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Be a Destinations-UK-Ireland Sponsor  Some of our Norfolk Articles Diss Norfolk Windmills Trust Walsingham Village and Pilgrimage Grimes Graves Norwich Thetford Priory The Broads National Park Other England Articles  Book your Youth Hostel accommodation through usOne easy click away |
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By any stretch of the imagination, Norfolk is not the place to see quintessential English villages or mountains—it is flat with a low hill here and there. But it has other unique and interesting treasures that include a heritage coast and windmills, a national park, and lots of opportunities to be on the water. 
Norwich is the county’s main city. With a large pedestrianized area, it is easy to walk around. The cathedral, begun in 1095, is considered one of the finest complete Romanesque buildings in Europe. It has 1100 beautifully carved roof bosses and the second highest spire in England. Norwich Castle houses an interesting museum that tells the history of the keep and the castle, built 60 years after William the Conqueror’s one on the same site, but both are no longer in existence. In the museum is a large collection of teapots and Cotman watercolours. The guildhall dates from 1407, and the Bridewell museum is housed in a medieval merchant’s house. Dragon Hall is another medieval merchant’s hall with an outstanding timber framed structure. 
Nearby, the Berney Arms windmill, seven stories high, is considered one of Norfolk’s best. The Sutton windmill is advertised as Britain’s tallest. It has a museum of social life. The Horsey Windpump is a drainage windmill. 
Loddon is a market town on the river Chet. Loddon’s watermill is 400 years old and the only all timber mill in England. Within three miles of the town are 13 medieval churches. Holy Trinity church has a priest’s room over the porch where priests visiting from Langley abbey stayed overnight. Nearby is Thurlton with a 14th century thatched church. Hales has a Norman church full of treasures and craftsmanship. At Raveningham is a 13th century church. 
Ranworth Broad Nature Reserve is worth a visit. There’s a floating information centre reached by a boardwalk through the marshy land. In the centre are information boards on the Broads and their history. There are views of the reserve through purpose built windows. 
Reedham is fun. To get across the water, you take a tiny two car ferry on a chain. The roads here are washboardy because of the marshy land. It has a very strong Norfolk atmosphere. 
Wroxham is the capital of the Broads and a very busy tourist centre. Here you can catch any number of boat tours of the broads that last 30 minutes-1 hour. The most interesting part of the tour is right at the beginning where the cottages sit on piles sunk into the marshy ground. If you want to splurge you can rent your own boat. 
Pulham Market is an attractive village with a green and a church. It, like many of the Norfolk towns, has a village sign. There is a medieval church, St Mary’s, with a tower. 
At the busy and interesting town of Wymondham are the ruins of an abbey and a parish church sitting side by side. Don’t miss the church. The church screen and canopy are beautiful, all in glittering gold built between 1900 and 1919. In the north aisle are medieval screens and on the hammerbeam roof are carved angels and gargoyles. In the town are a heritage museum, an old pub, the 14th century Green Dragon, a lovely riverside walk, and a market cross. The railroad station, on the edge of the town, has old time train memorabilia in it and a restaurant that plays music from the 40s. 
Felbrigg Hall has attractive large grounds with lots of trees and walks. The walled garden is a great place on a sunny day and has a dovecote (in use). The house is an amalgamation of different centuries with plasterwork of note. There’s a good restaurant and shop and walks in the park. 
Holt is a busy and cheerful town with bric a brac and antique shops. In the town is a deli/café, Byfords, thought to be the oldest house in Holt. The cellar may date back to the 15th century. The building survived the Holt fire in 1708 and a further fire in 1906. For more than 100 years it was a hardware/ironmongers under the ownership of the Byford family from which the building took its name. In the late 1980s the building facade was covered in white render, the interior dry rot and original features hidden. The building features have since been restored. 
Binham, in a haunting out-of-the-way spot, is the extensive remains of a former priory, founded in the late 11th century by a nephew of William the Conqueror. It was besieged by rebels against King John in 1212. Suppressed in 1539, it became ruined except for the church, still in use. 
Blickling Hall is part 16th century, altered in the 17th. The dry moat is left over from an earlier Tudor house. The ceiling plasterwork is beautiful, especially in the long gallery. Look for the marmalade maker in the basement kitchen. Gravel paths lead through the trees and lawns where bluebells bloom in the spring. A self-serve restaurant serves delicious food. 
Cromer is a Victorian seaside town with many hotels and boarding houses from that era. There is a large carpark by the sea, and walks along the cliffs. (Unfortunately many are defaced with ugly, huge trailer parks between here and Sheringham). Sheringham’s interest lies in the Sheringham to Holt steam train, a 20-minute journey that goes through National Trust woods where you can alight for a walk. The restored station at Sheringham has a tearoom. 
