The County of Norfolk

‘Norfolk… very flat, Norfolk’ is a famous line in Noel Coward’s play Private Lives. This is not strictly accurate: much of Norfolk undulates, but it is true that the highest point in the county is only 338ft. above sea level, and is the lowest high point among all English counties. It is scarcely higher than the spire of Norwich Cathedral (315ft.). Norfolk is England’s fifth largest county, spread over about 2,000 square miles, but its population is a slender 800,000 or so, so there is plenty of peace and quiet to be found.

Norfolk has, for all its long coast line, a very low annual rainfall, which favours visitors, and constant blue skies, so beloved of artists who have always been attracted by its broad land and seascapes. In medieval times, the wool industry brought prosperity to the area, and one of its legacies is remarkably fine architecture. So notable is it that Simon Jenkins has observed the fact that later Georgians and Victorians could never come close to matching it. So they left it alone. Cawston and Salle (pronounced Saul) in the east and Walpole St.Peter in the west are among enthusiasts’ favourites. It was Flemish weavers in the 14th century who gave rise to that prosperity… the town of Worstead gave its name (minus the ‘a’) to a particular weave of woollen cloth. But during the Industrial Revolution the clothmaking industry moved to northern England. However it left behind it many wonderfully preserved old manor houses, often moated, that give the countryside today a special and dignified appeal.

That decline in the manufacturing industry, happily for Norfolk, came just as the Agricultural Revolution was taking hold. Two enlightened and aristocratic landowners during this period were ‘Turnip’ Townshend of Raynham Hall and Thomas Coke (pronounced ‘Cook’) of Holkham Hall. They oversaw the replacement of medieval farming methods with crop rotation and the use of manure. Further increasingly efficient farming practices have kept Norfolk to the forefront of today’s agricultural industry.

The ever-popular Norfolk Broads have National Park status and form the largest protected wetlands area in England, at over 5,000 acres. They are a paradise for both wildlife enthusiasts and families on boating holidays. King’s Lynn, always worth visiting, welcomes a new marina in 2009 as part of its continuing restoration of the old docks area. A currently popular destination is Swaffham, which is the location for the TV series Kingdom.

Some old and great agricultural fortunes have produced two neighbouring Palladian homes of a truly palatial scale. Houghton was built by Sir Robert Walpole, England’s first Prime Minister. Such was its construction cost to him, that debts caused it to pass in the next generation to his great-grandson, the Ist Marquess of Cholmondeley. The more restrained Italianate approach to the creation of Holkham Hall by Thomas Coke has equal appeal. Sandringham, which The Queen owns personally, looks almost ordinary by comparison, but its immaculately maintained 60 acre garden, within a much larger park, are much admired by its many visitors. A distinctive feature of Norfolk’s landscape is the large number of round church towers; there are about one hundred of them, and are generally beautifully maintained. Some are of Saxon origin but most are Norman, as is Norwich Cathedral which dominates the city that grew around it in prosperous times. Visitor trails always include the Castle, old streets, many still lined with ancient dwellings, and St.Peter Mancroft. Simon Jenkins has written: ‘Few who enter St.Peter’s for the first time can stifle a gasp’.

Norfolk possesses two five-star golf courses and two Blue Flag beaches. The Pathfinder series of guidebooks has some interesting walks. The absence of steep hills and plenty of good pubs indicate good cycling country, and there are also both fine restaurants and accommodation of all standards to be discovered with the help of recommendations in this publication.

Ross Harvey