Holidays that last a lifetime!
Come for the day, stay for years
Whether it’s a day of adventure or a lifetime of memories, Tingdene Holiday Parks invite you to create lasting moments at Caldecott Hall Country Park and Waveney River Centre
From swimming and golf to dining and scenic walks, each visit offers something new. And when you’re ready for a retreat of your own, our holiday homes provide the perfect base to explore Norfolk.
With Tingdene, it’s more than a holiday - it’s a lifestyle.
WAVENEY
EnjoyinWinterNorfolk
A dog’s not just for Christmas, and Norfolk’s not just for the Summer – we’re open all year and we have fabulous reasons to visit in Wintertime, as you’ll discover as you explore this latest There’s Nowhere Like Norfolk e-magazine. We’ve packed it out with great things to do, places to stay and destinations to visit, whether you’re here as a family, as a couple or group, or you’ve brought your four-legged friend along.
In your festive downtime, we’ve given you a list of the fabulous festivals and events taking place in Norfolk throughout the year so you can plan your 2025 visit around one of those. Or maybe two, or three.
It’s time to get outside to enjoy our Seven Natural Wonders and we’ve also got our top 12 wild things to do in a Norfolk Winter.
And if you are thinking about visiting another country, don’t! Let us demonstrate that you can travel the world without leaving Norfolk!
Try our quiz to see how Norfolk you are – if you don’t get too many right then you’re just not spending enough time here.
Finally, let us wish you all a Happy Christmas and a fabulous New Year. Keep yew a troshin’!
Natural Wonders
Norfolk’s dynamic coast and countryside has been shaped over millions of years. Did you know a terminal moraine created the highest point in East Anglia and longshore drift made the home of the largest seal colony in the country? And let’s not forget the importance of flint and chalk.
Here are the seven natural wonders of Norfolk…
1 CROMER RIDGE
You do wonder if Noel Coward had ever visited the county when he wrote in his play Private Lives: ‘Very flat, Norfolk’. Anyone who has walked or cycled on the Cromer Ridge will know otherwise!
The ridge is the highest area of East Anglia at over 100 metres, is 8.7 miles long, with the tallest point behind West Runton at Beacon Hill, otherwise known as Roman Camp.
When the ice age was at its zenith, one third of the world was covered in ice and much of Great Britain was hidden under vast glaciers.
The glaciers and ice sheets moved huge amounts of debris, ranging from boulders to fine rock particles, and as the ice melted this rock debris, known as till or boulder clay, was deposited, forming new landscapes. That’s how the Cromer ridge came to be – the result of a terminal moraine, the furthest advance of a glacier before it lost momentum and the material dredged up from what is now the North Sea poured out to form what we see today.
2 DEEP HISTORY COAST/ CROMER FOREST BED
The Cromer Forest Bed Formation, aged between 500,000 and 2 million-yearsold and stretching from Weybourne on the north Norfolk coast to Kessingland in north Suffolk, is rich in fossils, including the 650,000-year-old West Runton Mammoth, a 500,000 year old flint axe and the 850,000 year old footprints of early man –the first humans to enter Britain.
This area is called the Deep History Coast because it has pushed back archaeologists’ understanding hundreds of thousands of years and also because, like Deep Space, we don’t yet know what else might be out there.
Much of the Forest Bed is now obscured by coastal defences, but in some areas it continues to be eroded, revealing more fossils, such as mammal bones and teeth, jaw bones and deer antlers. If you know what you’re looking for, you might even find a mammoth tooth on the shoreline.
3 FLINT
Flint is an inescapable and indelible part of Norfolk’s history and landscape. Found naturally in chalk, with layers in various shapes and sizes, flint is almost pure silica, but any impurities give different colours: brown field flints eroded from the chalk around Fakenham; black flint around Thetford and Swaffham; chalk-covered grey flints north of North Walsham; light grey around Holt; rounded beach flints near Wells-next-the-Sea, Sheringham and Cromer.
Norfolk has become famous for its evidence of early human occupation. Among the finds have been a selection of black flint tools left behind 60,000 years ago near Lynford, in the Brecks, where flint tools were found with mammoth bones. Likewise, a 500,000-year-old flint axe was found at Happisburgh on Norfolk’s Deep History Coast. 4,500 years ago Neolithic people were mining flint from the chalk 57 feet below ground at Grimes Graves near Thetford, where there are more than 400 digs – this is one of Europe’s earliest industrial centres and a unique source of hard black flint.
4 BRITAIN’S GREAT BARRIER REEF
Dubbed ‘Britain’s Great Barrier Reef’ the Cromer Shoals Chalk Bed, created when dinosaurs ruled the earth, has been found to be the longest in the world – and it’s so close to the shore you could skim a stone out to it. At over 20 miles long, the 100-million-year-old reef is one-and-a-half times longer than the Thanet Coast chalk reef in Kent, the former record holder. Discovered less than ten years ago, the reef is just 25ft under the sea’s surface and has now been made a Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. With an area of 315sq km it’s larger than the Broads National Park. And it’s part of the chalk seam that stretches across England and includes the White Cliffs of Dover and the White Horse Hill Carvings in Wiltshire.