Along Norfolk’s A149 coast road are marshlands with birdwatching areas: Cley next the Sea, Blakeney, and Morston marshes. Blakeney Point is a foremost bird sanctuary with a 3½ mile long sand and shingle spit (reach it by foot from Cley beach or ferry from Morston and Blakeney). Wells next the Sea is a large market town. Cley next the Sea has a windmill and a 14th century church, St Margaret, with much of interest. 
The Burnham villages—Deepdale, Market, Norton and Overy—are pleasant to visit. Burnham Market has a village green and interesting little shops. Overy has old maltings and two windmills. Norton has a ruined friary. The interesting village of Stiffkey has a red road, red walls along it, and red houses. 
Little Walsingham is a fascinating medieval place of pilgrimage, with a ruined window wall remaining. A little museum (Shirehall) shows bygone photos and boards provide information on the abbey. The village is full of old houses and is interesting to walk around. 
Holkham Hall, worth a whole day out, is the home of the Earls of Leicester and has been for 250 years. It sits in a 3000-acre deer park that includes a lake. The house of yellow brick was built between 1734 and 1764 in the 18th century Palladian style. The entrance hall is impressive. The staterooms have gilded and decorated ceilings. There is a Bygones Collection in the former stables where 4000 items include steam engines, vintage cars, and kitchenware. Holkham pottery and two gift shops, a restaurant, cafeteria, plant nursery, and homemade ice cream provide other reasons to linger. 
Across the highway from the Hall grounds are further attractions. Walk through the nature reserve to the beach where the final scene in the movie Shakespeare in Love was filmed. The large expanse of sand and dunes takes more than half an hour’s walking to reach the sea at low tide. You can continue down the beach (part of the Norfolk Coast Path) and head over the Overy Marshes back to the highway. 
Norfolk’s other home of fame is Sandringham, the Queen's holiday home in 60 acres of landscaped grounds that it shares with a church. A tour allows visitors to see the dining room, drawing room, and two parlours. They are homey rooms, not grand, and have lots of family photos and collections in curio cabinets. There is a museum with photographs and vintage family cars in the grounds. Sandringham Park sits on the opposite side of the road and is free to wander in, have picnics, play ball games, and go for walks. 
South of Holkham is Creake abbey ruins, an Augustinian abbey dating from medieval times, falling into ruin in 1506. Castle Rising is a high moated castle where Queen Isabella lived after Edward died. The keep, thought to be the finest 12th century preserved one in England, is huge and partially roofed. In the village are medieval almshouses and a church. 
Castle Acre Priory ruins are much more extensive and include the prior’s house and a 12th century church. There’s an interesting audio tour and a small museum. Castle Acre, the village, is attractive with its treed village green running down the centre of the main street and the slight remains of a castle. It is the site of one of the greatest Norman settlements in England. 
Oxburgh Hall is a medieval moated house (much altered but still retaining its priests’ hole) with a massive seven-storied gatehouse. The furniture is a hodge podge of bits and pieces put together from previous pieces and looks very Victorian—dark, heavy, and carved. There is a Catholic church with a beautiful 16th century screen in the grounds. 
Great Bircham windmill is near Houghton Hall, the former home of Robert Walpole, first Prime Minister. The windmill is five floors high. If you don’t mind climbing ladders, there’s a great view at the top. You can visit the staterooms, bedrooms, entrance hall, saloon, and dining room in the home. The extravagant ceilings are painted and gilded. The guides are interesting to talk with. Also on the grounds is a 12th century church and gardens. 
Bressingham Gardens, near Diss, run a steam train through their gardens and have a large garden shop. You can view the six acre Dell and Foggy Bottom gardens. In Sheringham Park’s landscaped grounds are a woodland garden, rhododendrons, azaleas, and viewing towers. Mannington Gardens surround a medieval moated manor and are noted for their heritage rose and 20th century rose gardens. Raveningham Gardens have herbaceous borders, a walled kitchen garden, a Victorian glasshouse, a rose garden, and a 14th century church. 
For something completely different, visit Grimes Graves on open heathland near Thetford forest. These are not graves but Neolithic flint mines dating c BC2200-2500, and their location can be seen by the 300 depressions in the ground at the site. One mine is open for viewing and has a ladder which you can descend to see the horizontal shafts. Some of the mines have yielded finds such as antler picks. 
Billingford Cornmill 
Great Bircham Mill 
Horsey Mill