Why Norwich is England’s Most UNDERRATED Hidden Gem (And Why You Should Visit)

We finally made it to Norwich—and it blew us away! This charming medieval city has been on our bucket list for years, and after spending a few days exploring its cobbled streets, rich history, incredible food, and unique local experiences, we can confidently say it’s one of the most surprising and delightful places we’ve ever visited! From centuries-old buildings and quirky shops to FANTASTIC food and cultural gems, Norwich has it all. With help from ‪@visitnorwich‬, we followed a first-timer’s dream itinerary—and now we’re sharing everything we did so you can plan your own magical city break.

Have a favorite spot in Norwich or Norfolk we should visit next time? Let us know in the comments!

Huge thanks to Visit Norwich for helping us plan the perfect trip and providing some of these activities on a complimentary basis.

Planning a trip to Norwich? Visit https://www.visitnorwich.co.uk for everything you need to know.

Thank you to The Maids Head Hotel for hosting us in what is said to be the oldest hotel in the UK—and for the incredible Bentley city tour: https://www.maidsheadhotel.co.uk/

Attractions & Highlights Featured:
📍Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell: https://www.visitnorwich.co.uk/service/the-museum-of-norwich-at-the-bridewell/
📍 Stranger’s Hall: https://www.strangershall.norfolk.gov.uk/
📍 Yalm Food Hall: https://www.yalm.co.uk/
📍 Norwich Playhouse: https://norwichtheatre.org/
📍 Hidden Street Tour: https://www.theshoebox.org.uk/the-shoebox-experiences/experience/norwichs-hidden-street-tour/
📍 Afternoon Tea at The Assembly House – https://www.assemblyhousenorwich.co.uk

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we are finally visiting Norwich this city is known for its stunning medieval architecture its incredible food scene and for having a vibrant theater scene the city has been on our bucket list for a very long time i’m so excited to be here and over the next few days we are going to take in everything that we can of what this vibrant city has to offer and we’re taking you along this video is a collaboration with Visit Norwich they’ve helped us plan a perfect first- timers itinerary here and provided some of the activities complimentary if you’re planning a trip to Norwich make sure you visit the links in the description for their website and the other establishments for everything that you need to know just walking around I can already see why so many people have recommended this city to us there are incredible buildings everywhere houses churches there’s just so much to look at and it’s all so beautiful we are about to visit the Museum of Norwich which is set in this really cute little alley that I think we could just spend a bunch of time wandering around in wow this sign says “From medieval times to the 18th century more people were employed in making textiles in Norch than any other industry.” That’s a big textile production that is a lot of textiles this is a really fascinating museum kind of chronologically it goes through all the different manufacturing and trade industries that Norwich was involved in throughout history seems like textiles was the big one gerald’s first Norwich shop i think we’re going to check that out later this place being called the Museum of Norwich at the bridewell i didn’t realize that a bridewell was a prison so this is a former prison or jail and really fascinating history there’s even a story about somebody named Peter the Wild Boy who was imprisoned here at one point uh just really interesting place lots of history and information to take in and a lot of things we’re going to be seeing over the next few days that we got to learn the history about so really cool [Music] that is so wild that at one point in the 1840s there were 505 pubs within the city [Music] wow we’ve made our way over to Strangers Hall and wow this place is incredible it’s a museum that’s housed in a medieval merchants building that dates back to 1320 it has been beautifully preserved and it is I think the third oldest building in the city that’s still standing from the great hall to meandering the different rooms and passageways this is truly one of the most amazing buildings I think we’ve ever been in here in England there’s so many little details it’s just really interesting and pretty yeah that just everywhere you look so much detail just the wood carving just so much detail everywhere it’s beautiful watch your head yeah this is interesting the 1300s were not for Jeremy or people of people over 6 feet tall also I didn’t realize that the different rooms have different period settings so the great hall is t a tutor great hall this is the fine Georgian dining room oh okay and Lady Payne’s 17th century bedroom i love that the frame of this painting is as impressive as the painting itself it’s really intricate [Music] oh I remember making those in school i always love learning about things that communally we did across the world probably an English tradition honestly probably yeah but hey we did them in the US as