48 Hours in....NORWICH

Our regular series highlights top attractions and itineraries to help you make the most of a weekend visit

- Peter Baber

'Norwich Cathedral was founded by the city's first bishop, Herbert de Losinga, in 1096'

FOR MUCH OF the past millennium, the biggest city in England - outside London - wasn't Manchester or Birmingham, but Norwich. Look at any map up to Tudor times, and you'll see a sprinkling of major towns in East Anglia, with Norwich at the centre. So it's perhaps not surprising, with such history, that Norwich, 'The City of Stories', is waiting for you to explore it.

DAY 1

10 am Make an entrance

If you are coming to the city centre by bus, you'll arrive on St Stephen's Street. It has to be said, this is not the most attractive part of the city - a stark reminder of how badly it was bombed in World War II.

Still, this is the street where Elizabeth I entered Norwich on her first visit in 1578, through what was then St Stephen's Gate, and is now a busy roundabout.

11 am Capture the castle

Norwich is flat, so one building you can easily see from pretty much anywhere is the Norman Castle. It was commissioned by William the Conqueror a year after the Battle of Hastings - that's how important the city was considered at the time.

After an ambitious renovation project, the Castle Keep is due to reopen later this year. The museum is still worth a visit.

> norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk

1 pm Great lives

Just on the other side of the castle mound, by Tombland Street, is Norwich Cathedral, founded by the city's first bishop, Herbert de Losinga, in 1096. Before you explore the great building, you might want to pause for a picnic lunch in the Cathedral Close.