5 BLAKENEY POINT AND ITS WILDLIFE
Managed by the National Trust since 1912 and within the North Norfolk Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Blakeney Point is a 4-mile spit of flint-derived shingle and sand dunes, created by longshore drift across the River Glaven. Designated as Blakeney National Nature Reserve, the area includes tidal mudflats, salt marshes and reclaimed farmland, known as Blakeney Freshes, as well as a host of wildlife. It is an import site for breeding birds, especially Sandwich, common and little terns, migrating birds in the Autumn and Winter, a favourable spot for samphire, or sea asparagus, and is home to the largest seal colony in England, with over 1000 Grey seals and pups on the shoreline in Winter. The best way to visit the seals is by boat from the quays at Morston and Blakeney so you can get close to the inquisitive mammals without disturbing them. Boats go at high tide once a day in the Winter and often twice a day in the Summer, sometimes allowing passengers to go ashore.
6 THE BRECKS
Described by Charles Dickens as ‘barren’ in David Copperfield, and by an observer in the 1760s as ‘sand, and scattered gravel, without the least vegetation; a mere African desert’, the Brecks looks very different now to most of its history.
The word Breck is medieval, meaning an area of sandy heathland and gorse that was broken up for farmland and then allowed to revert to wilderness once the soil was exhausted. Sand storms were a regular occurrence in centuries past.
The Brecks are home to unique Pingo lakes, caused by collapsing dome-shaped mounds of soil covering a large core of ice, and Deal Rows, single rows of Scots pine trees originally planted as hedges which, untended, have grown out and now exhibit twisting and contortion. They are the most distinctive feature of the Brecks landscape and give the impression of acacia trees on the African savannah.
The creation of the Scots pine Thetford Forest in 1914 helped make better soil, and modern farming methods mean the free-draining soil is perfect for rearing pigs and growing onions. Corsican pine was added later, for its resistance to diseases and pests, tolerance of thin soil and high volume of timber. There are also narrow roadside fire-control belts of hardwood oak, red oak, beech, lime, walnut and maple.
An eerie, dimpled lunar landscape marks the only Neolithic flint mine in Britain that’s open to the public. Grimes Graves, the oldest industrial site in Europe, was worked for around 1000 years from 3000BC to 1900BC and today you can see the depressions in the ground created by 400 pits. Visitors can climb 30 feet down through the chalk surface in one shaft to see the jet-black flint that was used for making axes and starting fires.
7 RIVER WENSUM
In the country’s driest and flattest county you’ll find a series of springfed chalk rivers that are a fertile home for birds, plants, insects, mammals and fish. There are only 210 chalk streams in the world, 160 of which are in the UK, and most of the lowland ones are to be found in Norfolk. Chalk streams in Norfolk include the Rivers Bure, Glaven, Stiffkey, Burn, Heacham, Ingol, Hun, Babingley and Gaywood, but the longest, biggest and most significant is the River Wensum, the most protected river in Europe – it has Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation status for its entire length.
The River Wensum has its source between the villages of Colkirk and Whissonsett, flows through Fakenham and the Pensthorpe Nature Reserve, through Swanton Morley, Taverham and Norwich, before meeting the River Yare at Whitlingham.
Chalk is made of billions upon billions of microscopic, single cell sea creatures called coccoliths
foodies! Norfolk for is
Cromer crab, mussels and samphire, the most microbreweries in the country, Colman’s mustard, superb cheeses and strawberries, English whisky, and that’s just for starters. Oh, and mains, desserts and drinks…
As this is the place where the UK’s Agricultural Revolution began (thanks ‘Turnip’ Townshend of Raynham Hall and Thomas Coke, first Earl of Leicester at Holkham!) and where tides from Scandinavia bring nutrient-rich cool water beloved by crustacea, it’s no coincidence we have great food and drink.
If you’re spending time here, here’s some of the must-have ingredients you should be looking out for on restaurant menus, and in farm shops and farmers’ markets. And feel free to ask about your ingredients’ provenance – our producers and sellers will be very happy to tell you more.
CROMER CRAB
It had to be in pole position – it’s as distinctively Norfolk as pasties are to Cornwall and champagne to northern France. The reason they’re so good is that Cromer crabs thrive in the shallow waters of the unique chalk reef just off the coast, producing the sweetest, meatiest crustaceans.
Cromer crab is revered by foodies, brimming as it is with a high proportion of white meat. It’s also very healthy, full of brain-boosting Omega-3 and low in fat. Eat with a little black pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and a dash of smoked paprika on buttered brown bread, with mayo, cucumber or avocado. They’re usually available from around March to October.
STIFFKEY COCKLES
Also known as Stewkey Blues on account of their colour that comes from their habitat a few inches under the mud and sand. They’re still harvested with short-handled, broad rakes and nets. Traditionally the cockles are steamed, put in soups and pies, or boiled and eaten with vinegar and pepper. Farrow & Ball even have a paint named after them!
OYSTERS
Go back to Victorian times and these would have a staple diet on the north Norfolk coast as they were abundant in the cool, clear tidal inlets. There’s less of them now and they’re a bit more expensive, but well worth looking out for. Shucked in front of you, given a twist of lemon or a dash of Tabasco, this is a real taste of the sea.
FISH AND CHIPS!
