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The Maid, The Shoe and The Castle

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The Maid

When we were offered the opportunity to stay in a suite at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich, even though we live in Norwich, we couldn’t resist and booked it for our 19th wedding anniversary. And I’m so pleased we did. We’ve travelled a lot this year, so it was nice to have time together away from home without a long journey.

Everything about the experience was perfect. The room, which was the Paston Suite, was large and provided lovely views of the Cathedral and Tombland. The bathroom was spacious too. The staff were lovely and couldn’t have been more helpful throughout our stay. When we arrived, we found an anniversary card and two swans formed from towels and surrounded by petals. This made us feel really special and valued.

There's something quite special about staying in a hotel in your own city. We know Norwich extremely well, of course, but staying in the heart of it made the experience feel like a proper break rather than simply another night at home.

The Shoe

Norwich has some fantastic museums and historical buildings to visit, but living in Norwich, we rarely make the time to see them. Of course now was the ideal opportunity, and we knew exactly what we wanted to do first: The Shoebox Experience. I knew it was a hidden street below Castle Meadow, but I never really understood how it came to be there, so I was very excited.

Gary, our guide, was very knowledgeable and entertaining, and gave us the impression we, as a group, asked more and better questions than his usual parties. He explained the history and origins of the buildings and how and why they were located underground near the castle - I won’t spoil the tour by repeating it here.

The hour long tour, which ran over by 10 minutes - no one minded - went in a flash, Gary had us completely engaged. It is a one way tour, so after winding down from the modern day street level, to the subterranean street level, and past some shops, we were led out to a secret location where the tour concluded.

Make sure you visit the Shoebox in Norwich, you won’t be disappointed.

The Castle

Having lived in Norwich for most of the last 49 years, I have been to Norwich Castle many times. This included a battlements and dungeons tour with a group of friends for my 11th birthday, and a networking event with the Norfolk Chamber. A while ago the castle had a multimillion pound upgrade, and this was our first opportunity to see it. We weren’t disappointed.

We spent two hours in the refurbished keep alone. Rather than being fully open as it was before, it’s now over two floors, separated in rooms and a mezzanine floor.  You can still stand over the well and look down, and one room is set up as a banqueting hall with regular video projections explaining the history of the castle. The only thing which felt missing from the keep, was reference to the time when the castle was a prison.

By far my favourite improvement was the access to the battlements. No longer is it a paid for tour up a narrow staircase with little room at the top. It is now fully accessible and there’s so much room to move around once you’re up. And of course, the views of our magnificent city are as wonderful as ever.

There are many reasons which make Norwich the best city in the world, and these are just three of them!

Comments

  1. Akshatha Rao23 October 2026 at 19:05

    Happy Anniversary Paul and Charlotte. It was a lovely read and really felt I was back in Norwich. Wonderful City indeed !! 😄

    ReplyDelete

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