Norfolk Accommodation:
Acle
Attleborough
Aylmerton
Aylsham
Bacton
Banham
Blakeney
Blickling
Brancaster
Brancaster Staithe
Burgh St Peter
Burnham Market
Burnham Thorpe
Caister On Sea
Cley Next The Sea
Coltishall
Cromer
Dereham
Dersingham
Diss
Docking
Downham Market
Fakenham
Fincham
Fritton
Gorleston
Great Yarmouth
Halvergate
Harleston
Heacham
Hilgay
Holt
Horning
Hunstanton
Kings Lynn
Lenwade
Little Walsingham
Loddon
Long Stratton
Marsham
Mundesley
New Buckenham
North Walsham
Norwich
Overstrand
Oxborough
Rollesby
Salthouse
Scole
Sculthorpe
Sheringham
Snettisham
Stalham
Swaffham
Thetford
Thompson
Thornham
Thorpe Market
Thursford
Trunch
Upton
Watton
Wells Next The Sea
Winterton On Sea
Wroxham
Wymondham

Norfolk

Thetford Forest

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Information

County Town: Norwich
Population: 762,900
Area: 2079 Sq miles 5385 Sq k
Norfolk Jobs
Norfolk Tips Page
County Reviews
Rather interesting Norfolk facts
Norfolk weather
Visitor reports
Your opinion of Norfolk
Famous Dates
Famous People
Food Legends:Norfolk Black Turkeys
Stiffkey Blues
Cromer Crab
Norfolk Dumplings
Bloaters
Colmans Mustard
Norfolk Treacle Tart
Seaside Rock
Marsh Samphire
Folk Customs:
Blessing the Nets
Jack Valentine
World Fen Skating Championships
Haunted Britain:
Black Shuck
Blickling’s Boleyn Bedevilment
Colonel Sydney
The Ghostly Knights of Stalham Broad
The Strange Tale of the Haunted Carpet
The Well connected Wraith of Raynham Hall
Cultural Britain:
Thomas Paines Norfolk
Lore & legend:
Black Shuck
The Devil Takes Colonel Sydney
The Diamond Heart, King's Lynn
The Le Strange Tale of Hunstanton's Haunted Carpet
The Pedlar of Swaffham
Tom Hickathrift
Natural Britain:
Glaven Valley
Norfolk Broads
River Nene
River Yare
The Brecks
The Great Ouse
The Wash

Events

January
Norwich Antique & Collectors Fair
Winter Feed

February
Nature Explorers
Norwich Original Fleamarket
Snowdrop Days
Winter Feed

March
Little Vintage Lover Fair
Norwich Antique & Collectors Fair
Norwich Original Fleamarket

April
Burnham Market International Horse Trials
East Anglian Game & Country Fair
Master of Art EASTER Exhibition 2011
North Norfolk Coast Earth Day
Norwich Original Fleamarket
Spring Craft Fair
Stradsett Country Show

May
Cley Little Festival of Poetry
Crab & Lobster Festival
Folk on the Pier
Folk on the Pier
Houghton International Horse Trials
Hunstanton Festival
King's Lynn May Garland Procession
Magginis in Breckland
North Norfolk Country Fair
Norwich Antique & Collectors Fair
Norwich Original Fleamarket
Open Studios
Play Fest
Poetry-next-the-Sea Festival
Rocklands Mayfest
Strumpshaw Steam Rally
Thetford Youth Day
Watton Craft Market

June
Brancaster Midsummer Music
Captain Vancouver Festival
Downham Market Summer Ball
Elveden Beer and Lager Festival
Festival Too
Glade Festival
Hunstanton Arts Festival
Hunstanton Festival
Hunstanton Lifestyles Festival
Lavender Festival
Norfolk Ale & Music Festival
Norfolk Summer Book Fair
North Norfolk Music Festival
Royal Norfolk Show
Tuckswood Summer Fair
Welborne Arts Festival

