Thoughts on Norwich

I spent several days in Norwich in 1989 and liked it a lot. Very charming. I was visiting an elderly friend so I have no helpful info on anything a tourist would enjoy. Have you Googled it?

Wikipedia has an extensive entry on Norwich. It is now one of the weekend getaways for big city peeps. It has one of the biggest outdoor markets...probably some good buys on books. It is also a favorite antiques destination. Lots of ancient buildings, etc. Look at the National Trust UK online site for other sites in this location. We did go to Kings Lynn: it was Capt. Cook's home town. You are also pretty close to Cambridge.

Its been a very long time since I have been to Norwich but I am from that part of the country so I will leave a comment. Its a university town with a Norman Castle (keep) that has a museum. As someone else commented, there has been a slight increase in more people going to Norwich for weekend breaks. As I recall, the town itself its a little ordinary. Most people tend to go to the Norfolk Broads or the Coastline. There are also some pretty Suffolk Villages and Norfolk villages to explore if you have a car. It really is a beautiful areas that is often overlooked by many American tourists. Its just a little bit too far away from London for day trips and most tourist want to head to the Cotswolds. If your plan on staying there for a few days, Google the Norfolk Broads. Sandringham Estate is also about 1 hour away from Norwich (one of the queens homes and is open to the public certain times of the year when she is not there) and is really nice to visit. You don't say if your plan on staying in that area for awhile to explore or plan on just heading to Norwich for a day trip. I am not sure I would really go out of my way to visit it. - Its never on my list of places to visit when I am home in that direction.

6 years ago, I used Norwich as a base for day trips by car. It is well worth a stay/visit. I managed to to several stately homes plus Sandringham = the Queen’s estate in Norfolk along with the coastal town of Hunstanton. I also managed a day trip to Cambridge & then up to Ely before heading back to Norwich. I also went south to the lovely Suffolk villages of Lavenham & Cavendish.

The coast of East Anglia (the part of England that bulges out into the North Sea) is more boring than most of the other coasts of England & Wales. The large seaside town of Great Yarmouth is rather tacky - I did not even get out of the car!
http://www.visitnorwich.co.uk

I have been to Norwich dozens of times and never particularly associate it with books any more than any other UK town. Ask most Brits to name a book town and they will say Hay on Wye, where half the shops are book shops, the rest being cafes!

They used to say that Norwich had 52 churches, one for every week of the year, 365 pubs, one for every day of the year and it used to have 12 markets, one for every month. Times change.

Norwich is a very pleasant city, but had more character before they built the large shopping centre a decade or so ago. It's a great base for exploring the Norfolk Broads and the gorgeous north Norfolk coastline. The area around the Cathedral is very pretty and the Cathedral itself is worth a visit. Some of the very old timbered houses remain up near the John Lewis store. The RS books are weak on all of southern England except for London, despite some areas being well worthy of a visit.

Norwich is worth a stop, but you don't say what your alternatives are.

Thank you all for the responses. We will be staying in Portmeirion on Saturday, and need to get to Canterbury area for a golf tee time on Monday (we wanted Tuesday to give us more time, but it was not available). It is 5+ hours from Portmeirion to Norwich, and we needed to get someplace over on the east side of the country. We have not seen much over in that area, so I googled around and found the literary mention. We will be hitting town mid Sunday afternoon when many stores will be closing. May have some time but not much in the morning before we have to head south. If anyone has a suggestion for someplace else that fits our travel plan (the tee time on Monday afternoon at Royal St. George's), I would be interested. We have been to the UK many times, but haven't found anything right up the middle that interested us in staying over.
For all those that mentioned Hay-on-Wye, thanks! That sounds like something that would interest my daughter on the way up to Portmeirion.
Thanks again~

What Keith said. I think it is perhaps a new advertising slogan made up for their tourist ads.

You might want to go to Cambridge instead. A lovely university town.
Good bookstores and used bookstores.
Good hotels, restaurants, pubs, and lovely walks through the Cambridge University campus.

Norwich--I would not go there for bookstores.
It has some very good Tudor-era buildings.
But I would not go expecting to find
the number of good bookstores that are found in Cambridge.
Cambridge would be my pick for bookstores.

Do you have any interest in Arthur Ransome's childrens books? After the Lake District, this is the area.

If you are going from Portmeirion to Canterbury, going over to Norwich is going way off course. It is certainly not some place that is en-route to Canterbury. What is one a more direct alignment would be Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford. To get to Canterbury, you would have to go around London on the very busy M25.

Put in for a route from Porthmadog (Portmeirion) to Canterbury via Hay-on-Wye. (It also goes through the Cotswolds on a main road from which you could take detours to villages). DO NOT try and go from Portmeirion to Canterbury in 1 day.
http://www.theaa.com/route-planner/index.jsp

If you are going by train - not going via Norwich:> Minffordd ( little station by Portmeirion - put hand out to stop train) or use Porthmadog station. This train will get you all the way to Birmingham where you can get an express to London (Euston). You then go to St.Pancras station for the high speed service to Canterbury. (It might be cheaper to split the fares at Birmingham & London).
www.nationalrail.co.uk

PS. A very nice golf course can be found at Nefyn - which is about 18 miles west of Portmeirion.

Hay-on-Wye is a great town for book stores, we were there and enjoyed it.

Thanks to all that suggested Hay-on-Wye. I switched one of our reservations to stay there on the way to Portmeirion.

Don't know if your trip includes London, but it has dozens of great bookstores.
Some of the used bookstores are good, too.

James mentioned Oxford.
Good bookstores there, too.
But not as many as in Hay-on-Wye.

Since your daughter is interested in bookstores, she'll want to see this thread, which includes libraries as well as bookstores, and has information about them in various countries, including the UK: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/best-libraries-bookstores-in-europe