THE BURE VALLEY RAILWAY
Steam through the Norfolk Broads on the Bure Valley Railway, the longest of
its kind in the county: the nine-mile trip takes passengers from the ancient
market town of Aylsham to Wroxham in around 45 minutes. The diesel and steam
locomotives stop at three picturesque villages along the way. The line is
flanked by a cycle path and a footpath.
NORWICH – AN ARTISTIC CENTRE?
Certainly. Complementing the city’s long history is a well established
cultural tradition which covers music, literature, theatre and the visual
arts. The city really comes to life during the Norfolk & Norwich
Festival, which takes place every year in May and is one of the oldest
festivals in the country. It was established in 1772 as a triennial event;
Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Holst conducted their own music at the festival
and a number of important works were played here for the first time.
Six days a week, the heart of Norwich is filled with market stalls lined up in
neat rows parallel with Gentleman’s Walk. Each one is covered with a striped
awning, the bright colours giving a cheerful air to the city centre. It is
at its liveliest in the middle of the day, although some stalls open early
while others, like the flower sellers, hang on until later.
Philip Search has spent his whole career in the hotel trade, and it shows. He
started out washing dishes, at the age of 16, and went on to work for
Marriott. Now, 25years later, he’s just opened his own hotel.
The ideal way to reach Norfolk’s capital city is by train; Norwich is
relatively unusual for an inland location in Britain in that it has a proper
terminus, just on the edge of the city centre.
Norwich has all the metropolitan trappings –culture, shopping, Nightlife – of
a big city, without the sprawling suburbs that often make them so
overwhelming. But for me, the best thing about it is the city’s unique
architecture. And now there’s a walking tour you can do which takes you
round its 12 finest buildings.
When Sir Frederick Gibberd designed Harlow New Town in 1947, his plans were
heralded as a utopian vision. As a result of his efforts, Harlow blessed
Britain with its first pedestrian precinct, its first post-war residential
tower block and a treasure trove of public art, including sculptures by
Henry Moore and Elisabeth Frink. Gibberd’s pedestrian paradigm was largely
corrupted by the rise and rise of the automobile: a car park replaces the
green fields that his tiered watergarden originally overlooked, and the town
is now scheduled for major regeneration.