{"id":8496,"date":"2023-07-06T10:50:25","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T10:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/day-medieval-city-norwich-england\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T09:52:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T09:52:02","slug":"day-medieval-city-norwich-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/day-medieval-city-norwich-england\/","title":{"rendered":"Things To Do In Norwich, England: A Foodie Guide To This Historic English City"},"content":{"rendered":"

In England, there\u2019s something of a \u2018new tradition\u2019<\/p>\n

This \u2018new tradition\u2019 is all about celebrating local heroes. After all, even the Queen\u2019s done that ages with the Honours Lists, but this one\u2019s different.<\/p>\n

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This one\u2019s about celebrating the people who help us travellers see even more of England and contribute in many different ways of showing us (and showing off) the best of their communities.<\/p>\n

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I love things like this!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure pretty much everyone who\u2019s ever travelled has come across someone local at least once in some destination that has been kind, offered help, advice or something useful that has ended up making such a big difference to our travels with their local expertise.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s essentially what this award; the Tourism Superstar Award (from Visit England<\/em>) is all about.<\/p>\n

Anyway, on a brisk, sunny morning a week ago, we hopped aboard the train from London and made our way over to Norwich where we would be spending time with the guy we\u2019re supporting to win this year\u2019s honours; Charlie Hodson.<\/p>\n

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You\u2019ll find out more about why further down;  and yes, a lot of it is to do with food.<\/p>\n

Norwich<\/a>, by the way, is an absolutely gorgeous English city<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another one of those cities I considered studying in but truth be told, even though it\u2019s fairly close to London, I\u2019d never actually visit properly.<\/p>\n

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The houses all around here are just so beautiful but the crowning gem here has got to be its impressive cathedral.<\/p>\n

Norwich Cathedral is one of the largest in England and stunning to see.<\/p>\n

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In fact, it has the largest monastic cloisters (that bit in the centre) in all of England.<\/p>\n

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Suffice to say, you\u2019ll find yourself losing quite a fair bit of time as you marvel at the sheer beauty of this place.<\/p>\n

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In fact, it took the persistent rumbling of my tummy to tear me away from this place and carry on through Norwich.<\/p>\n

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As you carry on your merry jaunt through the ancient Medieval city, you\u2019ll find yourself confronted with many houses here that\u2019ll give you serious home envy.<\/p>\n

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\u2026some of which are historic homes too! (Look out for the plaques outside the homes for more details)<\/p>\n

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Eventually, we made our way over to Louis\u2019 Deli on Upper Giles street for a quick bite to eat.<\/p>\n

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We would be eating a lot more later on with Charlie so I tried to keep it light, and by light I mean I had 3 pancakes and bacon; which disappeared before a camera could even set its sights on it.<\/p>\n

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Lloyd, on the other hand, went for smoked salmon and scrambled egg (and managed to squeeze in a quick photo before diving in). sadly, we’ve heard that the deli has closed temporarily. Fingers crossed it reopens again soon. <\/p>\n

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Re-energised (and totally caffeinated), we carried on through the pretty streets of Norwich, heading over to the skating rink.<\/p>\n

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We didn\u2019t actually go to the skating rink to skate \u2013 it doesn\u2019t serve as a proper rink anymore.<\/p>\n

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It did however back in Victorian times, used to be a proper skating rink (we are talking back in the 1800s) and today, still very much in the structure it had back in those days, is home to a cornucopia of beautiful knick-knacks.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019re talking about art, clothes, rugs, pottery and so much more. When you visit Norwich, I\u2019d totally recommend coming here for a proper mooch-around.<\/p>\n

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We then swung by Norwich Market, which sounds pretty regular on the surface of it, till you find out that this market has been here for over 900 years!<\/p>\n

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Obviously, the market has changed over time and now it\u2019s a much more civilised affair but it spots like this that remind of you of how outside of London, Norwich used to be one of the biggest cities in the UK.<\/p>\n

