Day trip Felixstowe, Suffolk to Cromer, Norfolk. Is this a good idea or should we stay the night?
 

We will be based in Felixstowe, Suffolk and it looks about 80 miles to Cromer, Norfolk. We will be there in October so know the days will be shorter. Is this a day trip ny car or should we make a mini break out of it?

Sandy

Last sentence should read "Is this a day trip by car or should we make a mini break out of it"

Anyone have an opinion based on day drips they have done in England.

Sandy

In early October, the sun will rise shortly after 7, BST, and set shortly before 1900. Depending on what you want to do or see on the way or at Cromer, you're likely to take 2.5 hours to drive.

Fans of the area may disagree, but it's hard to think of a duller drive, Norwich excepted, anywhere in England(although Ipswich is probably Britain's most unfairly ignored town). Practically the only other interesting things on the drive are the splendidly anachronistic food shops at Holt and the Bernard Matthews turkey processing plant. The roads are a bit slow, and it's easy to get stuck behind a lorry, but unless you get up late, linger forever over the crabs at lunch AND have a phobia about driving at night, it's hard to see how you'd have difficulties doing a 160 mile round-trip in a day.

However, slightly off the route, North Norfolk has a number of undervisited minor pleasures, and if you've time to spare it might be worth overnighting (the Holt Arms in Burnham Market is good, though its target audience is weekending Islingtonians, so it might be outside the price range of transatlantic visitors).

Holkham Hall, or rather its gardens and woods, is worth a visit, and the adjacent beach, though bracing, goes on forever (a kite and/or dog add to the pleasure). Wells-next-the-Sea is a typical English resort, reeking of chip shops. Walsingham is an extraordinary pilgrimage centre, with separate churches to accommodate Catholics, Anglicans and Orthodox (there being an odd tradition of Orthodoxy in the area). Bits of Sandringham can be visited when our beloved Sovereign is living at one of her other residences.

And a few other places are of interest: Stiffkey (research the story of its unfrocked vicar who ended up eaten by a lion), Worstead (interesting only for having worsted cloth named after it. And I bet you thought there was a process called 'worsting'). And Thursford, whose annual Christmas show you'll just miss, but whose fame extends as far as - well, Fakenham.

Oh, and the Norwich phone box "visiting cards". Regular visitors to these islands will be familiar with the "visiting cards" in phone boxes, and the exotic pleasures they advertise. Trying to find a working phone box in Norwich a few years ago, I discovered that East Anglian tastes are rather more basic than we jaded metropolitans seem to have. Every single card featured just one measurement, which ranged from 46DD to 54DDD.

They seem to make them big in Norwich.

What HAS Delia been up to?

Hi
Can't help you on the Cromer question, but I know loads to do around Felixstowe, including nice restaurants, day trips etc - do you need info or are you all sorted?
M

Morgana,

Looking forward to hearing your suggested day trips, restaurants etc.

Thanks very much.

Sandy

Hi
Some suggestions (I am sure google wil throw up loads more info on any that take your fancy)-
1) An day trip to Bury St Edmunds (takes less than an hour along the A14). Maybe I am biased as I was born here, but it's a lovely place. Don't miss the Abbey Gardens, Angel Hotel etc
2) A trip to Constable Country - Flatford Mill and Lock, and East Bergholt.
3)Up the coast to Orford - The Butley Orford Oysterage is a good place to eat.
4) Snape Maltings. We also had a meal just up the road from the Maltings at the Crown Inn - excellent.
5) Dunwich - The Ship Inn serves excellent fish. There are also lots of lovely walks along Dunwich and Minsmere Heath and along the beach itself.
6) Aldeburgh - old fashioned seaside resort. The Lighthouse Restaurant along the front is very good.
7) Lavenham and Long Melford - picturesque, packed with antique shops and full of timbered, thatched typical 'Suffolk' houses. The Swan at Long Melford and The Bull at Long Melford are worth a visit.
If you are interested in nature, walking etc the National Trust site (www.nationaltrust.org.uk) gives more detail on Dunwich, Minsmere and the coast.
Hope this helps - let me know if you need any more info.
M