well the oranges with the [Music] cloves this is really neat this room depicts all the different variations and phases that have been built on and added on throughout the centuries look I found a doorway just for me and no one taller well that was a fantastic slice of history in there that is definitely one of if not the most interesting building we’ve been to in the UK [Music] we’ve been wandering the Norwich Lanes and it’s just so neat so many one-of-a-kind shops that you just don’t see anywhere else like Gerald’s which is Norch’s only independent department store or at least the only one left we just learned about the prominence of independent shops like this this one spans five floors and first opened in 1823 and I guess it’s still family-owned and here’s a fun fact for you what’s that gerald’s originally was a publisher dating back to 1770 you know the the story of Black Beauty i am aware of it yeah local author wrote it and it was published by Gerald’s oh interesting yeah right it’s pretty posh in here it’s nice there’s even fancy restaurants in here you know we don’t go to a lot of department stores in the UK but this is definitely fancier than Macy’s that we have in the US or Nordstrom or something like that plus it’s independent this is the only one like it that does make it kind of cool that’s pretty cool it is cool that they have a lot of locally made stuff i’ve never been into a department store quite like this it’s very posh but in a way that is cool worth popping into there is a lot of good fun in here i think the book section is one of the highlights we found a lot of books that piqu our interest this place Boh Hill and Elliot is really interesting because it’s the only store in the country where they make footwear out the back that’s sold in the front i like that the footwear that they make is very fancy posh slippers that you can wear inside or outside and I saw that they’ve been featured in all kinds of things like Saltburn like Bruce Campbell needs a pair of these for his cool regal outfit yeah that that makes sense with the smoking jacket not only does it smell wonderful in there like lovely shoes but they have a lot of lovely shoes to choose from but they also have a lot of English and Welshade shoes so if you’re in the market for a nice pair of shoes this is the place to [Music] go lovely time doing a little shopping at some of the independent shops and now we’ve made our way over to Elm Hill which is Norwich’s most complete medieval street this building dates back to 1507 you can tell a place has a lot of history when it’s not standing just upright perfectly fair gives it character and I love it the bear shop right here is a specialist teddy bear store have you ever seen so many bears in one place those ones are my favorite not only is it so peaceful and quiet here but I have a fun fact for you what’s that i guess the movie Stardust was filmed on this street oh that’s cool i’ve never seen it but I’ve I know of it i feel like it’s very quintessentially English film so it makes sense this one is really nice i love the brick work i love the windows according to this blue plaque the family who lived here wrote the famous past in letters chronicling the lives of a wealthy Norfolk family during War of the Roses did that car just make your Elmhill experience it seemed very appropriate it did a little car for a narrow street you know you found a first class hotel when they’ve left your bags in your room for you before you check in this is the Maids Head Hotel and this is a hotel I’ve actually had on my bucket list since I think before even our first trip to the UK because it is considered the oldest hotel in the UK and that is because the first Norman bishop of Norwich had his original palace here in 1096 so they consider it being continually in operation for hospitality since the 1090s when we checked in they showed us around the hotel so we got to see the original bar she showed us where they used to bring the carriages in and where the woman would wait um while the carriages were being brought in she showed us the Bentleys that they have because they have a collection of Bentleys and we’re going to take a tour in a Bentley of the city I think the morning that we check out or before we check out our last day here so so far overall great experience and then we got to our room and it is spacious there’s a giant claw foot tub it looks fantastic i feel like sometimes when we come to England we get little narrow bathtubs and that is not that that that is that is a bathtub that’ll fit us the bathroom itself is quite large good size shower with both the overhead shower and a wand which is always nice really nice smelling bath products the his and her mirrors and sinks and what is probably one of the highlights for me a nice view the cathedral is just right there that’s the entrance that you can see right there in the middle and we are just a short walk maybe maybe a block total from Alen Hill where we just came from i think it checks all the boxes it’s got great views it’s an amazing location and the room just seems incredibly nice