Norfolk

This is a pretty village on the edge of the Norfolk Broads which has had a regular market since it was granted a charter as far back as the 13th century.


Its splendid Church of St Edmund King and Martyr - which boasts a round tower and a thatched roof - is 900 years old.


Acle is a good location for further exploration. It has windpumps used to pump excess water from the nearby Broads.

Palmers Mill Wind Pump -
Photo: Gareth Hughes CCL

Bacton Beach - Photo: Kim Burton CCL

Perfectly situated close to Cromer, Great Yarmouth and Norwich, this small coastal holiday resort has a sandy beach and a number of caravan sites.

Its church of St Andrew stands on a hill near the ocean. Nearby are the ruins of Bromholm Priory (also known as Bacton Abbey) which was founded by a Cistercian order in 1113 as part of Castle Acre Priory.

The building is mentioned in Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ and was visited by Henry 111 in 1233. A number of man-made concrete sea walls guard the coastline.

This interesting village dominated by the Church of St Mary the Virgin has a tree-lined village green and ancient thatched houses with overhanging upper storeys.


However, it is best-known as the site of Banham Zoo, home to more than 1,000 animals and birds from across the globe. The wildlife park sits in 20 acres and includes a woodland walk, deer park and ‘jungle island’ for primates.

Banham Village Green - Photo: Ron Strutt CCL

River Waveney - Photo: David Medcalf CCL

Most of the old houses in this fascinating village on the River Waveney were burned down in fires during the 16th and 17th centuries but were replaced with superb Georgian buildings in a variety of subtle colours.

Many of the roofs are made from black glazed tiles so typical of this picturesque area. St Michael’s Church dates to the mid-14th century. Its detached, four-storey bell tower added in 1500 stands nearly 100 feet high and was sold to the local council in 1977 for the princely sum of one penny.

This is one of seven lovely villages collectively known as ‘The Burnhams’ within the Burn Valley.

It has a fine boulevard lined with Georgian shops leading to a village green while the Church of St Mary has a fine tower. Behind it is 18th century Westgate Hall.

Nearby Burnham Thorpe was the birthplace of Horatio Nelson, son of a local rector, in 1758.

He learned his sailing and navigation skills here on the North Norfolk coast. All Saint’s Church has a lectern made from HMS Victory’s timbers as well as flags flown at The Battle of Jutland.

Remains of Norton Friary Gatehouse dating from the 14th Century - Photo: Graham Hardy CCL

Caister Beach - Photo: Martyn Davies CCL

This one-time Roman port is dominated by the tower of a 13th century church and was first established as a fortified camp.



The biggest attraction here is a moated castle with a 100ft tower built in the 15th century by Sir John Fastoff, later immortalised in three of Shakespeare’s plays as Sir John Falstaff.

The real Sir John commanded the English archers at the momentous Battle of Agincourt. The castle is now home to a motor museum, which boasts the largest private collection of motor vehicles in the country. These include the first ‘real’ motor car, the 1893 Panhard at Lavassor. Nearby are Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens at Filby and the Bygone Heritage Village at Fleggburgh. The latter is a replica village set in over 40 acres of countryside with, among other things, classic vehicles, a village fair, pottery, vintage steam collection and fairground organs.

This interesting fishing port was transformed into a holiday resort in the 19th century after it was unwittingly popularised by wealthy landlubbers from places like Norwich. A little later the journalist Clement Scott described the area as ‘poppyland’.


The local lifeboat museum adds atmosphere and provides plenty of evidence of sea-going interest. Outside is a statue of Cromer’s real-life local hero, Henry Blogg, who won three RLNI gold medals, equivalent to the Victoria Cross.

 
View East taken from above the Pier -
Photo: Gary Reggae CCL

This picturesque market town with an unusually wide main street dates back to the founding of a nunnery in the 7th century by St. Withburga.



It has a number of important old buildings, including the 19th century Corn Hall and a museum housed in a cottage once owned by 16th century cleric Bishop Bonner, chaplain to Cardinal Wolsley.