Of course! You must have fish and chips! It would be rude not to! You can find excellent chippies across the county, particularly at the seaside where there’s nowt better than eating them out of paper while you wander the promenade, staring out to sea. Watch out for any dive bombing seagulls hoping to steal a thick wedge of potato. In Great Yarmouth and Norwich we recommend market place chips, with lots of vinegar and salt. Hey, you’re on vacation! And the donuts on Great Yarmouth seafront, freshly-made while you wait, are particularly good. Try eating them without licking your lips... it’s impossible!
BRANCASTER MUSSELS
They’re big blighters, tender and juicy and available from September to April. Collected when they’re young, they’re then moved to lays (beds) in the tidal creeks and left to mature nicely before harvesting. You think the French have the monopoly on cracking moules et frites? Don’t you believe it.
GAME
This is a specialty of the Brecks –no wonder, with all those forests and high grass – and usually refers to wild animals and birds that are hunted and eaten. Look out for venison, pheasants and pigeon on pub and restaurant menus, or cook it for yourselves.
ASPARAGUS
Blink and you might miss them! They’re around from April to June and you can look out for them in farm shops and at farmers’ markets and you’ll see pop-up shops on the roadside.
MINT
The vast majority of mint grown agriculturally in the UK is done in Norfolk and a lot of it is taken by Colman’s. To ensure it’s fresh the farms are no more than seven miles away from the Carrow Road works. In the 1970s, hundreds of varieties were tested to find the right species to create the perfect jar of mint sauce. The winner was a plant found tucked away in someone’s back garden in the village of Brundall on the Norfolk Broads. Harvesting starts in late May and continues until the end of September or the first week in October.
SAMPHIRE
Otherwise known as ‘sea asparagus’, it thrives on our tidal salt marshes, and is FAB-UUUU-LOUS steamed and eaten with butter. We call it sampha by the way, and we have to get it before pesky rustlers working for swanky London restaurants.
RAPESEED OIL
Those fields of yellow but just be rape rather than mustard! Used for biofuel and cattle fodder, it’s also great as an oil for baking, roasting, frying and even as a dressing.
CHEESE
Nothing like a Binham Blue, a soft blue veined cheese made by the redoubtable Mrs Temple of Copys Green Farm at Wighton using milk from the Chalk Farm herd of Holstein Friesians and the Copys Green herd of Swiss Browns. Once you get a taste for that (and you will), move on to her Copys Cloud, with a fluffy white rind and melting centre; Wighton, a fresh curd cheese; the hard, matured Walsingham; a supple mountain-type called Wells Alpine; or Warham, a semi-soft available in mustard, tomato and herb, or cumin flavours. Look out for Fielding Cottage’s award-winning goats cheeses or, better still, head to their Goat Shed Farm Shop and restaurant at Honingham.
MUSTARD
If you’re here in Spring you’ll see fields swathed in yellow. Much of it will be rape, grown for oil, but a lot of it will also be mustard. Norfolk is, as everyone knows, the home of Colman’s Mustard and you can see its story at the Mustard Shop in Norwich. In the early 19th Century, Jeremiah Colman took the idea of milling mustard and turned it into an industry. A former flour miller, he blended both brown and white mustard seed to create a strong English mustard. By the 1880s more than two thousand people were working at the Norwich factory, with another 4,000 earning their living directly through the company.
BEER
Norfolk produces the best malting barley in the country and the best is grown in north Norfolk where the salty sea frets, high fields and warm climate make ideal growing conditions. The barley is turned into gorgeous, thirst-quenching real ale. Norfolk also has the most microbreweries of any county in the country - bet you didn’t know that. Order a foaming flagon and toast those wonderful brewers and barley farmers!
WINE
Yes, really! South Norfolk has the perfect climate and terroir for grapes and gently sloping valleys are where you’ll find Flint Vineyard and Chet Valley Vineyard. Both have tours and tastings.
WHISKY
St George’s Distillery at East Harling was the first whisky distillery in England for 100 years and since 2006 has been producing awardwinning whisky that has gained a worldwide reputation! Take a tour and learn about the ‘Angel’s share’.
Norfolk world in Around the
Rather than gallivanting around the world, why not come to Norfolk to see our equivalent of the great sights. We’re less than two hours from London…
To misquote Samuel Johnson, when a man of Norfolk, he is tired “for there is in Norfolk that life can afford”.
BRUGES = KING’S LYNN
Both were members of the Hanseatic League, a connection that King’s Lynn celebrates to this day. Both prospered and depended on maritime links for trade and business, traces of which can still be found in their cobbled lanes, quays and merchants’ homes. And both made a lot of their wealth on the back (quite literally) of sheep wool.
A DESERT ISLAND = SCOLT HEAD
Yes, Norfolk has its own uninhabited desert island, looked after by Natural England. Depending on tides you can wade through the mud creeks, linger in the swimming holes, or take a ferry from Burnham Overy Staithe. Then when you crest the marramtufted Gun Hill dunes, you will find a beach of pure white sand. Don’t just imagine it, go and see it for yourself!
Custom House, King’s Lynn
CAMINO DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA = LITTLE WALSINGHAM
Whereas northern Spain has its shrine of the apostle St James the Great in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia with its pilgrimage route, Norfolk has Our Lady of Walsingham, the title derived from a vision of Mary, mother of Jesus, that appeared before devout noblewoman Richeldis de Faverches in 1061. Lady Richeldis had a Holy House built in Walsingham which became a shrine and place of pilgrimage, receiving visits from monarchs including Edward I and II and Henry’s III, IV, VII and VIII.
