Norfolk and Suffolk travel guide
Expert guide to Norfolk and Suffolk
Overview Overview
Hotels Hotels
Attractions Attractions
Restaurants Restaurants
Nightlife Nightlife
36 hours in 36 hours in
An insider's guide to Norfolk and Suffolk with advice on hotels, restaurants and local pubs, written by our expert Sophie Butler.
Why go?
The beaches fringing the curved Norfolk and Suffolk coastline are the chief draw for visitors to the region. Even on the busiest summer’s day, there is always space for games, kite-flying or a quiet family picnic in the dunes. And children can be entertained easily and cheaply by boating, crabbing, digging for cockles or wading in muddy creeks.
It’s also a wild landscape of dense pine forest, open heathland and great expanses of salt marsh, which flush purple with sea-lavender in August. Bird life is astonishingly rich and coastal wild flowers include yellow-horned poppies and purple-flowering sea pea, while the unique wetlands of the Broads, one of England’s 10 designated National Parks, is home to more than 400 rare species, including butterflies, dragonflies, moths and snails.
Further inland, undulating countryside and sleepy, flint-built villages are perfect for gentle cycling, walking or touring by car. Stately homes, ruined castles, medieval churches and half-timbered wool-towns with fascinating museums make enjoyable days out.
There’s also a good variety of shopping in lively Georgian towns such as Burnham Market and Holt in North Norfolk and Southwold in Suffolk and, wherever you are, you’re never far from a cosy, pamment-floored pub serving local ales or an excellent delicatessen selling the region’s specialities – pungent cheeses, smoked fish or honey.
When to go
Although East Anglia gets less rain than many other holiday destinations in the UK, northerly and easterly winds over the North Sea can keep temperatures low. But even on cold, bright days in winter, the beach car parks can be busy with dog-walkers and hikers.
As soon as schools break up in mid-July, coastal resorts fill quickly. The best time to visit is in spring, when the cow parsley and elderflowers fill the hedgerows, June and early July to avoid the summer rush and September for a good chance of sunny weather combined with summer-warmed sea water.
Where to go
Highlights of the region include the vast, sandy beach at Holkham, and the adjacent, privately owned Holkham Hall. Also Blickling Hall, a National Trust-run Jacobean house, once owned by the Boleyn family. Pretty coastal towns include Blakeney, Southwold and Aldeburgh, while the resorts of Cromer, Sheringham and Wells-next-the-Sea offer plenty of seaside fun. For good shopping, 12th century cathedral and medieval cobbled streets, spend a day in Norwich or hire a boat on the Broads to enjoy the wildlife-rich backwaters. The half-timbered wool towns of Suffolk make excellent, leisurely touring country.
More information
visitnorfolk.co.uk
visitnorthnorfolk.com
visitsuffolk.com
norfolkbroads.com
Follow Telegraph Travel on Twitter
Expert guide to Norfolk and Suffolk
Overview Overview
Hotels Hotels
Attractions Attractions
Restaurants Restaurants
Nightlife Nightlife
36 hours in 36 hours in