i agree i also just noticed that there is kind of a guide and also where you can book your Bentley tour order in room dining on this iPad along with coffee tea mini fridge everything you’d need to get your morning started right but it also includes hot breakfast so we’re going to be set tomorrow all right we’ve checked in we’re all settled it’s time to go have a night out on the town [Music] we’ve come to Yam Food Hall which is housed in the Royal Arcade a beautiful arcade that dates back to 1899 this place has a variety of local restaurants and award-winning chefs and we’ve ordered a few things from a few of them starting with the beers that we just ordered I got a blueberry and toffee sour yum it looks so wonderful jeremy got himself a cider that is so good it tastes delicious and you can smell the toffee yeah I can smell it for dinner I’m having the tofu green curry from Thai een it looks amazing it smells amazing looks like we got some nice veg some bell peppers and things in there so tasty i love a good green curry jeremy what did you get um a steak from a place called Off the Bone looks like it has some grilled vegetables with it the steak side of fries i did get a side of chicken salt fries which I’m not sure what that means a monster munch pickled onion mayo sauce to go with it give it a taste it’s nice that they’ve sliced it already even looks like it’s pretty perfectly cooked so it’s not often I will actually order a steak in a restaurant but that is delightful it is perfectly cooked it’s seasoned very well and just super tender that is a winner and I love that we can order from completely different places sit right here on our phone and order it and they bring it all to us everything we had was wonderful we ended up getting a bonafi crepe for dessert which was also wonderful i would highly recommend coming here and everything we had food fun was great i would try other things next time we come back i think about my friend back home and how she has three kids who have very different tastes and how difficult that is for her to plan dinner and I think this would be so easy because you order everything from your phone and it’s all one order and it all just comes out as it’s ready if you have different people in your family who have different taste buds and preferences you could come here and have a nice dinner and all be together and also the food is all amazing everything that we tried was really [Music] good our last stop of the night is at Norwich Playhouse to see the big Christmas assembly we’re here at Christmas time and we just watched school assembly songs mostly Christmas ones so we did know quite a few but very fascinating to learn about some cultural differences in things that we didn’t know about before norch has one of the biggest theater scenes outside of London you can see West End shows here in Norwich and although tonight’s performance was in their smaller theater it was still really neat there are a lot of cultural differences that we have and we got to experience what school assemblies were like or at least a glimpse into it from uh an American perspective so this was a lot of fun and we had some nice drinks in their bar area if you’re like us and you’re interested in theater but you do not like the London prices come to Norwich you can see some West End productions here for a fraction of the price is what I’ve been told nice evening walk back to our hotel and we will see you in the morning good morning we started off our day with a wonderful hot breakfast at our hotel’s buffet and now we are headed to Norwich’s hidden street to take a tour it’s a tour that takes you below the current street down to a medieval street and we got to just explore all of these really neat preserved rooms and buildings and what was originally a medieval street our tour guide Max was fantastic he gave us so much information about not just the history of Norwich and things like the weaving industry and learning about strangers and that you know we visited the strangers hall yesterday and um that was where the weavers lived and the strangers were basically the refugees that came here to uh work in the weaving industry and we got to see a weaver’s cottage he pointed out some of the really fascinating pieces of what was a medieval street and kind of just the history of how the street has evolved and how now it’s under what used to be a really fancy high-end shoe store i think even if you were a local you would thoroughly enjoy this tour we even learned things on this tour about how buildings were constructed and the way they were constructed like how some of the buildings like medieval buildings overhang and everything it was just really cool wasn’t it and the timber buildings versus the stone and brick buildings just really interesting and now that we’ve learned that this street here was built up it would have been a much more imposing mound a long time ago i think 30 ft down is how far we just went yes 30 ft down norwich Castle is not only probably the most iconic site of the city but it also has some pretty historical significance because it’s