LAVENDER FIELDS OF PROVENCE = HEACHAM
If you want to see the beautiful violet of lavender you don’t have to drive all the way down the Route De Soleil down to the south of France… you just have to head over to West Norfolk where the Lavender Farm has been in business since 1932, operating 100 acres! It was the Romans who brought lavender to Norfolk… along with rabbits.
VINEYARDS OF PROVENCE = VINEYARDS OF SOUTH NORFOLK
Provence is warm, sunny and dry which makes for great wine – and so is south Norfolk! In fact, let’s not forget we’re the combined sunniest/driest part of the country so in the last few years a number of top-notch vineyards have popped up around the Yare and Waveney Valleys.
Flint Vineyard, Bungay – Ben and Hannah Witchell have been making wine since 2016 and have won two Decanter World Wine Awards silver medals and been included in The Times Top 50 White Wines. Chet Valley Vineyard, Bergh Apton – Winemaker John Hemmant has a background in farming and chemistry. He and his wife Bridget have been producing awardwinning English sparkling wines since 2010.
Both these Norfolk vineyards have wine tastings and tours.
Look out also for Winbirri Vineyard and Humbleyard Vineyard
There’s nowhere like Norfolk
ROME = NORWICH
Beautifully preserved ancient city with Roman ruins, glorious religious buildings, built on hills… Rome and Norwich have so many things in common. The Norman cathedral in Norwich (one of Norfolk’s 7 Wonders) has more than 400 years on St Peter’s Basilica, although the River Wensum isn’t quite as majestic as the Tiber and there’s no proof (yet) that our Fine City was founded by a couple of wolf-suckled infants.
For the Roman ruins, just head out to Caistor St Edmund where you can see the remains of a Roman town Venta Icenorum on the banks of the River Tas.
VENICE = THE BROADS
Just as the Venetians made their lagoons and canals, so Norfolk peat diggers helped create the Broads. Feel free to start singing ‘O sole mio’ as you take your day boat or cruiser out on the 125 miles of navigable lock-free waterways (Venice has just 30 miles of canals). We don’t have gondolas but if you go to the Museum of the Broads you’ll see our equivalent… the gun punt.
LAS VEGAS = GREAT YARMOUTH
Great Yarmouth’s Golden Mile is just like the Las Vegas Strip. If you want to gamble there’s gaming machines and Bingo. Bright lights… tick. Celebrity shows… tick. Fun and amusements… tick. And while Vegas has its own Eiffel Tower, so does Great Yarmouth… the Atlantis Tower, up which you can have a coffee and savour fantastic views across the town and out to the Broads.
CALIFORNIA!
Oh yes, and Norfolk has a California! It’s said that California beach, north of Great Yarmouth, owes its name to the discovery of some 16th century gold coins on the beach in 1848 at a time when the California gold rush in the United States had captured the attention of the world.
FIVE BRAND NEW CLIFF TOP LODGES WITH SEA VIEWS
PYRAMID OF GIZA = BLICKLING MAUSOLEUM
Giza is the oldest of the Ancient Wonders of the World and the only one to be largely intact but if you want to see a pyramid closer to home how about the wonderful Mausoleum of Blickling Hall & Estate. Built in 1794 by Joseph Bonomi, the Grade II building is based on the tomb of Caius Cestius in Rome and was constructed for John Hobart, the 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire (1728-93). It also contains the tombs of the Earl’s first wife Mary Anne and second wife Caroline.
DORSET’S JURASSIC COAST = NORTH NORFOLK’S PREHISTORIC COAST
The Dorset coast is England’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site but Norfolk’s is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is roughly similar. While things like a Pliosaur have been found in Dorset (it was a swimming reptile, 52 feet long, and could have had a T-Rex for breakfast), on the Norfolk coast a woolly mammoth has been discovered, Neolithic flint axes and the oldest-known human footprints outside the Rift Valley in Africa. Yes, Norfolk had the country’s first tourists! Norfolk even has its own Dino Adventure theme park!
STONEHENGE = SEAHENGE
Amazing to think that both were built more than 21 centuries before Christ! Both were constructed in circles, although Seahenge, which revealed itself in the sands of Holme-next-theSea in the Spring of 1998, was made of tree trunks, and both probably had religious purposes. Unlike its stone equivalent, Seahenge, one of Norfolk’s 7 Wonders, can now be seen in a museum, at King’s Lynn.
CARIBBEAN = WELLS-NEXT-THE-SEA
Miles and miles of flat, unspoilt sandy beach in the sunniest and driest county in the UK. Trust us, it doesn’t take much of a leap of the imagination to be walking along Wells and Holkham beaches at low tide in the sun and thinking ‘You know, this JUST LIKE being on a beach in the Caribbean’. We’ve done it hundreds of times. Bet you don’t get beach huts in the Caribbean though…
ST PETERSBURG’S WINTER PALACE = SANDRINGHAM
Both stately homes where the Royals have enjoyed their Christmases, Sandringham is a slightly more humble version of the Winter Palace but no less regal for that! In fact, sticking with the Russian theme, Sandringham is more a Royal dacha, a country house. Take a tour and you’ll nonetheless see sumptuous furnishings, priceless artwork, fine porcelain and more.
