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 Norwich is a city that seems to have everything you could desire of a vibrant regional capital! The most complete medieval city in Britain, it is also one of the UK's top ten shopping destinations with the largest outdoor market in England, making it a popular destination for a diverse and sophisticated city break. Attractions include the Norman Cathedral and Castle, the cobbled streets and museums of old Norwich, its many medieval churches and secular buildings, and its broad range of specialist and independent retailers. It also makes an ideal base from which to explore the Norfolk Broads, Britain’s largest protected wetland with 200km of lock-free rivers, woodland and fens.
Arrival and Information The train station is on the east bank of the River Wensum, ten minutes' walk from the city centre along Prince of Wales Road. Long distance buses terminate at the Surrey Street station, also little more than ten minutes' walk from the town centre. The tourist office is in The Forum beside the Market Place (June-Sept Mon-Sat 10am-5pm; Oct-May Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat 10am-2pm; tel 01603/666071, ). The Broads Authority Office , 18 Colegate (tel 01603/610734, ), is a useful source of information for those heading for the Broads. The best way to see the city is on foot and the tourist office's city walking tours are a good way of getting the lie of the land. It's also worth bearing in mind the riverbus, which runs from the Elm Hill Quay to the Thorpe Road Quay, opposite the train station, providing an inexpensive means of cruising Norwich's central waterway. They are operated by City Boats (tel 01603/701701), who also offer a limited range of longer cruises out into the surrounding countryside and to the Norfolk Broads from both the Elm Hill and Thorpe Road quays.
More Information on Norwich One of the five largest cities in Norman England, NORWICH once served a vast hinterland of cloth producers in the eastern counties, whose work was brought here by river and exported to the continent. Its isolated position beyond the Fens meant that it enjoyed closer links with the Low Countries than with the rest of England - it was, after all, quicker to cross the North Sea than to go cross-country to London - and by 1700 Norwich was the second richest city in the country after London.
With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, Norwich lost ground to the northern manufacturing towns - the city's famous mustard company, Colman's is one of its few industrial success stories. This, and its continuing geographical isolation, has helped preserve much of the ancient street plan as well as many of the city's older buildings. Pride of place goes to the beautiful cathedral and the castle, but the city's hallmark is its medieval churches , thirty or so squat flintstone structures with sturdy towers and sinuous stone tracery round the windows. Isolation has also meant that the population has never swelled to any great extent and today Norwich remains an easy and enjoyable city to negotiate. Yet despite the perception popularised by Steve Coogan's 'Alan Partridge', Norwich is no unsophisticated, provincial backwater. In the 1960s, the foundation of the University of East Anglia (UEA) made it more cosmopolitan and bolstered its arts scene, while in the 1980s it attracted new high-tech companies, who created something of a mini-boom, making the city one of England's wealthiest. As East Anglia's unofficial capital, Norwich also lies at the hub of the region's transport network and serves as a useful base for visiting the Broads, and even as a springboard for the north Norfolk coast.Destination Guides > Europe & Russia > Europe > England > East Anglia > Norwich
The City Tucked into a sweeping bend of the River Wensum, Norwich's irregular street plan, a Saxon legacy, can make orientation difficult. There are, however, three obvious landmarks to help you find your way - the cathedral with its giant spire, the Norman castle on its commanding mound and the distinctive clocktower of City Hall. The cathedral and the castle are the town's premier attractions and the latter also holds one of the region's most satisfying collections of fine art.  At the north end of Tombland, the cobbled Elm Hill is a street of quirky half-timbered houses which opens out into a triangular square centred on a plane tree, planted on the spot where the eponymous elm tree from Henry VIII's time once stood.
The Bridewell Museum, along Bridewell Alley, is one of the city's more enjoyable museums. Formerly the city jail, it holds a pot-pourri of old machines, adverts, signs, and reconstructed shops celebrating Norwich's old trades and industry. Inevitably, there's much on the all-important mustard industry, which did much to keep the city's economy afloat in its more troubled times. For more information on Norwich: Visit Norwich Market Place The city's Market Place is the site of one of the country's largest open-air markets, with stalls selling everything from bargain-basement clothes to local mussels and whelks. The market has recently been downsized and undergone redevelopment, and the new market stalls have proved controversial despite retaining the famous brightly coloured striped canopies. (Visit the official Norwich Market website) Across Gentlemen's Walk , the town's main promenade which runs along the bottom of the market place, is the Royal Arcade, an Art Nouveau extravagance from 1899. The arcade has been beautifully restored to reveal the swirl and blob of the tiling, ironwork and stained glass, though it's actually the eastern entrance, further from Gentlemen's Walk, which is the most appealing section Norwich Castle  Perched high on a grassy mound in the centre of town, and imaginatively tailored into a brand new shopping mall down below, the stern walls of Norwich Castle , replete with blind arcading and dating from the twelfth century, were built to intimidate the local population. To begin with they were a reminder of Norman power and then, when the castle was turned into a prison, they served as a grim warning to potential law-breakers. Recently refurbished in lavish style, the castle now holds an excellent Museum and Art Gallery. It boasts an outstanding selection of work by the Norwich School, including John Crome - aka "Old Crome" - and John Sell Cotman, who is generally acknowledged as one of England's finest watercolourists. Both have a gallery to themselves and, helpfully, there's also a gallery given over to those Dutch painters who influenced them.
