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Strictly speaking, East Anglia is made up of just three counties – Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, which were settled in the fifth century by Angles from today’s Schleswig-Holstein – but it has come to be loosely applied to parts of Essex too. As a region it’s renowned for its wide skies and flat landscapes – if you’re looking for mountains, you’ve come to the wrong place. East Anglia can surprise, nonetheless: parts of Suffolk and Norfolk are decidedly hilly, with steep coastal cliffs; broad rivers cut through the fenlands; and Norfolk also boasts some wonderful sandy beaches. Fine medieval churches abound, built in the days when this was England’s most progressive and prosperous region.
Heading into East Anglia from the south takes you through Essex, whose proximity to London has turned much of the county into an unappetizing commuter strip. Amid the suburban gloom, there are, however, several worthwhile destinations, most notably Colchester, once a major Roman town and now a likeable place with an imposing castle, and the handsome hamlets of the bucolic Stour River Valley on the Essex–Suffolk border. Essex’s Dedham is one of the prettiest of these villages, but the prime attraction hereabouts is Suffolk’s Flatford Mill, famous for its associations with the painter John Constable.
Suffolk boasts a string of pretty little towns – Lavenham is the prime example – that enjoyed immense prosperity from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, the heyday of the wool trade. The county town of Ipswichhas more to offer than it’s given credit for, but really it’s the north Suffolk coast that holds the main appeal, especially the delightful seaside resort of Southwold and neighbouring Aldeburgh with its prestigious music festival.
Norfolk, as everyone knows thanks to Noël Coward, is very flat. It’s also one of the most sparsely populated and tranquil counties in England, a remarkable turnaround from the days when it was an economic and political powerhouse – until, that is, the Industrial Revolution simply passed it by. Its capital, Norwich, is East Anglia’s largest city, renowned for its Norman cathedral and castle; nearby are the Broads, a unique landscape of reed-ridden waterways that have been intensively exploited by boat-rental companies. Similarly popular, the Norfolk coast holds a string of busy, very English seaside resorts – Cromer and Sheringham to name but two – but for the most part it’s charmingly unspoilt, its marshes, creeks and tidal fats studded with tiny flintstone villages, most enjoyably Blakeney and Cley.
Cambridge is much visited, principally because of its world-renowned university, whose ancient colleges boast some of the finest medieval and early-modern architecture in the country. The rest of Cambridgeshire is pancake-flat fenland, for centuries an inhospitable marshland, but now rich alluvial farming land. The cathedral town of Ely, settled on one of the few areas of raised ground in the fens, is an easy and popular day-trip from Cambridge.
Given the prevailing flatness of the terrain, hiking in East Anglia is less strenuous than in most other English regions, and there are several long-distance footpaths. The main one is the Peddars Way, which runs north from Knettishall Heath, near Thetford, to the coast at Holme-next-the-Sea, near Hunstanton, where it continues east as the Norfolk Coast Path to Cromer – 93 miles in total.
The Great British Road Trip
Get ready to explore Britain on this unique self-drive road trip. Choose the car of your liking before you hit the road: from the Cotswolds and its picturesque villages over the Beatle's favorite hang-out in Liverpool to Scotland's capital Edinburgh: this trip includes many highlights to be explored
customize ⤍Refreshing English Countryside Break
Outside of London, England is known with a countryside full of history, picturesque villages, patchwork hills, and winding country roads. Explore the countryside with its castles, parks, and historical cities such as Oxford.
customize ⤍Walking around vintage England and picturesque Scotland
Visit two traditional capitals, London and Edinburgh, and enjoy a trek through the Loch Lomond national park. This trip will let you discover peaceful Scottish islands by foot, with several days of detailed walking tours included in the trip.
customize ⤍Hiking in out-of-the way Northern Cornwall
Northern Cornwall is a hiker's paradise and this itinerary includes the most scenic parts. You will start your journey in London with some unique activities to get to know the city, before setting off on a 5-day walk across Cornwall. End your trip in Bath and explore the backdrop of Bridgerton.
customize ⤍A walking holiday on the Jurassic Coast
Walking the Jurassic Coast is one of the best ways to truly appreciate the spectacular scenery. Walks range from easy to challenging. 6 days walking are included in this itinerary, as is an extensive pre-program in London and a last night back in the capital.
customize ⤍England Historical Highlights
Discover the highlands of England: From busy London and its Buckingham Palace over historical Oxford to the mysterious Stonehenge. England has plenty to offer and this self-drive itinerary allows you the freedom and flexibility to choose activities to your liking.
customize ⤍Note that most colleges have restricted opening times and some impose admission charges; during the exam period (late April to early June) most of them close their doors to the public at least some of the time.
Since then, Ely has been associated with Hereward, which is a little ridiculous as Ely is, above all else, a Norman town. The Normans built the cathedral, a towering structure visible for miles across the flat fenland landscape and Ely’s main sight. The rest of Ely is pretty enough: to the immediate north of the church is the High Street, a slender thoroughfare lined with old-fashioned shops, and the river is a relaxing spot with a riverside footpath, a tearoom or two, a small art gallery and an entertainment complex.
