Pocket Rough Guide Staycations Norfolk & Suffolk (Travel Guide eBook)

By Rough Guides

Rough Guides Staycations Norfolk & Suffolk


Make the most of your time on Earth with the ultimate travel guides.

Inspirational and informative new pocket guide, making the most of holidaying at home in the UK through clearly laid-out walks and tours.

Explore the best of Norfolk & Suffolk with this unique travel guide, packed full of insider information and stunning images. From making sure you don't miss out on must-see, top attractions like BeWILDerwood and Holkham Hall to Sutton Hoo, to discovering cultural gems, including punting in Cambridge, grabbing binoculars and bird-watching in Minsmere RSPB Nature Reserve and strolling down sprawling piers such as Southwold, the easy-to-follow, ready-made walking and driving routes will save you time, and help you plan and enhance your staycation in Norfolk & Suffolk.

Features of this travel guide to Norfolk & Suffolk:
- 12 walks and tours: detailed itineraries feature all the best places to visit, including where to eat along the way
- Local highlights: discover the area's top sights and unique attractions, and be inspired by stunning imagery
- Time-saving itineraries: carefully planned routes will help inspire and inform your on-the-road experiences
- Historical and cultural insights: learn more about Norfolk & Suffolk's rich history with fascinating cultural insights throughout
- Insider recommendations: where to stay and what to do, from active pursuits to themed trips
- Rainy day recommendations: uncover plenty of options, whatever the weather throws at you
- Practical full-colour maps: with every major sight and listing highlighted, the full-colour maps make on-the-ground navigation easy
- Key tips and essential information: from transport to hours of operation, we've got you covered
- New for 2021: the latest guidance to all the places you should discover in Norfolk & Suffolk
- The ultimate travel tool: download the free eBook to access all this from your phone or tablet

- Covers: The Brecks, King's Lynn to Holkham, Wells to Cromer, Norfolk Broads, Great Yarmouth, Southwold and Around, Aldeburgh and Around, Bury St Edmunds and Around, Cambridge, Around Cambridge, Colchester and Constable Country.

Looking for a comprehensive guide to England? Check out Rough Guides England for a detailed and entertaining look at all the country has to offer.

About Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Release date: Jun 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781789197150

Rough Guides

Rough Guides are written by expert authors who are passionate about both writing and travel. They have detailed knowledge of the areas they write about--having either traveled extensively or lived there--and their expertise shines through on every page. It's priceless information, delivered with wit and insight, providing the down-to-earth, honest read that is the hallmark of Rough Guides.

Book preview

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How To Use This E-Book

This Staycation has been produced by the editors of Rough Guides, world-renowned ‘tell it like it is’ travel publishers. Make the most of your time on Earth with the ultimate travel guides.

Walks and Tours

The clearly laid-out walks and tours in this book feature options for walking or using public transport wherever possible. The emphasis is on family fun, wholesome outdoors activities, local festivals, and food and drink. There are loads of great holiday ideas: kids’ stuff, best beaches, historic pubs, literary connections, unique shops, and – crucially with our Great British weather – what to do on a rainy day.

We recommend reading the whole of a route before setting out. This should help you to familiarise yourself with it and enable you to plan where to stop for refreshments – options are shown in the ‘Eating Out’ box at the end of each tour.

Introduction

The routes are set in context by this introductory section, giving an overview of the destination to set the scene, plus background information on food and drink.

Directory

Also supporting the walks and tours is a Trips Tips section, with clearly organised practical information. There is a comprehensive round up of sports and activities in the destination, recommendations for themed holidays, plus our pick of the best places to stay.

Getting around the e-book

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights mentioned in the text are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

You’ll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of the destination. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

About Rough Guides

Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold globally. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy ‘tell it like it is’ ethos, the Rough Guides list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.

