An Easter a couple of years ago, Heather and I spent our time in Norwich. This year we returned (partly because the castle had properly reopened), for another Easter adventure among Norwich’s churches.

Thursday

We headed down the day before Good Friday, arriving smoothly in good time and heading straight for the nearest pub to the station (and hotel), The Complete Angler, which makes a fairly decent base of operations. The hotel, once we wandered across the road to check in, were nice enough to find us a room with a little enclosed balcony overlooking the river. We didn’t linger too long though, heading for a wander round round town on our first evening.

That led us to the The Lamb, recalled from last time. It was nice to sit outside but far too busy and loud to stay for too long. Instead we headed for the reliable Bell Hotel to grab some dinner before, very tiredly, heading back to the hotel and welcome sleep.

Friday

Our first full day saw us head out to satisfy Heather’s need for breakfast, which saw us eventually settle on Marmalades in the beautiful Royal Aracade. Having made sure Heather didn’t get slow and grumpy we headed for one of the main reasons for our return visit. The great Norman keep of Norwich Castle has been given a work over and restoration. This makes previous memories of it very strange, as last time I was in the keep proper (Heather had never been inside), there was simply a massive open space. Now floors have been reinserted, and the whole thing decorated to try and give a sense of what the space was once like.

The entrance into is still a little weird, climbing the modern stairs to the first floor entrance in what is effectively an indoor space, remnant of the prison the castle became. The grand hall through the great entrance the closes to how the castle felt before the restoration, open and wide. In one corner a kitchen sits, it’s fireplace fascinatingly formed out of what had been started as a circular staircase—obviously client’s changing their mind mid-project isn’t a modern phenomenon!

While we were in the space they locked the doors (metaphorically at least) and dimmed the lights to give a neat little projection show of some of the castles history—certainly engaging though I suppose you have to time it right.

Further around in the castle there are bed chambers and the restored, quite peculiarly shaped, chapel. The way up includes a minstrel gallery overlooking the hall before the rooftop is reached with fine views over Norwich, though the parapet walls are a little too tall to easily see over (the whole thing has been made accessible with a series of lifts, which is nice to see).

Heading all the way back down brings one to the basement, where the neatest trick is the use of hanging lights to form the shapes of original support arches. There’s also the chance to see the bottom of those stairs which became a kitchen fireplace, remarkable in their preservation due to not having centuries of wear.

We headed back out the keep proper and wandered the galleries formed from the old prison wings radiating from a central point. They’re not greatly interesting, though the famous teapot collection persists. I’ve become convinced teapot of the month never actually changes though—it was the same as last visit, and any mention online I could find.

There was time to find far too many interesting books in the little shop (including the castle guidebook which seems remarkably unaltered from the previous version, given how much work they’ve done) before we went looking for a rest. That we found outside The Garnet which was busy in the sunshine but we managed to sneak into a little outdoor corner by the market.

Having refreshed ourselves we enjoyed the sun by heading for a wander down the ever picturesque Elm Hill, with it’s tree and cobbles and interesting buildings. From there it was to the river, and probably my favourite al fresco drinking spot in the city, outside the Ribs Of Beef. As well as being a lovely spot it’s also a good place to see the things that occasionally pass by on the river, such as the man in a boat without a paddle. Luckily someone was able to drop him one with the adjacent bridge as he drifted gently under.

We were killing time before dinner, which we had booked at Bishops, a restaurant we had greatly enjoyed having randomly found it last time we were in town and greatly enjoyed this time too.

A more sensible way along the river then took us wandering vaguely in a hotel like direction. We called at Lollard’s Pit, a pub much more pleasant than the incident for which it is named. And then it was the rest of the way back to the hotel

Saturday

A new day found us heading up the hill into town – well, Heather did while I sort of ran back to the hotel to get the camera. That meant she found herself in the rather poncy Harriet’s, who failed to ever materialise with the hot cross bun she’d ordered me.

Never mind, we were off soon enough to one of the more interesting sights in the city, but one we hadn’t visited before. Strangers’ Hall is a sprawling and much altered house who’s earliest parts date back to fourteenth century. It’s great entrance hall is probably from the 1400s, while the name came around a century later, from the weavers fleeing persecution in the low countries (and hence being “strangers” in the town. Some of these refugees quite possibly lodged at the house.

We wandered back through town, for we knew where we were heading for the afternoon. First stop was the other Norwich cathedral (the much later catholic one), though we didn’t actually really go inside, instead finding some lunch in the narthax. The cathedral is very near our real first destination, a place that Heather had fallen in love with last time.

The Plantation Garden was as pretty as we remembered in the warm sun. Built originally as a private garden it was originally one man’s long and at times quirky transformation of a chalk quarry into a splendid oasis on the edge of the city. Following it’s creators death the garden fell into disrepair until rescued for the public over eighty years later. We can be thankful it was, for it’s a lovely place to wander and just stop for a while, particularly on a lovely day.