Blakeney harbour is linked to the sea by a narrow channel that wriggles its way through the salt marshes and is only navigable for a few hours at high tide. At low tide the harbour is no more than a muddy creek (ideal for a bit of quayside crabbing and mud sliding).
It’s no more than the place deserves: Cromer has a long history, first as a prosperous medieval port – witness the tower of St Peter and St Paul, at 160ft the tallest in Norfolk – and then as a fashionable watering hole after the advent of the railway in the 1880s. There are three things you must do here: take a walk on the beach, stroll out onto the pier, and, of course, grab a crab: Cromer crabs are famous right across England and several places sell them, reliably fresh, and cooked and stuffed every which way.
The Norfolk Broads are crisscrossed by roads and rail lines, but the best – really the only – way to see them is by boat, and you could happily spend a week or so exploring the 125 miles of lock-free navigable waterways, visiting the various churches, pubs and windmills en route. Of the many boat rental companies, Blakes and Norfolk Broads Boating Holidays, are both well established and have rental outlets at Wroxham, seven miles northeast of Norwich – and easy to reach by train, bus and car. Prices for cruisers start at around £700 a week for four people in peak season, but less expensive, short-term rentals are widely available too. Houseboats are much cheaper than cruisers, but they are, of course, static.
Trying to explore the Broads by car is pretty much a waste of time, but cyclists and walkers can take advantage of the region’s network of footpaths and cycle trails. There are Broads Authority bike rental points dotted around the region and walkers might consider the 56-mile Weavers’ Way, a long-distance footpath that winds through the best parts of the Broads on its way from Cromer to Great Yarmouth. There are many shorter options too. As for specific sights for landlubbers and boaters alike, one prime target is Toad Hole Cottage, an old eel-catcher’s cottage holding a small exhibit on the history of the trade, which was common in the area until the 1940s. The cottage is at How Hill, close to the hamlet of Ludham, six miles east of Wroxham on the A1062. Behind the cottage is the narrow River Ant, where there are hour-long, wildlife-viewing boat trips in the Electric Eel.
Norwich’s relative isolation has also meant that the population has never swelled to any great extent and today, with just 140,000 inhabitants, it remains an easy and enjoyable city. Yet Norwich is no provincial backwater. In the 1960s, the foundation of the University of East Anglia (UEA) made it more cosmopolitan and bolstered its arts scene, while in the 1980s it attracted new high-tech companies, who created something of a mini-boom, making the city one of England’s wealthiest. As East Anglia’s unofficial capital, Norwich also lies at the hub of the region’s transport network, serving as a useful base for visiting the Broads and as a springboard for the north Norfolk coast.
Back outside and just below the church is Gentlemen’s Walk, the town’s main promenade, which runs along the bottom of the marketplace and abuts the Royal Arcade, an Art Nouveau extravagance from 1899. The arcade has been beautifully restored to reveal the swirling tiling, ironwork and stained glass.
For more inspiration and practical information read our 15 reasons to visit Norfolk.
The mill itself – not the one he painted, but a Victorian replacement – is not open to the public and neither is neighbouring Willy Lott’s Cottage, which does actually feature in The Hay Wain, but the National Trust has colonized several local buildings, principally Bridge Cottage.
Outside of June, Aldeburgh is a relaxed and low-key coastal resort, with a small fishing fleet selling its daily catch from wooden shacks along the pebbled shore. Aldeburgh’s slightly old-fashioned/local shop appearance is fiercely defended by its citizens, who caused an almighty rumpus – Barbours at dawn – when Maggi Hambling’s 13ft-high Scallop sculpture appeared on the beach in 2003. Hambling described the sculpture as a conversation with the sea and a suitable memorial to Britten; many disgruntled locals compared it to a mantelpiece ornament gone wrong.
Aldeburgh’s wide High Street and its narrow side streets run close to the beach, but this was not always the case – hence their quixotic appearance. The sea swallowed much of what was once an extensive medieval town long ago and today Aldeburgh’s oldest remaining building, the sixteenth-century, red-brick, flint and timber Moot Hall, which began its days in the centre of town, now finds itself on the seashore. Several footpaths radiate out from Aldeburgh, with the most obvious trail leading north along the coast to Thorpeness, and others going southwest to the winding estuary of the River Alde.
By the mid-1960s, the festival had outgrown the parish churches in which it began, and moved into a collection of disused malthouses, five miles west of Aldeburgh on the River Alde, just south of the small village of Snape. The complex, the Snape Maltings were subsequently converted into one of the finest concert venues in the country and, in addition to the concert hall, there are now recording studios, galleries, a tearoom, and a pub, the Plough & Sail.
The Aldeburgh Festival takes place every June for two and a half weeks. Core performances are still held at the Maltings, but a string of other local venues are pressed into service as well. Throughout the rest of the year, the Maltings hosts a wide-ranging programme of musical and theatrical events, including the three-day Britten Festival in October. For more information, contact Aldeburgh Music, which operates two box offices, one at Snape Maltings, the other on Aldeburgh High Street in premises it shares with the tourist office. Tickets for the Aldeburgh Festival usually go on sale to the public towards the end of March, and sell out fast for the big-name recitals.
written by Rough Guides Editors
updated 7.07.2021
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