The Castle Keep contains a scattering of local archaeological finds, a gibbet and other exhibits that illustrate traditional forms of punishment. It also houses a model dragon, known as Snap, which was paraded round town on the annual guilds' day procession - a folkloric hand-me-down from the dragon St George had so much trouble polishing off. To see more of the Keep, join one of the regular guided tours that explore the battlements and dungeons throughout the day. Visit the Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery website. Norwich Cathedral Norwich Cathedral is distinguished by its prickly octagonal spire which rises to a height of 315ft, second only to Salisbury. It's best viewed from the Lower Close to the west, where the thick curves of the flying buttresses, the rounded excrescences of the ambulatory chapels - unusual in an English cathedral - and the straight symmetries of the main body can all be seen to perfection.  The interior is pleasantly light thanks to a creamy tint in the stone and the clear glass windows of much of the nave, where the thick pillars are a powerful legacy of the Norman builders who began the cathedral in 1096. Look up to spy the nave's fan vaulting, delicate and geometrically precise carving adorned by several hundred roof bosses recounting - from east to west - the story of the Old and New Testaments from the Creation to the Last Judgement. Moving on, wander down the south side of the ambulatory to reach St Luke's Chapel , where the cathedral's finest work of art, the Despenser Reredos , is a superb painted panel commissioned to celebrate the crushing of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Accessible from the south aisle of the nave are the cathedral's unique cloisters . Built between 1297 and 1450, and the only two-storey cloisters left standing in England, they contain a remarkable set of sculpted bosses , similar to the ones in the main nave, but close enough to be scrutinized without binoculars. The carving is fabulously intricate and the dominant theme is the Apocalypse, but look out also for the bosses depicting green men, pagan fertility symbols. A computer screen by the main entrance gives the low-down on all of the bosses.
Visit the Norwich Cathedral website. Outside, beside the main entrance, stands the medieval Canary Chapel . This is the original building of Norwich School, whose blue-blazered pupils are often visible during term time - the rambling school buildings are adjacent. A statue of the school's most famous boy, Horatio Nelson, faces the chapel, standing on the green of the Upper Close , which is guarded by two ornate and imposing medieval gates, Erpingham and, a few yards to the south, Ethelbert . Beside the Erpingham gate is a memorial to Edith Cavell, a local woman who was a nurse in occupied Brussels during World War I. Both gates lead onto the old Saxon market place, Tombland , a wide and busy thoroughfare whose name derives from the Saxon word for an open space. Tombland is a convenient place to start an exploration of the rest of the city centre, but instead you might prefer to wander pedestrianized Cathedral Close , which extends east to the river from - and including - the Upper Close. Just beyond the Upper Close is the Lower Close , where a scattering of silver birches is flanked by attractive Georgian and Victorian houses. Keeping straight, the footpath continues east to Pull's Ferry , a landing stage at the city's medieval watergate, named after the last ferryman to work this stretch of the river. It's a picturesque spot and from here you can wander along the riverbank either south to the railway station or north to Bishopgate, by means of which you can regain Tombland. Where to Stay  Ramada Norwich * SPECIAL VALUE* 
Average Nightly Rate £82.00 The Ramada Norwich is a modern conference hotel is set two miles from Norwich Cathedral and seven miles from the fens and woodlands of the Norfolk Broads. All 107 guestrooms include work desks with lamps, satellite television with movies, complimentary coffee/tea making facilities, trouser presses, and hair dryers. Cribs, irons and ironing boards are available. In the hotel's Arts Grill, diners can choose from a menu of international dishes. Six meeting and conference rooms are available for hire, offering a range of business and secretarial services. Guests can enjoy a drink in the hotel's cocktail lounge or relax in hotel's sauna and jetted spa. Those feeling more energetic can enjoy a swim in the indoor pool or make use of the well-equipped fitness room. Away from the hotel, the 18-hole, 72 par Weston Park Golf Course is eight miles from the hotel. Guests wishing to take in the sea air can visit the sandy beaches of Great Yarmouth, 21 miles away. Norwich International Airport is 3 miles away. Area Attractions - Norwich Cathedral - 2 miles (3 kilometres)
- Norfolk County Showground - 3 miles (5 kilometres)
- Norfolk Broads - 7 miles (11 kilometres)
- Dinosaur Park - 9 miles (14.5 kilometres)
- Bure Valley Railway - 11 miles (17.5 kilometres)
- Great Yarmouth - 21 miles (33.5 kilometres)
- Walshingham Shrine - 25 miles (40 kilometres)
- Kings Lynn - 42 miles (67.5 kilometres)
- Norfolk Lavender - 47 miles (75.5 kilometres)
- Sandringham - 47 miles (75.5 kilometres) Driving Directions Taxis are readily available at the airport and can be found at the rank adjacent to the main terminal building. For guests wishing to explore Norwich, there are a number of bus services. A car is recommended for exploring further afield.
Driving directions: From the airport, the hotel is situated on the A140 Norwich Ring Road between A140 (Cromer) and the A1067 (Fakenham) junctions.  Marriott Sprowston Manor * SPECIAL VALUE*  Average Nightly Rate £130.00 The Marriott Sprowston Manor is a stately 16th century manor house located in the Norfolk countryside, four miles from the city of Norwich and the Norfolk Broads. more...  Quality Hotel Norwich * SPECIAL VALUE*
Average Nightly Rate £74.00 The modern 80 room hotel, the Quality Hotel Norwich, is set within the suburbs of Norwich, 4 miles from the city centre. more... |