the oldest building uh in the city dating back to 1067 built just a year after the Norman conquest which I think is fascinating and it’s now a museum and art gallery at the time that we’re visiting the keep is going through a renovation to take it back to its original medieval status and there’s a renovation project on the castle that is going to reopen very soon the museum itself features important collections in archaeology natural history military history and art i was especially impressed by the art collection that they have right now they’re all local artists who did a lot of landscapes really beautiful paintings really interesting paintings here’s a fun fact for you and what’s that when it is complete which will be very shortly the moat is being restored to the original medieval moat that’s interesting and it’s going to be the most accessible castle in all of the country oh that’s very cool we came back through the royal arcade which the yam that we ate at last night is part of um but we didn’t get a good enough look at the architecture the beauty all the intricate detail and the shops that are open and I wasn’t sure if we were going to find anything that was for us but this place called Lady V Loves i found a great sweater in there so I’m I’m doing some shopping today too if you’re enjoying the video give it a like and subscribe if you’re not it’s an easy way to keep up with the channel and it really helps us out thank you and just as we are starting to get a little hungry we came out of the Royal Arcade and happened upon the Norwich Market the market has been on this site for over 900 years today it offers a plethora of stalls it is the largest permanent open air market in the country and we’re going to find some lunch [Music] inside the market we have found the Bodega who are known for doing these kind of giant New York style sandwiches uh we met a viewer here Roger who recommended what we had already ordered so I’m excited it smells great it looks great so this is the Paragmdon please it’s fried chicken with a basil pesto saw mozzarella parmesano reaniano which is top-notch cheese if you ask me and it’s on a cheesy garlic toast with hash browns sounds amazing i think we also made the wise decision of sharing it cheesing myself that looks amazing it’s really good got that fresh parmesan saltiness the chicken’s crispy a bunch of flavor from that basil that’s wonderful i don’t think there’s any like classy way to eat this i don’t think there really is i think you just got to go for it that is so good the chicken has such a crunchy breading on it it just Yeah it’s basically like the most delightful chicken pararma sandwich that you could come across with the nice fresh freshly grated parmesano reano it’s Yeah that’s a top notch i’m glad that this place was on the agenda cuz it was a good choice it’s real good [Music] just around the corner is Sir Toby’s Beers which is known as being Norch’s smallest bar and it is a wee bar in here isn’t it a wee tiny bar that’s beer candy that’s dessert in a glass jamie got the caramel biscuit cheesecake imperial style and I went with a juice rocket hazy IPA mine’s really nice too very different both nice cheers what a great market so many delightful sounding and smelling food options uh Roger that we met earlier did tell us that a couple places he likes is that there are a couple different Chinese takeaways that do cheap good Chinese takeaway and the Indian food is good so those are a couple options if you’re coming here there are also a lot of gift shops cool local crafts this is one of the best markets I think we’ve been to in England yeah probably don’t you think yeah it’s great and and it’s it was covered which I wasn’t expecting added bonus when we might get some rain we’ve come to a place called Country and Eastern which is truly a hidden gem here it’s one part museum one part textile shop and it’s housed in what was once a Victorian skating rink the building itself is beautiful it is yeah like look at all the wood ceilings yeah wood ceiling’s really cool it’s such a neat building and what it houses inside is also really different from anything we’ve seen before not what I would have expected [Music] we keep walking by this beautiful gate and I keep thinking about how it’s one of the most impressive gates that we’ve seen here in England and now we get to finally walk underneath it because the cathedral entrance is that [Music] way norch Cathedral has a few significant things that make it very special one of them being that it’s the second oldest building after the castle it also has the largest clothes anywhere in the country and the second tallest spire i think Salisbury is the only one that’s taller this cathedral ticks all the important boxes beautiful stained glass 14th century painted vault and just incredible detail everywhere you look and a really just really tall i mean the spire is the second tallest in the country but the cathedral itself is just massive inside a font that used to be used in chocolate making for dinner we came to Grovenar Fishb Bar which recently celebrated being open