July
Annual Cacti Show
Arts, Crafts & Local Produce Fair
Bike Display - Norfolk Triumph Owners Club
Burnham Market Country & Craft Show
Burnham’s Flower Show & Carnival
Carnival
CFG Festival
COASTAL CAPERS!
Dubs At The Hall
Dunlop British Touring Car Championship
Elveden Country and Craft Show
Exploding Brass!
Festival of Flowers
Flower Festival
Holkham Country Fair
Holt Festival
Holt Festival
Howdale Music Festival
Hunstanton Arts Festival
Hunstanton Open Bowls Tournament
Hunstanton Ski Club National Championships
King's Lynn Festival
Lobster Potty Morris Festival
Mini Fairy Fair
NNEP Contemporary Arts Exhibition
North Norfolk Music Festival
Sandringham Flower Show
Sandringham Flower Show
Seething Airfield Charity Air Day
Summer Show
Walsingham Celebrates
Wells Carnival
World Snail Racing Championship
Worstead Festival

August
​Swaffham Free Festival
Arts, Crafts & Local Produce Fair
August Craft Show
Brundall River Fest
Burnham Market Concerts
Car Boot Sale
Cromer Carnival
Downham Market Water Festival
Flower Festival
Harlequin Fayre
Harleston and Waveney Festival
Hunstanton Tennis Week
Kite Festival & Car Rally
Master of Art Summer Exhibition
Morston Funday
Mundesley Festival
Music on the Meadows
Reepham Summer Festival
Sandringham Game Fair and Country Show
Sheringham Carnival
Summer Show
Wayland Show
Wells Carnival

September
ANTIQUES & COLLECTABLES FOR EVERYONE
Burnham Market (2) Horse Trials
Chris Warne Solo Art Exhibition
Harleston & Waveney Beer Festival
Heritage Open Days
Herring Festival
Kings Lynn Poetry Festival
Maritime Festival
Norwich Antique & Collectors Fair
Norwich Original Fleamarket
Norwich Print Fair
Norwich Wine Festival
Reepham Art & Craft Festival
Sporle Companion Dog Show
Summer Show
Wells Pirate Festival
West Norfolk Music Society Festival

October
Annual Charity Bowles Challenge
Art and Literary Festival
Autumn Craft Fair
Autumn Fayre
Aylsham Food Festival
Blessing the Nets
Chet Valley Festival
Cley Little Festival of Poetry
Halloween at Holkham
International Celebration of Puppet Theatre
Norfolk Walk With a Fork
Norwich Food Festival
Norwich Fringe Festival
Norwich International Animation Festival
Norwich Original Fleamarket
The Real Halloween

November
ANTIQUES & COLLECTABLES FOR EVERYONE
Art and Literary Festival
Autumn Craft Fair
Christmas at The Mall Norwich
Christmas Craft Fair
Christmas Fair in Mundesley
Christmas Gift Fair
Christmas Tree Festival
Glyndebourne on Tour
Hunstanton Christmas Cracker
Little Vintage Lover Fair
Norfolk Festive Gift Show
Norwich Antique & Collectors Fair
Norwich Original Fleamarket
Remembrance Concert
The Christmas Fair Kings Lynn

December
A Christmas Nostalgia Fair
Arts, Crafts & Local Produce Fair
Christmas at Holkham
Christmas Fayre
Christmas Spectacular Show
Christmas Tree Festival
Deepdale Christmas Market
Norwich Antique & Collectors Fair
Santas Magical Journey
Wreath Workshop

Norfolk - 512 places to stay

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Principal towns: Norwich Great Yarmouth Kings Lynn Cromer Sheringham

With well under nine hundred thousand inhabitants, spread over an area of 2074 square miles, Norfolk remains largely a rural county. While Noel Coward ’s “Very flat, Norfolk,” jibe is not strictly true, there are very few hills to get in the way of the view here – the highest point in the county is Beacon Hill in West Norfolk, at a giddy 103m above sea level.

As the county annually attracts around five million staying visitors, and nearly 50 million day visitors, it obviously has plenty going for it. There are wonderful medieval churches and castles, thatched cottages, and pretty villages at every turn. With a long coastline there are beaches both sandy and pebbled, tiny fishing ports, and great seafood. And away from the coast there are the Broads, a tranquil land of shallow lakes ideal for leisurely boating.