© 2021 Apa Digital AG

License edition © Apa Publications Ltd UK

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Table of Contents

10 Things not to miss

Introduction to Norfolk and Suffolk

Geography

When to go

Tourism

Coastal environment

Food and Drink

Fruits of the sea

Aldeburgh food and drink festival

Tour 1: Norwich

Norwich Castle

Castle Museum and Art Gallery

The Royal Arcade

Market Place

The Forum

Pottergate

Museum of Norwich

St Andrew’s to Elm Hill

Norwich Cathedral

Cathedral interior

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

Tour 2: The Brecks

Thetford

Thetford Forest

Grime’s Graves

Swaffham

Tour 3: King’s Lynn to Holkham

King’s Lynn

Saturday Market Place

Custom House

Tuesday Market Place

True’s Yard Fisherfolk Museum

Castle Rising

Sandringham

Norfolk Lavender

Hunstanton

Holme Dunes and Titchwell Marsh Nature Reserves

Brancaster

The Burnham Villages

Holkham

Holkham Bay

Tour 4: Wells to Cromer

Wells-next-the-Sea

The beach

Stiffkey

Blakeney

Cley-next-the-Sea

Sheringham Park

Felbrigg Hall

Cromer

Cromer Pier

Cromer museums and zoo

Tour 5: Norfolk Broads

Ranworth Broad

Salhouse Broad and Hoveton Great Broad

Wroxham

Be WILDerwood

Horning

Hickling Broad

The Museum of the Broads

Horsey Windpump

Southern Broads

Tour 6: Great Yarmouth

Heritage Quarter

Marine parade

The Royal Hotel

Burgh Castle

Somerleyton Estate

Lowestoft

Maritime Museum

Oulton Broad

Beccles

Feature: Birdwatching

Tour 7: Southwold and Around

Southwold

Pier

Beach and harbour

Sole Bay Brewery

Southwold Museum

Church of St Edmund

Holy Trinity Church, Blythburgh

Walberswick

Dunwich

The Dunwich Museum

Minsmere RSPB Nature Reserve

Tour 8: Aldeburgh and Around

Aldeburgh

Maggi Hambling’s Scallop

Thorpeness

Snape Maltings

Orford

Sutton Hoo

Woodbridge

The Tide Mill

Feature: Aldeburgh Festival

Tour 9: Bury St Edmunds and Around

Bury St Edmunds

St Edmundsbury Cathedral

St Mary’s Church

Greene King Brewery

Abbeygate and Cornhill

Ickworth House

Clare and Cavendish

Long Melford

Melford Hall

Kentwell Hall

Sudbury

Lavenham

Market place

Harry Potter backdrop

Tour 10: Cambridge

King’s College

King’s College Chapel

The Backs

Senate House Passage

St Mary the Great

Trinity College

Great Court

Wren Library

St John’s College

The Round Church and Sidney Sussex

Market Square and around

Science museums

The Corpus Clock

Queens’ College

Pembroke and Peterhouse

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Punting on the Cam

Rupert Brooke’s Grantchester

Tour 11: Around Cambridge

Ely Cathedral

Newmarket

Saffron Walden

Audley End House

Feature: Art and Artists

Tour 12: Colchester and Constable Country

Colchester Castle

Castle Park

Dutch Quarter

Dedham

Dedham Vale

East Bergholt

Flatford

Bridge Cottage

Active Pursuits

Walking

Cycling

Beaches and swimming

Leisure centres and lidos

Boating

Sailing and surfing

Canoeing and kayaking

Fishing

Golf

Horseriding

Activity and theme parks

Themed Holidays

Art and photography

Cycling

Family holidays

Music

Nature conservation

Outdoor activities

Pampering

Walking

Practical Information

Getting there

By road

By rail

By bus

By air

By sea

By bicycle

Getting around

Bus and coach

Cycling

Rail

Driving

Car hire

Parking

Facts for the visitor

Travellers with disabilities

Emergencies

Entertainment

LGBTQ travellers

Opening hours

Tourist information

Accommodation

Hotels

Aldeburgh

Blakeney

Burnham Market

Bury St Edmunds

Cambridge

Cley-next-the-Sea

Coltishall

Lavenham

Norwich

Southwold

Wells-next-the-Sea

10 Things not to miss

The high spots of this fascinating and picturesque region cater for all tastes, whether you’re a beach fan, bird-spotter, boat enthusiast or culture vulture.

Boating on the Norfolk Broads. Hire a boat for the day, take a cruise trip or ideally paddle your own canoe on the delightful waterways of the Norfolk Broads. For more information, click here.

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Sutton Hoo. You don’t have to be an archaeology buff to enjoy this fascinating site of an Anglo-Saxon burial ship, discovered in 1939. For more information, click here.

Corrie Wingate/Apa Publications

Ely Cathedral. Make a detour to this magnificent Norman cathedral that towers above the flat landscape of the Fens. See For more information, click here.

