Norfolk - 91 Attractions You Must Visit

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About Norfolk

Norfolk is a county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the northwest, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea and to the northwest, The Wash.Norfolk County’s most popular tourist attractions are the beaches, ports, towns and villages along Lake Erie, known as Ontario’s South Coast.

Types of Attractions in Norfolk

Activities Around

List of Attractions in Norfolk

Amazona Zoo

Amazona Zoo is home to over 200 animals from tropical South America including jaguars, parrots, moneys, snakes, flamingos, guinea pigs and tapirs. There is also a large well-equipped indoor soft play area, for under-12’s. The park style zoo, has a network of paths and viewing areas, where visitors can see the animals close-up; signs tell you what you are looking at and help you understand about their natural habitat and how they relate to more well-known animals.

Ancient House Museum

Ancient House Museum

Iconic Buildings

Ancient House is a fascinating museum of Thetford life, housed in an attractive, half-timbered, Tudor merchant's house. The museum tells the fascinating history of Thetford and the Brecks region, through displays of industrial heritage, archaeology, photos, costumes, arms and armour, social history, fine art, and natural history.

Baconsthorpe Castle

Baconsthorpe Castle

Iconic Buildings

Baconsthorpe Castle is a moated and fortified 15th century manor house, that are a testament to the rise and fall of a prominent Norfolk family. It was established in the 15th century on the site of a former manor hall, probably by John Heydon I and his father, William. Part of the castle was later converted into a textile factory, but it fell out of use in the 20th century. Today Baconsthorpe is one of the most picturesque - and relatively unknown - moated castles in England.

Banham Zoo

Banham Zoo is an award-winning family attraction and one of the most exciting wildlife attractions in the country, with over 2,000 animals from around the world and set in 50 acres of beautiful parkland and gardens. It is part of the Zoological Society of East Anglia, a registered charity that also owns Africa Alive! near Lowestoft, Suffolk. Today, it has acquired a much larger collection of animals, but it still retains one of the best collections of smaller monkeys in Europe.

Barton Broad

Barton Broad

Outdoors- Other

Barton Broad is a 164-hectare nature reserve north-east of Norwich in Norfolk. It is owned and managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. It is part of the Ant Broads and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserve. The Broad was created in the Middle Ages by digging for peat and the River Ant was later diverted through it, which allowed navigation. It has diverse aquatic plants and fish, and the surrounding fens have nationally rare plants and invertebrates.

BeWILDerwood Norfolk

BeWILDerwood Norfolk

Man-made Structures- Other

Forests

A huge, award winning forest of family fun and outdoor adventure. Treehouses, Wobbly Wires, Slippery Slopes, Crocklebogs, Twiggles and Boggles, storytelling, boat rides, marsh walks and really yummy food. The whole family can spend hours running, whizzing and clambering on the sustainable wooden play structures, from aerial ropewalks to climbing walls, balancing logs and muddled mazes in a beautiful forest setting.

Bircham Gallery

Bircham Gallery

Art Galleries

Bircham Gallery is a light and spacious contemporary art gallery situated on the Market Place in the Georgian town of Holt on the North Norfolk coast. The gallery was established in 1988 by Christopher and Deborah Harrison and over 25 years has developed an enviable reputation for exhibiting the best of contemporary and modern British art.

Bircham Windmill

Bircham Windmill

Man-made Structures- Other

Great Bircham Windmill is a Grade II listed tower mill in Great Bircham, Norfolk, England. Come and enjoy this family run attraction with something for everyone. Bake some bread, climb to the top of the mill. Play in the garden. See the sheep being milked at 2pm daily. Sample some homemade bread, cakes and cheese all on sale in our tearooms and to take home from our bakery.

Brancaster Beach

vBrancaster beach is one of the best of North Norfolk's stunning beaches, with miles of unspoilt golden sand, stretching from Titchwell to Brancaster Staithe. This beach is part of the Brancaster Estate which is now owned by the National Trust. This iconic stretch of coast is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and also home to important natural features such as the tidal salt marshes of Scolt Head.