Seahenge Gallery at Lynn Museum
Festivals in 2025
There are festivals, events and activities throughout the year when you visit Norfolk, and now is the time to plan a visit based around one or two of these beauties. Also look out for seasonal events at Cromer Pier, including the famous Summer Show, and at Great Yarmouth’s Hippodrome throughout the year, as well as venues such as Sandringham, Holkham, Houghton and Blickling Hall.
There’s something for everyone in Norfolk!
NORFOLK & NORWICH FESTIVAL
Norfolk’s biggest arts event, held every May, offers a culturally diverse programme of music, dance, theatre and visual arts.
> nnfestival.org.uk
©Luke Witcomb
OUT THERE FESTIVAL
An international two-day streets arts and circus festival bursts out onto the streets of Great Yarmouth on May 29-31, with lots of entertainment on the seafront, in St Georges Park and the town centre.
> outtherearts.org.uk
CLASSIC IBIZA AT BLICKLING
It’s the 10th anniversary of the open-air celebration of White Isle-inspired house music, reinvented by the 32-piece Urban Soul Orchestra, headline DJs and live vocalists. Expect a feel-good atmosphere on August 2, with people of all ages, enjoying iconic music in a stunning location.
> classicibiza.co.uk
Music,dancing and spectacle!
LORD MAYOR’S CELEBRATION
Norwich’s biggest free weekend street party – The Lord Mayor’s Weekend – takes place in July. Don’t miss the Snapdragon in the main Procession. Come and enjoy all the vibrant colours and sounds of the carnival parade, along with lots of family activities, funfair, fireworks, and an open-air music festival to boot!
> norwich.gov.uk/lmw
KING’S LYNN FESTIVAL
Between 13-26 July 2025, you’ll find concerts, shows and events for all taste across the town.
> kingslynnfestival.org.uk
FESTIVAL TOO
A more populist take on the above, and also in July, Too aims to provide free music for the people of West Norfolk and visitors.
> festivaltoo.co.uk
WYMONDHAM MUSIC FESTIVAL
In July, the quaint market town and historic abbey hosts events of all musical varieties.
> wymfest.org.uk
NORTH NORFOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL
Held from 8-15 August in 2025, events include chamber concerts at Wells-next-the-Sea Maltings and across many other venues.
> northnorfolkmusicfestival.com
FOLK ON THE PIER
Norfolk’s largest festival of its kind, you’ll find folk rock and acoustic acts at Cromer’s Pavilion Theatre and across the town in May.
> folkonthepier.co.uk
SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL IN THE CLOISTERS
The GB Theatre Company perform The Bard in the beautiful surroundings of the Norwich Cathedral cloisters in July. Pack a picnic or order one from the Refectory.
> cathedral.org.uk
HOLT FESTIVAL
An eclectic mix of international music, drama, comedy, visual art, street theatre, workshops and cinema in July in the gorgeous north Norfolk Georgian town.
> holtfestival.org
FAIRY FAIR
Two days each May that features workshops, live music, entertainment and lots more for a magical day-out where families with young children can connect with nature.
> fairylandtrust.org
Shakespeare Festival at Norwich Cathedral
Classic Ibiza at Blickling
andAnimalsnature!
CROMER & SHERINGHAM CRAB & LOBSTER FESTIVAL
A long weekend of food, fun, art, music, heritage and entertainment every May.
WORSTEAD FESTIVAL
A weekend in July – 26 and 27 in 2025 – that grew from a village show into a celebration of traditional country pursuits, such as heavy horses and tractors, with fun for the kids, craft stalls, and the best of Norfolk food.
> worsteadfestival.org
WAYLAND AGRICULTURAL SHOW
Livestock, motorcycle displays, sheepdogs, arts and crafts... you name it, it’s at this show on 3 Aug 2025.
> waylandshow.com
HORSE TRIALS
In April, the Burnham Market Horse Trials, which gained international status in 2003, attracts some of the best national and international riders.
And in May there’s the Houghton International Horse Trials, a four-day festival of showjumping and eventing in the beautiful setting of Houghton Hall.
SANDRINGHAM FLOWER SHOW
Set in the magnificent surroundings of Sandringham Park with Sandringham House and Sandringham Church as a backdrop, this one-day Show on July 23, 2025 attracts around 20,000 visitors each year. King Charles III has been a frequent visitor over the years.
> sandringhamflowershow.org.uk
ROYAL NORFOLK SHOW
Two days in late June – 25 and 26 in 2025 – when it seems as if all of Norfolk descends on the showground outside Norwich.
> royalnorfolkshow.co.uk
Beer & wine Best of the rest!
CITY OF ALE, NORWICH
A ten-day celebration of beer in June. Norwich’s brewing heritage began with Benedictine monks making ales in Cathedral Close in the 11th century – and the city hasn’t stopped drinking since.
> cityofale.org.uk
NORWICH BEER FESTIVAL
CAMRA-organised festival in October at St Andrew’s and Blackfriars’ Halls. They like their beer in Norwich – it wasn’t that long ago the city had a pub for every day of the year.