We couldn’t linger too long though as we had another appointment to keep—with some cats. It was a little bit of a trek to get there though, so down the road The Black Horse provided traditional refreshment before we made the rest of the way to The Cat House. There we spent a very pleasant hour and a half drinking coffee, eating cake, and playing with the very friendly and lovely cats (even if it was tinged with wistfulness at thoughts of the lamented Mog on the Tyne). The cats are an interesting mix, and it was fun to just chill and watch them at times, especially their trying to get into “cat world”^{* The behind the scenes cat retreat with no public access} when it was blocked by one belligerent cat.

From one type of cat to another, as we realised well thought of Norwich pub The Fat Cat was just a bit further down the road. As we visited last time we wondered if we go back in a couple of years does that technically make us regulars?

From there we wandered back into and through town, down the hill to the hotel and out again to find dinner, crossing the river to Rivolo Lounge which proved to be as reliable and pleasant as all the Lounges to feed us and send us back to bed.

Sunday

Sunday isn’t normally a day for getting up early, especially when on holiday, but we found ourselves setting out in the bright morning to head for a Norwich Street that isn’t there any more. Hidden away behind and below a former shoe shop opposite the castle keep, lie the remains of a street lost to the city. The shoe shop is now occupied by the appropriately named Shoebox Experience, who run guided tours of Castle Ditch Lane. This was a street that, as the name suggest, developed within the ditch which ran around the keep motte. Once a vibrant place of traders and shops, it got lost as Castle Meadow developed, effectively being built over until it was hidden away below the more modern buildings. Part of it still exists though, in what are now the basements of the shops lining the visible street. The tour passes down through what was once a weaver’s cottage with its distinctive long window to the ground level of the lane. A shop stands with its window opening, almost ready to serve those passing through. Our friendly and knowledgable guide couldn’t help but point out the urine deflector in the little passage that lead us back out, blinking, into modern Norwich.

We felt quite historic so paid a return trip to walk down Elm Hill again, before calling into St Andrew’s Brewhouse (we’d actually tried to eat there the night before but been frustrated). We also went for wander round Tombland (named for being an open space, rather than graves) before heading into and through the cathedral precincts to quite possible Norwich’s oldest pub, the The Adam And Eve.

From there we wandered Norwich back to the Bell Hotel before finding our favourite holiday activity, some crazy golf. This time it was a couple of rounds at Norwich’s Putt Putt Social in the eerily quite shopping centre. Enjoyable enough courses, with some strangely long holes, but nothing spectacular.

We had to leave the golf behind because we’d booked dinner at The Red Lion. Having been there before we were looking forward to it but it turned out to be very disappointing. The venue and location is as nice as remembered but their Sunday roast turned out to be disappointed mush essentially drowned in too much gravy. A real shame.

Recovering from that we just found a shop and headed back to the hotel to chill for the rest of the evening.

Monday

Norwich is a lovely and interesting city to stay in but it also makes a useful base for exploring the surrounding area. One place quite easy to hop a train to is Sheringham, which was very worthwhile because it’s home of the North Norfolk Railway. It made an obvious target for a little day out for Heather and I.

We arrived in good time to watch Newstead seemingly running around everywhere before hopping aboard the train to enjoy the ride through the sunny countryside to the other end of the line at Holt. That gave us a chance to explore the little museum there and the possibly more interesting “railway cottage”—a rare example of a cheap form of home formed from surplice railway carriages after the first world war. It’s quite peculiar to recognise a carriage from outside and find a cosy (and nostalgic) home inside! It’s even stranger to look out the door and see a steam loco arrive at the end of the garden!

The somewhat larger Royal Norfolk Regiment took us back down the line to the intermediate station of Weybourne where we stopped off for a bit while steam engines seemed to run around all around the place. After a while there we headed back to Sheringham having thoroughly enjoyed our trip out on the short but attractive preservation railway.

We headed into the seaside town itself, finding a vibrant high street leading down to the sea. There we enjoyed a couple of drinks The Two Lifeboats, sitting in it’s secluded rear yard rather than right on the sea (it must be quite strange to live in one of the adjacent houses).

For food though we decided to head somewhere else, heading back up the road to The Lobster which did us very nice food. Then there was just time for a last drink in the aptly named The Lines End right next to both modern and historic railway before heading back to base. On arrival we discovered the hotel bar had shut at the stupidly early time of nine so headed for our room with drinks and books.

Tuesday

We had one last day in Norwich so leaving our bags in the care of the hotel we headed out for a final wander. We toured the market in the centre of town—mainly food stalls it must be said—before finding an antiques centre in (of course) an old church. From there we wandered over the water (the area literally being known as Norwich over the water). There we found yet more churches scattered around before another bridge brought us back to The Ribs of Beef, which was unfortunately shut. So we found ourselves in the The Mischief which is as weird and empty as I remembered.

There was time for a last climb up Elm Hill calling into the courtyard off it and The Courtyard Cafe for lunch. They certainly make things to order, judging by the time it took to produce anything. They also have a weird obsession with minty peas, though the sunny little yard at the back was lovely to sit in (Google tells me they’re temporarily closed, and the website suggests so, so maybe they’re sorting out the overly long and pea laden menu).

That meant it was time to go home though, so back to the hotel, and bags, and the short hop to the station. Norwich had delighted us again.