Bressingham Steam & Gardens

Bressingham Steam & Gardens

Man-made Structures- Other

Botanical Gardens

Bressingham Gardens and Steam Experience is a unique combination arising out of the passions of founder Alan Bloom, whose profession of nurseryman and gardener and hobby of a steam powered collection of trains and traction engines led to the leisure destination of Bressingham Gardens and Steam Museum. The site has several narrow gauge rail lines and a number of types of steam engines and vehicles in its collection and is also the home of the national Dad's Army exhibition

Breydon Water

Breydon Water

Lake/ River/ Ponds

Outdoors- Other

Breydon Water is a large expanse of water that opens to the sea through Great Yarmouth Port. It is part of the Berney Marshes and Breydon Water nature reserve, which is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It is the UK's largest protected wetland and also It has been a popular shooting area for centuries, and the shooting continues, but on a very much reduced scale.

Britannia Pier (Great Yarmouth)

Britannia Pier (Great Yarmouth)

Man-made Structures- Other

Britannia Pier is a pier located at the seaside town of Great Yarmouth in the English county of Norfolk. The two Great Yarmouth Piers – Britannia Pier and Wellington Pier – are packed with family fun amusements, fairground style rides, great bars and cafes, theatres, bowling centers, and more.

Bure Valley Railway (Aylsham station)

Bure Valley Railway (Aylsham station)

Man-made Structures- Other

The Bure Valley Railway is Norfolk's longest Narrow Gauge Steam Railway and operates between the old market town of Aylsham and the bustling Broads towns of Wroxham and is within easy reach of Norwich and the coast. It uses both steam and diesel locomotives. There are intermediate halts at Brampton, Buxton and Coltishall.

Burgh Castle Roman Fort

Burgh Castle Roman Fort

Iconic Buildings

Burgh Castle Roman Fort is one of the best-preserved Roman monuments in the country. Built in the 3rd century overlooking Breydon Water and the outlet of the River Waveney. After the Roman period, the site may have been occupied by an early Christian monastery; and after 1066 a Norman castle was built inside the Fort walls.

Caister Castle

Caister Castle

Iconic Buildings

Castle Acre: Castle Acre Priory

It was one of the largest and best-preserved monastic sites in England dating back to 1090. It was the home of the first Cluniac order of monks to England and the Cluniac love of decoration is everywhere reflected in the extensive ruins. Originally the priory was sited within the walls of Castle Acre Castle, but this proved too small and inconvenient for the monks, hence the priory was relocated to the present site in the castle grounds about one year later.

Castle Rising

Castle Rising

Iconic Buildings

Castle Rising Castle is one of the most famous 12th Century castles in England. The stone keep, built in around 1140 AD, is amongst the finest surviving examples of its kind anywhere in the country. In its time Rising has served as a hunting lodge, royal residence, and for a brief time in the 18th century even housed a mental patient.

City of Norwich Aviation Museum

The City of Norwich Aviation Museum is located on the northern edge of Norwich International Airport and is reached by road through the village of Horsham St. Faith. There is a good collection of aircraft including an Avro Vulcan B.2 which flew into the airport after its retirement from service in 1983. The museum welcomed its newest exhibit in October 2020 when it received EL-RJN this aircraft is 21 years old and is an Avro RJ85.

Cley Marshes Visitor Centre

Cley Marshes is a 176-hectare nature reserve on the North Sea coast of England just outside the village of Cley next the Sea, Norfolk. A reserve since 1926, it is the oldest of the reserves belonging to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, which is itself the oldest county Wildlife Trust in the United Kingdom.

Cromer Beach

Cromer is a traditional Victorian seaside resort, with a wide sand and shingle beach popular for swimming and surfing. Its popular activities include building sandcastles, swimming, watersports and rock pooling at low tide. The chalk cliffs are very steep and care should be taken when walking. Fishing is a treasured activity for both locals and tourists.

Map of attractions in Norfolk

Comments

For more information about Norfolk, visit: https://www.norfolkcounty.ca/visiting/about-norfolk-county/