Norwich proclaims itself, quoting the words of nineteenth century writer George Borrow, “A fine city.” Few visitors would argue. The magnificent Norman Cathedral and Castle are evidence of the city’s importance in that period of English history. Today the Cathedral close is a flint-walled refuge from the bustle of a modern city, and the castle a vibrant museum. Elm Hill, with many buildings dating from the early sixteenth century, is at once quaint and full of energy. There are more than 30 medieval churches in the city, built on the wool trade, and other gems like the Guildhall and Dragon Hall. The Adam and Eve, believed to be the oldest pub in the city, has stood on the same site since the thirteenth century, and houses the city’s most famous ghost, Lord Sheffield, killed during Kett’s Rebellion in 1549.

The Broads are perhaps the best known of Norfolk’s natural treasures (although in fact they are the flooded remains of ancient peat diggings). Forty one shallow lakes linked by six generally tranquil tidal rivers, the Broads receive around two million visitors a year. They come for the boating, the beautiful and varied countryside, and the wildlife – especially birds such as bitterns and marsh harriers found at places like the Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Ranworth Broad centre and the National Nature Reserve at Hickling Broad (where the rare swallowtail butterfly may also be seen).

Within Broadland are found a multitude of windmills, with particularly fine examples at Horsey Mere, the Berney Arms, and Thurne Dyke, and as might be expected of an area of fine reed beds, there are many thatched buildings to be seen. North Norfolk has a very different feel to it, wilder and more rugged. Blakeney , Brancaster and Salthouse have flint walled fishermen’s cottages and fine medieval churches. There are some sandy beaches, but more characteristic are pebbly foreshores and marshland. With such a coastline it is not surprising that seafood in the area is plentiful and excellent: Cromer crab ; Brancaster mussels and whelks; and Stiffkey Blues (cockles).

The seafood trade was also vital to Great Yarmouth at the eastern tip of the county, with herrings the root of the town’s wealth (shown in its coat of arms, three lion heads and bodies with herring tails). As is fitting to an urban centre, the specialities here are more elaborated: Red Herring, and Yarmouth Bloater (Cold smoked ungutted herring). The town’s wealth continued to be linked to the sea after the decline of the herring catch, first through tourism (the town has a Golden Mile to rival Blackpool’s, and two piers, Wellington and Britannia), then through servicing the North Sea oil and gas industries. Yarmouth has many historic sites: the Tollhouse dungeons; town wall remnants; the merchant’s house where Charles I’s fate was reputedly decided; a few remaining rows, (incredibly narrow streets); and an elegant riverside.

Kings Lynn in West Norfolk similarly has its history tied to the sea. The beautiful Customs House, built in the late seventeenth century, bears witness to that link, and houses exhibitions on the town’s seafaring past. Nearby can be found Castle Rising Keep, a well preserved Norman fortress, and from much later, Sandringham , the 600 acre royal residence purchased by Queen Victoria in 1862. West Norfolk is the start of the fens, drained lands criss-crossed by drainage dykes. Denver Windmill is a working museum, and a good vantage point to view the area from.

The south of the county has a different landscape again, the Brecks, mixed forest and heath, one of the driest areas in England, containing the market towns of Thetford , Attleborough, Watton, Swaffham and Dereham, and picture postcard villages like East Harling with requisite church and cricket ground. Within Breckland can be found many historic sites, none older than Grime’s Graves, flint mines from 5000 years ago. More modern attractions abound too, like Bressingham , with its famous gardens and steam museum.

Norfolk has many habitats, and many different landscapes, but common to all are the huge skies that have attracted painters and sightseers for centuries, and continue to do so. The road network has improved in recent years, but perhaps happily there are still many nooks that are truly off the beaten track. With a sparse population there are still plenty of remote places in Norfolk free of crowds - Walcott and Eccles at the seaside, and Rockland St Peter in Breckland for example, as attractive in their way as the better known centres like Norwich and Yarmouth.

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Tolpuddle Martyrs Sentenced - 1834, Argentine Forces land on South Georgia - 1982
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