A windmill stands nearby. St Nicholas’s Church has a detached bell tower and in the churchyard is the burial place of the poet William Cowper (1731-1800) who spent the last few years of his life here.



Writer George Borrow (1803-81) was born close by in the village of Dumpling Green.

 
Church of St. Nicholas - Photo: Rob Farrow CCL

Diss Centre - Photo: Ron Strutt CCL

Although it has a galaxy of fine old buildings dating from the Middle Ages through to the Victorian age, the real delight in Diss is a six-acre mere which stands at the centre of this small market town.

In fact the town’s name derives from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘standing water’. Lying on the River Waveney, the town’s church stands at the head of a triangular market square. The nearby Tudor mansion Gissing Hall, set in five acres of beautiful countryside, is now holiday accommodation.

Once a market town based around the sale of horses, Downham Market has both history and elegance and lies on the edge of the Fens.









Lord Nelson went to school here as a child and in the centre of the town is a neo-Gothic clock tower dating to 1878.








The Church of St Edmund has a spire and a Gothic crucifix.

Downham Market Victorian Clock Tower -
Photo: Rodney Burton CCL

Oxburgh Hall - Photo: Christine Matthews CCL

Eight miles from here is magnificent Oxburgh Hall, a 15th century moated mansion, while in the nearby village of Denver is a tower windmill, a 13th century church and a cast iron clock tower with a glass chandelier.

Situated on the babbling River Wensum, this is an interesting market town with a 15th century church and a number of notable Georgian buildings.

Nearby is Pensthorpe Waterfowl Park - one of largest of its kind in the world with over 200 acres of woodland, meadows and waterside walks. A few miles south stands Raynham Hall, former home in the 18th century of Viscount Townshend who invented a unique style of crop rotation, earning him the nickname Turnip Townshend. Meanwhile, East Barsham Manor is a sumptuous, red-bricked Tudor mansion that was once home of the Bee Gees house.

Pensthorpe Waterfowl Park -
Photo: Rob Farrow CCL

The Tall Ship Prince William -
Photo: Sarah Maidment CCL

No visitor to Norfolk should ignore this busy seaside resort built within ancient walls. Not so long ago its prosperity came from shipbuilding and North Sea herring fishing. It has two piers and within the town are many Tudor, Georgian and Victorian buildings.


The town has numerous museums ranging from the Tolhouse Museum – a former jail - housed in Yarmouth’s oldest building and the 16th century Elizabethan House Museum, a Tudor merchant’s house. Its parlour witnessed the signing of Charles 1’s death warrant. Other places of interest include the seafront Shipwrecked Sailors Home, with lots of memorabilia, and 13th century Greyfriar’s Cloisters.

A medieval model village has a model railway while nearby is the Norfolk Rare Breed Centre and Farm Museum and the seafront Butterfly Farm.

Britannia Pier - Photo: Gary Reggae CCL

Berney Arms Windmill -
Photo: Pete Chapman CCL

This tiny, attractive village with a handful of thatched buildings is perhaps best-known for the 19th century Berney Arms Windmill, a magnificent 70ft working marsh windmill - Norfolk’s tallest. Originally used to grind cement clinker, it later pumped water from the nearby marshes, now part of an important nature reserve.




The nearby pub is the remotest tavern in Britain and can be reached only by boat or rail!




The long-distance Weaver’s Way walk runs through the village.

With a selection of Georgian houses and a weekly market, Harleston is typically East Anglian and a good base from which to explore the surrounding area. It lies on an attractive stretch of the River Waveney.

There are many other villages nearby, including Bungay which has a Druidic stone said to be 2,000 years old.

The Otter Trust at Earsham has one of the largest collections of otters in the world. The painter Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959), a past President of the Royal Academy, was born at Mendham.

Harleston Street and Clocktower -
Photo: Ron Strutt CCL

Baconsthorpe Castle -
Photo: Christine Matthews CCL

This one of the most pleasing towns in Norfolk with a series of Georgian buildings – built following a great fire in 1708 – forming a queue in the main street.