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Blakeney seals. Take a boat trip from Morston to Blakeney Point to see a colony of several hundred common and grey seals. For more information, click here.

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Cambridge. Hop across the county border to see the fine colleges of this celebrated seat of learning. For more information, click here.

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Southwold Pier. This quirky pier is one of the best in the country, and one of the few along the coast to have survived the storms. For more information, click here.

Corrie Wingate/Apa Publications

BeWILDerwood. Take the kids to this magical ecofriendly playground with tree houses and zip wires and meet the forest folk who live deep in the woods. For more information, click here.

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Minsmere RSPB Nature Reserve. Seek out birds and other wildlife at this expertly run reserve, known for bitterns, marsh harriers and avocets. For more information, click here.

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Holkham Hall. All part of the Holkham estate are the grand Holkham Hall, extensive parklands, nature reserve and the glorious Holkham Bay, with miles of unspoilt golden sands. For more information, click here.

BeWILDerwood

Norwich Cathedral. Norwich has many medieval buildings but the magnificent Cathedral, with its soaring spire, is the jewel in the crown. For more information, click here.

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Introduction to Norfolk and Suffolk

Big skies, beaches, boating and birding make Norfolk and Suffolk a haven for outdoor enthusiasts, but they also offer historic churches, fine dining and cosy pubs.

It is hard to believe, when driving through the empty landscapes and sleepy villages of Suffolk and Norfolk, that East Anglia in medieval times was one of the most densely populated and commercialized regions of England. The broad acres of chalk and grassland provided ideal grazing for sheep, and huge quantities of wool were exported, boosted by the arrival of expert Flemish weavers in the mid-14th century. The main legacy of this era of wealth and prosperity is the region’s medieval churches – more than 1,000 of them. It is largely thanks to the region’s location, separated from the main north–south axis through Britain, that it has managed to preserve its distinctive architecture, as well as time-honoured traditions and rural character.

Horses in a field at sunrise, near Dunwich Heath

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Norfolk and Suffolk

Geography

This is the most easterly region of England, bulging out between the shallow Wash to the north and the River Stour to the south. Characterized by vast skies and hazy, low horizons, the landscape is flat or gently rolling, with shallow valleys and slow-flowing rivers. The region as a whole incorporates some very distinctive areas. The popular Norfolk Broads are a network of navigable rivers and open lakes which were formed by the flooding of shallow pits made by medieval peat diggers. In western Norfolk the sandy heaths of The Brecks were covered in dense woodland until Neolithic man, using axes made from the flint pits at Grimes Graves, cleared the forest for farming. Bordering The Brecks the haunting flat Fenland is one of the richest arable areas of England, but before the 17th century, when the Dutch masterminded the drainage of the fens, this area was marshland, inhabited by fishermen and wildfowlers.

The magnificent coastline provides diverse seascapes, from multicoloured cliffs and golden swathes of sands to wild marshland, tidal creeks and mudflats. Many of the harbours have silted up over the centuries and where there were once thriving ports there are now coastal villages, with just a handful of fishermen.

The river by the Pakenham Watermill, Suffolk

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

A sign in Southwold depicting the Battle of Solebay (1672) between the English and the Dutch

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

When to go

The region has its attractions all year round. It is the driest part of the UK, and ideal for walking or cycling at any time. The warm summer months attract the most visitors, especially to the coast, but even in mid-summer you should be prepared for northerly and easterly winds from the North Sea. May, June, early July and early autumn are good times to go, while the latter part of July and August are invariably the most crowded. Autumn and winter are great times for walking, and especially for birdlife. Thousands of pink-footed geese migrate from Iceland and Greenland, flying inland at dawn to feast on arable farmland. Coasts provide bracing walks off-season, and winter is the best time to see seals on the beach. At the end of the day there is always a cosy pub nearby with local ale and a log fire roaring.

Tourism

Although agriculture and fishing still have a role to play, the economy increasingly relies on tourism. The great outdoors is the main attraction, with walking, touring, visiting beaches and exploring villages the most popular activities. The extensive waterways of the Broads are among the top attractions, both for boating and for rare wildlife. To the east lies exuberant Great Yarmouth, to the north a coast of huge sandy beaches, well-established English seaside resorts such as Cromer and Sheringham, and tiny coastal villages backing on to wildlife-rich creeks and marshes. The Suffolk coast attracts