> norwich.camra.org.uk
NORWICH WINE WEEK
It’s a week, in June, where Norwich gets all sophisticated with its appreciation of the grape.
> norwichwineweek.co.uk
HUNSTANTON KITE FESTIVAL
As well as expert kite fliers, you can try it for yourself when you’re not looking at the fun dog show, the classic motor bikes and car rally at this great August event.
GREAT YARMOUTH WHEELS FESTIVAL
This festival attracted 60,000 people to the seafront this year! In June – 21 and 22 in 2025 – the event is aiming to top the more than 900 cars and almost 650 bikes, from classic and sporty to quirky creations, that lined up along the Golden Mile this year.
FESTIVAL OF BOWLS
Hosted by the Great Yarmouth Britannia Bowling Greens for four weeks every late-summer, August and September, more than 1700 bowlers compete.
GORLESTON CLIFFTOP FESTIVAL
Two days in August when family fun and activities take over the town’s seafront.
SHERINGHAM AND HOLT 1940S WEEKEND
You’d be forgiven for thinking you’ve stepped back in time when these two towns are taken over in September. Think Nicholas Lyndhurst in Goodnight Sweetheart.
Wild Thing!
Magical countryside, tinged with sparkling hoar frost, beautiful empty coast, nature reserves, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a National Park, all under those huge, never-ending skies. Winter is a wonderful time to explore the wild side of Norfolk, when you feel as if you’ve almost got the county to yourself.
OKAY, NORFOLK’S NOT HAWAII, BUT WE STILL HAVE AMPLE WAVES TO TRY SURFING!
You can learn to surf at Cromer or head out on your own at West Runton, or down the east coast at Winterton-on-Sea or Gorleston-onSea. The coast here is also perfect for kitesurfing.
BRACE YOURSELF AND GO FOR A SWIM!
There are Boxing Day swims along the coast, notably at Cromer and Hunstanton. You don’t have to attend an organised event of course – just jump in the briny!
HEAD OUT INTO THE FENS TO FEED THE SWANS ON THEIR ANNUAL MIGRATION FROM THE ARCTIC!
At WWT Welney on the Ouse Washes there’s activity every afternoon – the sight of hundreds of white swans punctuating the inky black of twilight is something you won’t forget. There’s twilight feeding at Pensthorpe too.
ENJOY OUR BIG SKIES
Norfolk is famous for its big blue skies, but it’s at night when it gets interesting. With little light pollution on the coast, away from Great Yarmouth and the other resorts, you can enjoy dark and wide skies – perfect for stargazing. Wait for a cloudless night, wrap up warm, and get set for a magical natural experience. Enjoy Norfolk’s Dark Sky Discovery Sites at Wiveton Downs and Kelling Heath in north Norfolk and Great Ellingham in the Brecks, or head for the deep countryside of the Broads or Happisburgh cliffs.
TAKE A BIKE OUT INTO THETFORD FOREST
It’s a great time for a gentle pedal or a more lung-busting adrenaline thrash through the woods. Or you could just pull on your hiking boots and take a walk in the woods. You might see wild deer or horses along with great birdlife.
TAKE A BOAT TRIP OUT ON THE BROADS
Observe our National Park in a boat and get a heron’s view of the world. The birdlife is great and with the vegetation died back, you’ll get a better view than during the summer. There are organised trips from Wroxham or hire a day boat – many of them come with heating, galleys and toilets.
…AND ABSORB THE SEA VIEWS
Hunker down in the sand dunes on the coastal stretch between Hemsby and Happisburgh and watch the sea whip up a swell and unleash its power as giant waves explode on the shoreline. On the eastern coast you’ll get a real sense of the elements.
BOOK UP ON A WILD DEER SAFARI AT HOLKHAM HALL
Hundreds roam the estate and woods and they are an amazing sight! Or take a buggy tour at Watatunga Wildlife Reserve.
DISCOVER THE DEEP HISTORY COAST BETWEEN WEST RUNTON AND HAPPISBURGH
At the former a 600,000-year-old mammoth skeleton was found, the oldest and best preserved in the world. At the latter, 850,000-yearold human footprints were found, the oldest evidence of mankind found outside the Great Rift Valley in Africa. Discover the story at the digital information boards.
WRAP UP WARM AND BRAVE THE GREAT OUTDOORS FOR A BRACING WALK
Head to the Norfolk coast and it’s likely it’ll just be you, the shoreline, the sea and sky – and perhaps your partner, the kids and a dog or two! Find the big beaches at Brancaster, Holkham and Wells-next-the-Sea or all along the east coast from Mundesley down to Gorleston-onSea. Afterwards find a welcoming pub with a roaring fire for a wellearned pint and a hearty meal, or a friendly café for a warming mug of hot chocolate or a cream tea. Or take on the Norfolk Coast Path – it can be done in manageable chunks.
Christmas! This Things to do in Norfolk
Noël, Nativity, Xmas, Yule or simply Christmas… whatever you call it, it’s coming down the line with the speed of a Santa Special steam railway. And we can’t wait, particularly as here in Norfolk there are so many fabulous events and activities to enjoy.