The town is best known for Gresham's public school, founded in 1555 by Sir Thomas Gresham.

He was a Lord Mayor of London and founder of the Royal Exchange. Horse-drawn buses run the three miles from the Railway Tavern to the North Norfolk Railway at High Keiling.

Nearby is 18th century Letheringsett Watermill and the remains of 15th century Baconsthorpe Castle, a fortified manor with a beautiful moat. Holt’s country park is mostly coniferous woodland. A short drive takes you to picturesque Cley Next The Sea and its 19th century windmill.

Lying on the shimmering River Bure, Horning is a boating paradise and one of the prettiest villages on the Broads.

It dates back to Roman times and a ferry is said to have operated here for 1,000 years close to the present Horning Ferry Inn.

An annual regatta is held each August while a Three Rivers Race is held each June.

The parish church of St Benedict has a priest’s doorway from the 13th century.

View East from Horning -
Photo: Gary Reggae CCL

Bure Valley Miniature Railway -
Photo: Ken Cosby CCL

Busily picturesque, Hoveton is a favourite spot with Broads’ lovers, many of whom come here to visit beautiful Hoveton Hall Gardens and Grounds, which provide the perfect environment for many woodland birds and butterflies.

St. John’s Church dates to the 13th century and has a flint tower and an historic priest’s door. Nearby are broads known as Great and Little and there’s a quaint hump-backed bridge over the River Bure. Another major attraction in the area is the Bure Valley Miniature Railway.

This is the largest holiday resort in western Norfolk - and the only East Anglian town to face west!

It was established as a resort in the mid
19th century and still offers pleasant sandy beaches and shallow water protected by interesting cliffs.

The old quarter dates from 855AD when St. Edmund was shipwrecked here.

The bridge over the River Hun is reputedly Roman.

The town’s golf course is of championship standard.

Stripey Cliffs at Hunstanton -
Photo: Val Vannet CCL

Hunstanton Sunset -
Photo: Kim Slater CCL

A few miles from here stands the magnificent royal house of Sandringham, bought by Queen Victoria in 1826 as a residence for the future Edward VII.




It has superlative parkland and is one of Norfolk’s hottest tourist spots.




Worth visiting are Great Bircham Mill – boasting five floors and a bakery with a 200-year-old oven – and Heacham’s sweet-scented Lavender Distillery.

Within this remarkable building are some of the finest treasures in Britain, including the 700-year-old silver and enamel King John Cup, one of oldest paper books in existence and the King John Sword.

Lynn Museum has information on the geology, archaeology and natural history of the area as well as Bronze Age weapons, while the Town Museum of Lynn Life offers displays of costumes and toys along with a reconstructed Victorian kitchen.

The 12th century Church of St Margaret was once part of a Benedictine monastery.

Special places of interest include the Old Gaol House, which illustrates the deprivations of prison life in the 18th century, and the medieval merchant’s house Hampton Court. Clifton House is another ancient merchant’s house with a garden.

The Red Mount at King's Lynn, also known as the Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount was a place of pilgrimage. It was built in the reign of Richard III (1483-85) by Robert Curraunt. It is in "The Walks" park in King's Lynn.

The Red Mount -
Photo: Rob Farrow CCL

St. Andrews Church at East Lexham -
Photo: Church Crawler CCL

Historic Litcham sits contentedly in central Norfolk surrounded by picturesque countryside.

The local museum has over 1,000 old photographs dating back to 1860 as well as some Roman artefacts and an underground lime kiln.

The Church of All Saints was largely rebuilt in the early 15th century and has a 16th century rood screen containing 22 painted images of saints.

The town is in the beautiful Nar Valley, just a short drive from the spectacular North Norfolk coast.

A good base for further exploration, it is close to a number of great houses including royal Sandringham, Jacobean Blickling Hall (once home of the Boleyn's) and the superb estate surrounding Palladian Holkham Hall.

Now a centre for boating, Loddon was once a thriving port on the Norfolk Broads and has many interesting features, including properties dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, lovely walks and picnic places.