for 100red years and has been in the same family for 60 of those years in addition to offering the classics like your proper fish and chips they have some unusual items so we got a sampler that has cod bites scampy fried green tomatoes and my personal favorite the fried girkens oh that batter is so crispy on the outside nice crunchy girkin delightful the cod is also really nice lovely crispy batter and I got the crusty crab which was a fried soft shell crab on a really soft bun with kleslaw and fried green tomatoes it was different but really tasty after taking the tour this morning with shoe box experiences I have been noticing some of the things that we learned on the tour throughout the city for example anti-urination devices once you know about them you can’t unsee them and now knowing that weaver’s cottages have a specific type of window that you can identify seeing things like this and walking the streets and alleys that just have so much history it’s very exciting to be in a place like this and we have even more planned tomorrow starting our morning off right with a tour of the city in one of the Maids Head hotels Bentleys this is their 1964 Bentley S3 and if you stay at the hotel you can book one of these complimentary tours to take a tour of the city which is exactly what we did it was really nice because we got to see a little bit different side of the city including being taken up to St james Hill which has fantastic views of the city where we got to see all of the historical landmarks from a bird’s eye view there are picnic tables around this would be the perfect place for a beautiful picnic if you were here in warmer weather our tour guide pointed out really cool things like Pull’s Ferry on the river and the font that we saw yesterday in the cathedral that was originally from a chocolate factory he pointed out where the chocolate factory used to be located before it closed down we made our way outside of the city walls to Sainsbury Center an art museum with a world class collection now I mean we’re going to go check it out it’s going to be cool but Jeremy is probably a little bit more excited about the fact that it was used in a movie and one of his favorites um a Marvel movie i don’t know if it’s more exciting than the museum but it is pretty cool i mean I knew that you would be excited about seeing it that it is Avengers Campus I think in more than one movie it’s definitely an Age of Ultron it I I do remember I I mean I’ve only seen that movie once but I specifically remember Cap uh Falcon he flies here and lands here it’s like where their like upstate New York headquarters is or something right yeah we didn’t really do a lot of research to line up any shots ahead of time or something but it is recognizable and I think they filmed on the inside too so there’s there’s art and cool filming locations to look [Music] at it is so cool in here and it’s cool to go from historic views of so many significant buildings in the city center to a very modern contemporary building like [Music] this so this is part of the University of East Anglia we kind of wandered through it as we came in it is considered one of the most important public university art galleries in Britain seems very nice so far yeah well and they also have a pay what you can thing so that’s a cool cool i mean it’s good good for students [Music] we were supposed to come here yesterday but I’m glad we’re here today instead because we have the perfect sunny weather for a look around a garden it’s a little bit nicer here today this is Plantation Garden a peaceful tranquil oasis in the middle of the city we were talking about how it reminds us of Butchart Gardens in Victoria Canada and probably because the garden that it reminds us of there was a former quarry it was and this too is a former chalk quarry oh so it’s a Victorian garden built out of a quarry interesting same same situation new beautiful place to see one i wasn’t sure what to expect with us coming in the winter but it’s really beautiful i’m sure it’s even more impressive in the spring or summer when everything’s in bloom but just so gorgeous and green and peaceful if you come to Norwich do not miss the plantation garden it is a terrific retreat and a different side of the city for sure [Music] some of the most notable features are that it has a Gothic fountain beautiful and that it uses a lot of reclaimed materials from churches and old buildings so as you look around and the walls and the stairs and everything you’ll see just these remnants of other buildings from around the city it’s very neat since Norwich is England’s UNESCO first city of literature there is an interactive trail that you can do here uh called the wandering words map you can download and it’ll read you poems in places that are significant to them inner trembling feel again the loose thread snagged on some branch or thought become unraveled have you ever walked through a churchyard and ride into a mall no haven’t done that before yeah but hey at least they didn’t move the churchyard right i am so excited for what we’re about to do the assembly