North Norfolk Railway Christmas Lights Express
15 Nov – 4 Jan
The Norfolk Lights Express is an immersive, wintertime experience that is fun for the whole family! Arrive after dark at Sheringham Station and you’ll be greeted by the magical site of a steam-hauled train illuminated by thousands of tiny lights. The Old Luggage buffet will be open for you to purchase hot soup, hot drinks, alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, delicious homemade cakes and savoury refreshments. A licensed bar will also be on board each train and can be visited before departure and during the intermission. Since its debut in 2019, The Norfolk Lights Express has become firmly established as a favourite seasonal treat.
Ho ho ho!
Great Yarmouth
Hippodrome Christmas
Spectacular Circus and Water Show
7 Dec – 5 Jan
The Christmas Spectacular, with Jack Jay and Ben Langley plus an incredible international circus cast, combines the festive spirit with the breath-taking magic of the circus. There’s no Christmas show quite like this one and a completely new alternative to the traditional pantomime.
Thursford Christmas Spectacular
8 Nov – 23 Dec
The Christmas Spectacular is an extravaganza of nonstop singing, dancing, music, humour and variety. It’s a fast-moving celebration of the festive season featuring an eclectic mix of both seasonal and year round favourites. With a cast of 130 this is the biggest Christmas show of its kind in Europe! There’s also the Enchanted Journey of Light and Santa’s Magical Journey to look forward to.
Cromer Pier
Christmas Show
16 Nov – 29 Dec
The Christmas variety show will warm your hearts and get you in the mood for the Christmas season with a whole heap of festive fun. It’s fast becoming one of the ‘must see’ family Christmas shows in Norfolk, not only in production values, laugh-out-loud comedy, amazing dance routines and glitzy costumes but also as an exceedingly good value for money experience, strengthening the county’s excellent festive entertainment offering.
Sandringham Estate Winter Light Trail 2024
21 Nov – 25 Dec
Nestled deep within Sandringham Estate, awaits a spectacular, illuminated trail, full of wonder and intrigue, to delight an enthral your senses. As darkness descends, enjoy an enchanting journey on a captivating light trail through the Royal Parkland at Sandringham. Immerse yourself in the mesmerising mile long trail, with stunning lighting elements and fabulous interactive light play, all set to music. The courtyard area will have tasty hot food and drinks for before or after the trail. On the route you will find mulled wine and marshmallows for toasting on fire pits. Luminate Sandringham will run nightly, and tickets must be pre-booked online in advance.
Holkham Hall by Candlelight
29 Nov – 20 Dec
(not all dates, please check Holkham’s website)
Guided tours: 5, 12, & 16 Dec (pre-book on website)
As seen on Channel 4’s ‘Christmas at Holkham’, the Hall’s state rooms are decked each year, making them truly magical, and it’s even better in person! Take it all in on this selfled tour as you explore the rooms at your own pace. The Hall Guides will be on hand to share inspiration behind each room and answer any questions. Peruse the beautiful state rooms, enjoy the stunning scenes and decorations and take photos to inspire your own Christmas decorating! The shop will be open with gifts and Christmas decorations, and the Courtyard Café offers seasonal food and beverages.
Norwich Theatre
Royal – Aladdin
7 Dec – 5 Jan
Joe Tracini will be back in the centre of the comedy action and is joined by the wonderfully talented Lisa Maxwell (The Bill, EastEnders, Hollyoaks, Casualty, Loose Women) in the role of the Evil Aunt. West End musical theatre star Tarik Frimpong plays the good guy and title character, Aladdin, with Jazz played by Meesha Turner (SIX the musical and the West End stage show Stranger Things). And it wouldn’t be panto without a dame! Introducing Owen Evans, best known as one half of the Norfolk favourite comedy duo, the Nimmo Twins! Follow Aladdin in this Genie-us production as he dreams of finding love and making his fortune. Will it be that simple? Of course not, it’s pantomime!
it’s… Panto!
Hunstanton Princess Theatre – Snow White
7 Dec – 5 Jan
Come and watch Snow White and her friends as she battles against the fearsome Evil Queen. Accompanied by brilliant special effects, amazing dance routines, exciting musical numbers, fun audience participation, and lots of laughs!
King’s Lynn Corn Exchange – Cinderella
10 Dec – 5 Jan
Left at home by her wicked step-sisters poor Cinderella cannot go to the ball! However, with the help of her Fairy. Don’t miss this classic tale of magic and true love, brought to you by the team behind last year’s smash hit production of Dick Whittington and his cat. Expect heaps of panto fun, live music, stunning sets and sensational costumes that will leave you spellbound. Book now before things turn ugly!
Norwich Maddermarket – Fantastic Mr Fox
20–30 Dec
The Norwich Players present Roald Dahl’s fantastic story for the Maddermarket’s family Christmas show for 2024. This adventurous tale follows a family of foxes, as they battle farmers, rats and JCBs to protect their underground community of larger-than-life creatures. This production promises to be a spectacle, as we use puppetry, movement and music to deliver an evening of storytelling for all the family.
Sheringham Little Theatre – Robin Hood
13 Dec – 4 Jan
Join the heroic outlaw, the arrow-shooting hero Robin Hood, as he strives to win the hand of the beautiful Maid Marion. Will Robin and his trusty Merry Crew outwit the evil Sheriff of Nottingham? Robin Hood features all the ingredients of a perfect pantomime: a fabulous cast, laugh out loud comedy, fantastic dancers, popular songs, bundles of audience participation, special effects, and plenty of boos and hisses for all the family to enjoy. Book your ticket now for the Sheriff-Busting, tights-wearing pantomime extravaganza!
