Did you know? The mystic Julian of Norwich was the first great female writer in English
Best thing: With no motorways, Norfolk is completely unspoilt by traffic
Local food: Cromer crab; samphire; Colman’s mustard; sugar beet; Norfolk turkey; Kettle Chips crisps
Heroes The Queen: Horatio Nelson; Boudica; Bill Bryson; Delia Smith; Matthew Rice: Kit Hesketh-Harvey; war nurse Edith Cavell Events The Royal Norfolk Show; Fakenham races; King’s Lynn festival; World Snail Racing Championships; Norwich and Norfolk food festival; Holkham Country Fair
Inventions: Sir William Cubitt invented and patented self-regulating windmill sails at Horning in 1807, allowing them to operate automatically
Battle: Kett’s Rebellion of 1549, resulted in the deaths of 3,000 men
Landscape: Blakeney Point is famous for its increasing seal numbers; the Norfolk Broads; Holkham Beach, much used in films and on TV
What they say: ‘I am a Norfolk man and Glory in being so’ (Horatio Nelson); ‘I am still reeling with delight at the soaring majesty of Norfolk’ (John Betjeman); ‘Norfolk is cut off on three sides by the sea and on the fourth by British Rail’ (Old local saying); ‘What a grand, higgledy-piggledy, sensible old place Norwich is!’ (J. B. Priestley)
Literary connections: George Borrow; Parson Woodforde; Thomas Shadwell; Henry Rider Haggard; John Mills; Anna Sewell
Architectural identity: The water-reed thatched roofs and knapped flint churches such as St Margaret’s at Cley
Titbits: Grime’s Graves, the prehistoric flint factory, was begun about the same time as Stonehenge and more than 400 pits were quarried over 1,000 years
Quirky shops: J. R. & R. K. Ellis, rare and second-hand books, St Giles, Norwich; The Colman’s Mustard Shop, Royal Arcade, Norwich One for the road: The Adam and Eve pub, Norwich, dates from 1249 and was used by workmen building the city’s cathedral
Houses and churches: Castle Acre Priory; Jacobean Blickling Hall; Norwich Cathedral; Strangers’ Hall is a complete medieval town house; Little Walsingham church; Sandringham, the Royal holiday home; Holkham Hall is a masterpiece of Palladian revival
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Athena: We need to get serious about saving our museumsThe government announced that museums ‘can now apply for £20 million of funding to invest in their future’ last week. But will this be enough?
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Six rural properties with space, charm and endless views, as seen in Country LifeWe take a look at some of the best houses to come to the market via Country Life in the past week.