house here they are famous for their afternoon teas i feel like one of the ones we keep hearing about throughout England and they do different themed ones um a viewer Nathaniel I remember he reached out to us uh probably close to two years ago now and said we have to come here and said that they do Harry Potter and all kinds of different themes and they change them frequently i think we’re doing a nutcracker theme today which sounds very fun and appropriate for the Christmas time that we’re here we were told that this is a pretty large afternoon tea so we have come hungry we did not eat lunch today so I think we’re extra excited for what’s going to come so Jeremy got the peach tea and I got a Norolk lavender they have brought our platter of goodness looks like for sandwiches we have ham and mustard mature cheddar and Bramley apple and chutney and an egg mayonnaise and crest and then like a little turkey one that has cranberry oh that’s nice and then we also have a housemade sausage roll a three cheese toasty a parmesan and pistachio shortbread a soft finger roll of roasted Norfolk turkey i don’t know i feel like we probably don’t have to introduce all of them but there’s a lot of delightful things for act two and then up here on the top we have some really good looking desserts and a nutcracker this is so cute uh the gentleman helping us told us to try the cheese toasty first probably because it’s [Music] warm m really nice and cheesy kind of a tomato chutney kind of thing on top that’s really good [Music] we’ve tried our sandwiches oh that cheese and chutney is phenomenal they’re all really good but that one’s the highlight I think for both of us one of the things I love about this place is that they tell you to order your scones when you’re ready to have them warm which is what we just did not only are they warm but there is a sweet and a savory scone one of them is cheese chives and Coleman’s mustard and one of them is a fruit scone with the typical clotted cream and jam my favorite part of a tea there are few things in this world I love more than a scone with potted cream and jam on it and honestly it is easier to put the cream on first but there is something that elevates the flavor of the cream when you do have the cream on top i’m just saying also the savory one was really good too but this is the classic it’s the It’s the delight they let you choose additional drinks if you want so Jeremy got himself a hot chocolate and I have decided to go with the classic the English breakfast you didn’t leave yourself a lot of room for milk there i didn’t i didn’t leave myself a lot of room for anything because we sat here for a good 5 minutes just staring at the desserts like “Are we ready to do this now?” But I think we’re ready that one’s a win from me do you do this too i think every time we do afternoon tea we we decide from the menu what’s going to be the best thing that we think we’re going to like the best and then you save it for last or do you have a different approach because I have saved the trifle for last cuz I think it’s going to be the best and is it the best it is so good i’ve never had peach in a trifle before but I feel like every trifle should be a peach trifle from here on out those are the new rules according to me because that is wonderful maybe you can make it prettier than I could debatable it’s It’s such a tall narrow vessel that it is kind of difficult but you did a better job than me good job oh yeah that might be the best thing what a great experience that was and what a beautiful building the assembly house is which I guess is a grade one listed Georgian h house i guess it’s a kind of a house i mean you can rent a room here as we saw inside and there’s also a cookery school in here so that’s pretty cool it’s especially beautiful at night right now and hey if someone were to come here in spring or summer then maybe when they do their afternoon tea they’ll come out and it won’t be dark yet yeah maybe i do think it’s so cool that you can have afternoon tea in these little bubbles that are heated amongst the glittering trees that is something that does make it nice that it gets dark early in the winter you get to admire all the lights yeah in your little evening evening bubble we have seen so much of the city the last few days but there are over 12,200 historic buildings here so there’s plenty more to see on a future visit if you are planning a trip to Norwich make sure you visit the Visit Norwich website which we’ll leave a link below i think it’s visitnoritch.co.uk and thank you again to Visit Norwich for helping us plan our trip and helping us arrange some complimentary experiences while we’re here thank you to our patrons thank you for watching if you have a suggestion for the next time we’re here not just in Norwich but in Norfolk in general the Norfolk Broads are pretty impressive as we’ve heard so we would love to have your suggestions for us to come back and explore and if you haven’t seen the video where we visited one of our other favorite medieval cities York that video will be right here we’ll see you over there