QUIZ
How Norfolk are you?
These questions will tell you just how Norfolk you are…
1 Do you call the location (pictured above) with a lighthouse…
a) Happys-berg
b) Haysbru?
c) Hapiz-borough
2 These are the first two lines of the Canaries’ football anthem, On The Ball City (the oldest known football song still in use). What are the next three… Kick it off, throw it in, have a little scrimmage, Keep it low, a splendid rush, bravo, win or die…
3 Which of these things did Norfolk hero Horatio Nelson say…
a) When confronted with his Brancaster mussels, “I see no chips”
b) “I am a Norfolk man and glory in being so”
c) “Very flat, Norfolk”
4 Most church towers are square, in the Norman fashion, but many of Norfolk’s are round. Why?
a) In the event of war, round corners can’t be blasted off
b) You can’t make square corners with knapped flint
c) It was the Saxon style
5 Samphire is what?
a) An edible salt marsh plant
b) A gentleman’s club in Norwich
c) An early seaplane prototype of the Spitfire, tested on Breydon Water.
6 Before Harry Potter, the best-read children’s story was written by Anna Sewell in Great Yarmouth. What was it?
a) Paddington Bear
b) Swallows and Amazons
c) Black Beauty
7 Who brought the famous Canary to Norwich?
a) Flemish refugees who had them as pets because they were ‘cheep’
b) Polish miners who dug chalk under the city
c) John Bond when he managed Norwich City FC in the 1970s
8 Bloaters are what?
a) Norfolk rhyming slang for a car
b) People who have eaten too many Great Yarmouth market chips
c) Herring from Great Yarmouth
9 Who wrote:
‘The principle of an equality of rights is clear and simple. Every man can understand it, and it is by understanding his rights that he learns his duties; for where the rights of men are equal, every man must, finally, see the necessity of protecting the rights of others, as the most effectual security of his own’?
a) Thomas a Becket
b) Thomas Paine
c) Terry Thomas
10 The Erpingham gate at Norwich’s Norman cathedral is named after Sir Robert Erpingham who…
a) Led the Welsh archers at Agincourt
b) Was a predecessor of legendary cowboy sheriff Wyatt Earp
c) Was the Witchfinder General
11 Close to the Norman cathedral is Tombland. How did it come by its name?
a) It was an early burial site in the city
b) It’s Saxon for ‘open place’
c) It was a filming location for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
12 What is a Stewkey Blue?
a) A cheese from north Norfolk
b) A flag used to start sailing races at the Brancaster Regatta
c) A cockle from the tidal creeks at Stiffkey
13 Norfolk has the best malting barley in the UK because…
a) It’s grown at height in north Norfolk and benefits from salty sea frets
b) It’s grown in the fertile reclaimed soil of The Fens in West Norfolk, drained by Dutch engineers
c) It’s grown in the chalky soil of water meadows in mid-Norfolk
14 What statue is on top of Great Yarmouth’s Nelson Monument?
a) England’s greatest naval commander
b) A model of The Victory
c) Britannia
15 What was found on Norfolk’s Deep History Coast?
a) 850,000-year-old human footprints
b) A 650,000-year-old mammoth skeleton
c) A 500,000-year-old flint axe
16 In Norfolk dialect, what is a Dickey?
a) A bow tie
b) A donkey
c) A stomach upset
17 Cromer crabs are so sweet because…
a) They feed off the world’s longest chalk reef
b) The dressed crab has sugar added to it
c) They live in fresh water pools
18 Pocahontas is depicted on the village sign at Heacham because…
a) She married local man John Rolfe
b) She appeared in a travelling circus
c) She was shipwrecked on the nearby beach
19 When the Romans turned up in Norfolk in AD46 what did they find?
a) That Great Yarmouth didn’t exist
b) That there were rabbits everywhere. They nicknamed them Ben Furs
c) That Norfolk already had direct roads, such as the Acle Straight
20 Thetford has a statue of whom?
a) Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire
b) Thomas Paine, who helped fuel the American War of Independence
c) Captain Mainwaring from Dad’s Army – it was filmed here Answers
1) Hays-bru, 2) On The Ball City, never mind the danger, Steady on, now’s your chance, Hurrah! We’ve scored a goal! 3) Horatio Nelson, 4) It was the Saxon style, but the other two are plausible, 5) Samphire is an edible saltmarsh plant, 6) Black Beauty, 7) Flemish refugees more than 300 years ago, 8) Herring from Great Yarmouth, 9) Thomas Paine, driving force of American Independence, born in 1737 in Thetford, 10) Sir Thomas led the Welsh archers at Agincourt, 11) It’s Saxon for ‘open place’, 12) A cockle from Stiffkey, 13) It’s grown at height and benefits from salty sea frets, 14) Britannia, 15) A trick question! The answer is all three, 16) Donkey, 17) They feed off the world’s longest chalk reef, 18) She married local man John Rolfe, 19) That Great Yarmouth didn’t exist, 20) Another trick question. It’s all three!