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It’s a key part of why there\u2019s such a strong, long and rather fascinating history behind the city.<\/p>\n

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We eventually hopped into a taxi and headed over to the butcher\u2019s \u2013 Archer\u2019s<\/a>, which is where we would be meeting with Charlie Hodson.<\/p>\n

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Archer\u2019s<\/a> is another one of those places that have been around for ages.<\/p>\n

Now a little bit more about Charlie and why we\u2019re rooting for his to win the award.<\/p>\n

Charlie is all about fantastic British food. As world-renowned as British produce is (gins, beef, beers, cheeses, bread, cakes\u2026etc), British food<\/a>; as in British meals doesn\u2019t always get the credit it deserves.<\/p>\n

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We Brits love British food but it takes people like Charlie (and I guess, in a large part \u2013 everyday people like you and I) to fully show visitors to England.<\/p>\n

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In other words, if you happen to visit me in London, we\u2019re going out eating at all the best British restaurants I can find.<\/p>\n

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Food isn\u2019t about discussing and over-analysing, it\u2019s all about eating! With that, we set off to go eat some food at the Fur and Feather<\/a>, Charlie\u2019s pub\/restaurant\/bar.<\/p>\n

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Charlie is all about championing smaller local producers.<\/p>\n

He puts his money where his mouth is and uses their produce in his meals, he showcases them as much as he can at the restaurant and makes time out to even mentor them.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019d picked up some meats at the butchers and Charlie set to work whisking, mixing, roasting and pretty much-turning everything into some of the most delicious meals we\u2019d had in a while.<\/p>\n

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You also got to see, first hand, how the local produce played a part in his cooking!<\/p>\n

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In what seemed like almost no time whatsoever, we had a table full of delicious pork and lamb meals.<\/p>\n

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And yes, I may have had two of those dishes to myself! For what it\u2019s worth, I did pay for my greed later when I could barely move from having eaten so much. <\/p>\n

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I have no control when it comes to delicious food.<\/p>\n

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In an effort to walk off the food, on Charlie\u2019s suggestion, we popped into the Woodforde brewery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Thankfully, this was next door (which is the one that does the brews for the Fur and Feather<\/a>) for a bit of a tour.<\/p>\n

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The tour was a bit impromptu, so we were shown around by someone who had just finished his shift and oh my goodness, it was one of the funniest tours ever.<\/p>\n

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Like how that guy isn\u2019t a brewery tour guide (or even just a tour guide in general), I have no idea. <\/p>\n

The brews are great but methinks he\u2019s missing his calling as a comedian.<\/p>\n

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Having now gone pretty much \u201cfarm to table\u201d for our food and beers, we headed back with Charlie into the city centre where we\u2019d been told about one spot we had to visit; Grosvenor Fish Bar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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We arrived just before full-on rush hour and made our way downstairs to the cavernous seating area.<\/p>\n

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You wouldn\u2019t expect it to be as big as it is from outside but there\u2019s a surprising amount of seats here.<\/p>\n

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We ordered up the fish and chips (there\u2019s so much more than this on the menu but it was a Friday and fish and chips just had to done).<\/p>\n

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We also got some calamari (because clearly my greedy tummy has short-term memory and couldn\u2019t remember how full it was not that long ago) along with fried greens.<\/p>\n

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Oh, and you also get some amazing homemade sauces here too. Now, I may have taken quite a few of these home with me; that garlic mayo is my absolute favourite.<\/p>\n

Well and truly stuff, we finally said farewell to Charlie and Duane. <\/p>\n

One of the biggest things that are dawned on me, not just in Norwich, but in the Cotswolds<\/a> is that British food is special in these places because of how little the food has to travel.<\/p>\n

These places have direct access to farms and so sourcing the produce locally and reducing the amount of time it spends in storage makes eating in many places in England so special and the best way of truly appreciate great British food.<\/p>\n

We loved Norwich so much! <\/p>\n

Read more: Best things to do in Norwich<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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10 Very Best Things To Do In Norwich<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n