The Church of Holy Trinity was built in 1492 by the wealthy Hobart family. Sir James Hobart, who lived in nearby Hales Hall, was Attorney General to Henry VI.


Loddon House was once a lunatic asylum. Loddon Water Mill Craft Centre stands on small bridge.

Loddon Church - Photo: Rog Frost CCL

Snow on Mundesley Beach -
Photo: Andrew Hornby CCL

First the Romans and then the Saxons inhabited this delightful fishing village enhanced by splendid beaches.


The only modern invaders are tourists seeking a seaside experience.


Lord Nelson frequently stayed at the Royal Hotel while ‘Cowper House’ was briefly the home of the poet William Cowper in the late 1790s.

With a number of fine Georgian properties, this attractive village north of Norwich has moorings for the beautiful Barton Broad to which it is linked by a narrow, wooded limekiln channel.

Limekiln Dyke - Photo: David Medcalf CCL

North Walsham Centre with Town Sign -
Photo: Janet Tench CCL

A centre for hand-weaving during the Middle Ages, North Walsham’s prosperity was later increased by the creation of the Dilham Canal which connected the town with the Broads.


The real novelty, however, is a sloping market place in which stands a three-tiered, 16th century market cross with a series of wooden pillars holding up a roof and with a dome and lantern. This pattern is repeated on top. The unusual building had to be restored after a fire destroyed part of the town in 1602.

This is where lots of people really do mess about on the river – a delightful village on the River Thurne.



Here yachts have to lower their sails to navigate beneath a picturesque 13^th century hump-backed bridge.



The village is known as the capital of the Broads and has a church with a thatched nave and a round Norman tower.

Participants in the annual 'Three Rivers Boat Race' negotiating the low bridge at Potter Heigham - Photo: Caroline Flatt CCL

Two remaining churches at Reepham -
Photo: Mark Boyer CCL

Half-timbered houses jostle with good-looking Georgian properties in this pretty Norfolk village which used to be owned by three sisters who each had a church.







Today there are only two churches – both occupying the same churchyard.







The Church of St Mary is unique in having a chancel connected by a choir vestry.

In the Market Square stands Dial House, dated to 1700, and the red-brick Old Brewery House.

Reepham Market Place -
Photo: Mark Boyer CCL

Sailing on the Fens - Photo: Tim Cook CCL

These two quiet, adjacent villages lie on the River Thurne close to Great Yarmouth and occupy picturesque surroundings.



Only five miles away is the village of Hickling and the beautiful Hickling Broad, one of the widest stretches of the Norfolk Broads.



The Norfolk Naturalist’s Trust has observation hides for bird-watching here.

This interesting seaside resort can be neatly divided into two halves, the hilltop village of Upper Sheringham and the ancient, fishing village of Lower Sheringham.

They make up one of the most attractive small towns in the northern part of Norfolk. Lower Sheringham has soft sands and all the paraphernalia of an English holiday resort.

Sheringham Park, now run by the National Trust, was landscaped by Humphrey Repton in 1812 and offers stunning vistas of the coast and inland from observation towers.

The North Norfolk Railway - Photo: Rog Frost CCL
 

St. Mary's Church Porch and Tower -
Photo: Roy Douglas CCL

This interesting and ancient market town lies on the beautiful River Ant and is today a centre for boat building.


Situated close to Hickling Broad – widest of all the broads – it has one of the largest holiday boat hirers in the country.


The village boasts a windmill and was probably used as a stop-over for Roman troops.


The earliest record of the town is in 1044.


The local dates to 15^th century while Jacobean Stalham Hall is 17th century.

A thriving market town, Swaffham sits on the edge of the Breckland heaths close to the wild-woods that is Thetford Forest. The village sign is dedicated to the legendary ‘Pedlar of Swaffham’ who found a treasure under a local tree after undertaking an ill-fated journey to find his fortune in London.

