with this major renovation will be excellent too. We really liked the St Peter’s Mancroft church in the city center, especially its bell ringing center. Further away we enjoyed impressive Ely with its “ship in the fens” feel. On another day we visited King’s College Chapel and walked to the little church in the village of Grantchester. We did these excursions by train and bus.
another vote for Norfolk, Norwich, and a great big vote for both the north and east coasts including the Broads.
Thought that Calgary being a million miles from the coast, perhaps a county with water on three sides would be nice.
Oh, and Sandringham if you're interested in the late Queen or the current King and associated royalty.
Norwich is definitely worth thinking about - its the equal of York even though it doesn't have a town wall..The cathedral is splendid and it also has many impressive medievl churches. There's s lot of history to discover if you do the research. Elm Hill is a typical medieval street complete with cobbles but far fewer tourists than places like York. It is also compact and easily explored on foot.
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you might consider Orford, I have a friend who lived there for a few years and just loved it. It's right on the coast, allegedly has a merman in the harbor and turns out to be a very important part of military history (you can find documentaries and books about this).
The answers so far have been helpful and made me realize that it's probably not worth deviating from my current plan because I think Norwich and area may deserves a week or two on its own. To give some context, we spent 2 weeks in 2023 visiting sites from Salisbury to Canterbury and I'm starting to think I could do the same in East Anglia. I'm not sure if it's part of East Anglia, but we visited Brightlingsea in 2018 on a daytrip from London to visit my mother-in-law's cousin and I was intrigued by that area. Here's an excerpt from that Trip Report:
Brightlingsea is a sleepy town of less than 10,000 and likely not on
any tourist must-see lists. Parts of the church date back to the 13th
century, but when I looked into the area history it’s quite
interesting. There was a pot discovered in a field dating back to 4000
BC and also remains found from the Bronze, Roman and Saxon ages. It
was also a naval base for the war against France from 1798-1810, WW1
and WW2. Our cousin told a story of how when he was a boy, the
corrugated metal fence in their backyard backed up against the naval
base. One night he heard an air battle going on overhead (back then he
and the other young boys would watch many air battles) and had the
crap scared out of him when bullets started hitting the backyard
fence.
We'd probably go back there and also visit Cambridge, Norwich and continue to expand from there (Sutton Hoo is also in the neighbourhood isn't it?). I see a preliminary plan coming together. I just don't know when though, we're in London for 10 days in November, nothing planned yet for 2026 but I really want to do my London-York-Bamburgh route which I'm calling my Last Kingdom tour part 2 and I think I'll need 2 weeks for it. Part 1 was part of our Salisbury to Canterbury trip. I'm a big fan of the Last Kingdom books and TV show and it got me very interested in that period of English history.
Yes, Sutton Hoo is also in East Anglia (in Suffolk) and you could absolutely combine that with these other suggestions, plus all the lovely Suffolk coast towns like Aldeburgh.
If you are planning to stick to your current route, definitely include Seahouses (just south of Bamburgh) from where you can get a boat out to/around the Farne Islands, where you can see lots of seabirds including puffins in spring/early summer. And if you have time I highly recommend a walk out to Lindisfarne, further north, during low tide.
Norwich is definitely worth a visit. If you are interested in history and architecture, look up the Norwich Historic Churches Trust (www.nhct-norwich.org) They have suggested walking routes to visit their many old churches, and can also provide descriptions and histories of the buildings.
Last year my husband and I stayed in Cambridge, Norwich, and Ipswich and added day trips to Ely, King's Lynn, The Broads, Bury St. Edmunds, and Colchester. Easy trip by train and thoroughly enjoyed all the history.
I would go to Lincoln instead. Not so much out of your way and has a fantastic cathedral and castle. The town itself is great for strolling around with its redeveloped riverside.
Steep hill is aptly named.
I think Norwich and area may deserves a week or two on its own
Yes , you could easily fill a couple of weeks in East Anglia.
East Anglia is a much under rated area and doesn't get that many foreign tourists. This is a shame as it has some lovely rolling country side and genuinely 'quaint' towns. Wool made the area very prosperous in the Middle Ages and this is reflected in the magnificent churches. There are stately homes, steam railways, ruined castles, the broads as well as some superb coaastline - everything from sandy beaches to marshland which is excellent for bird watching. Throw in places like Sutton Hoo, Grimes Graves, Sandringham.... what more could you want!
Thanks to those of you who added iinks as it is helpful to me, lol.
Allan, I'm doing the Seymour Travels East Anglia tour next April. Just adding a link in here to give you some possible itinerary ideas for your East Anglia trip, lolol!!
https://www.seymourtravels.co.uk/norfolk-and-suffolk-east-anglia
I don't have my plans fully formed for before and after the tour but it will include time in London to go see the British Museum's Sutton Hoo rooms.
IF you do Facebook, Mark Seymour also does little vignettes to get people interested in history of the locations he visits. Here is one he did on the bucket found at Sutton Hoo:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FqoQczt2U/
The YouTube videos from the Time Team recent dig there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=risyQhRjwnw
And here's an amusing look at what might have happened when Constable was painting on his FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CpLDMMMpK/
I'm really looking forward to visiting this part of England!
Big vote for Norwich--we visit family there almost every trip.
I won't spam with recommendations as it seems you may hold off for a bigger East Anglia trip in the future, but there are great food, activities, and just general walks around town.
Thanks for the links Pam, my wife and I spent a couple of hours yesterday focusing on East Anglia. We have no idea when we'll go, but we think we will. In order of my interests that I'll be researching to see how much time we'll actually need; castles, Vikings, Romans.