The triangular market place was built by the 4^th Earl of Oxford in the 18^th century and has a domed roof. A museum in the town hall displays many historic artefacts while the 15^th century Church of St Peter and St Paul is said to be one of the finest medieval churches in East Anglia. Swaffham Prior has two churches – St Mary’s and St Cyriac’s – in the same churchyard.

Swaffham Market and War Memorial -
Photo: Andy Dowland CCL

Remains of Cluniac Priory - Photo: Bob Jones CCL

Once the capital of a Danish kingdom ruled first by King Sweyne and then Canute, Thetford later became a Norman stronghold with a powerful castle. All that remains of the 12^th century castle is a large mound, while the remains of a Cluniac priory founded in 1103 by the aptly-named Roger Bigod, first Earl of Norfolk, stand on the banks of the Little Ouse, one of two rivers that meander through the town. The Ancient House Museum is a timber-framed Tudor building with fine carved beam ceilings.

This charming village set amidst splendid countryside has a traditional village green and only 100 houses. Its Georgian parish church dates to 1796 and was built by Lord Suffield to replace an earlier church.

Just five miles from the seaside and within easy reach of the Broads, the village is a good base for exploring further afield. It has a cycle track along a disused railway line and plenty of opportunities for walking and fishing.

St. Margarets Church - Photo: Phil Champion CCL

Fishing Boat in Harbour - Photo: Dai Darkin CCL

With a working harbour, this jolly seaside resort has something of interest round every corner. The dune-filled beach set amidst pinewoods is a mile from the town and is best reached either on foot or via a miniature railway.

Each August the town stages a regatta, but sailboarding and water skiing are always on the agenda. Interesting properties include timber-framed Ware Hall House and the Victorian Church of St Nicholas, rebuilt in 1880.

A few miles away is the pilgrimage centre of Little Walsingham where a shrine to the Virgin Mary was established by a ‘miracle’ in the 11th century. The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway covers four miles and is the longest track using a 10 and a quarter inch gauge in the world. A steam loco was specially built for use on the line.

Beach Huts on Wells Beach -
Photo: Ian Lavender CCL

Weybourne Village - Photo: Nicholas Warner CCL

This pretty fishing resort on the beautiful North Norfolk coast has an unusually steep shingle beach which was regarded as a vulnerable spot during the Armada crisis.



There are remains of an old Augustinian priory founded in the time of King John but one of the main attractions here is the ‘Muckleburgh Collection’, the largest privately-owned collection of tanks, armoured cars and other military vehicles used in wars across the globe.

The so-called ‘capital’ of the Norfolk Broads, it was in Wroxham that the thriving boat-hire industry of the Broads first began in the Victorian age.

The town still has an air of elegance, not forgetting a number of historic buildings and an early 17^th century bridge spanning the River Bure.

The Bure Valley Railway, which utilises nine miles of abandoned Great Eastern track, is one of the longest miniature railways in Britain. Another steam railway, Barton House, also operates here on a small-gauge track.

Yachting on Wroxham Broad -
Photo: Gary Reggae CCL

Wymondham Abbey -
Photo: Mark Anderson CCL

This market town, which built its reputation on wool, was almost destroyed by fire in the early 17th century (a common problem at that time in this county!).

A few buildings survived, including the Green Dragon – one of England’s oldest pubs. The local abbey church, which has a tower at both ends and dates from the 12th century, also escaped the flames.

In the market place is a half-timbered market cross, while the Guild Chapel dedicated to Thomas a Becket was rebuilt in the 14th century and is now a provincial library.

The town’s most notorious sons were landowner Robert Kett and his brother Robert, a shopkeeper, who objected so strongly to a new law allowing landowners to fence off their land that they led a 12,000-strong army and marched on nearby Norwich in 1549.

Robert was later hanged in chains at Norwich Castle. His brother was hanged from the church spire at Wymondham. It took the boy-king Edward VI took two battalions and eight weeks to quell the peasants’ uprising, but Kett’s Oak, where the rebels assembled, still stands on Norwich Common to remind us of this event.

Wymondham Market Cross -
Photo: Katy Appleton CCL