Norwich, United Kingdom + Add a trip

Automobiles

Driving from London takes two or three hours, via the M11 and A11. Norfolk roads are pretty patchy and unhelpful, though (which at least helps keep the area quiet...). If you want to hire a car once you get to Norwich or King's Lynn, try www.hertz.co.uk. You get a ten per cent discount if you're a Smith cardholder; just quote '635230' when you book.

Planes

Gatwick and Heathrow are two or three hours away by train, via London. There's also an airport at Norwich, with limited but occasionally handy connections (www.norwichairport.co.uk).

Trains

Trains run from London King's Cross to King's Lynn twice an hour; the journey takes about 90 minutes. There's a service from London Liverpool Street to Norwich every half hour or so, and the journey takes a couple of hours.

Dialing

Country code for the UK: +44.

Reads

Malcolm Bradbury's classic satire The History Man is based on his time as a teacher at the University of East Anglia in Norwich during the Seventies. WG Sebald, who wrote the brilliant Austerlitz, also taught at the university.

Do go / Don't Go

Norfolk is among the sunniest and driest places in England - but it's still in England, so there's a chance of rain even in July.

Cuisine

There's lots of game, but best of all is the fish: Brancaster mussels and Cromer crab are favourites.

Taxis

Even outside train stations, it can be hard to find a cab. Ask your hotel for details of a good local company and book ahead.

Tipping

About 15 per cent is appreciated.

Currency

Pound sterling.

Packing

This is one of the few places in the UK where swimming in the sea can be a wonderful, wonderful thing, so take your trunks or bikini.

Arts

Norfolk history is everywhere you look, from the beaches where Nelson played as a boy to the 16th-century brothel that is now the marvellous Hoste Arms (see Bars and restaurants). As well as Sandringham (the Queen's country retreat, so check when it's open: +44 (0)1553 612908), Holkham Hall at Wells-next-the-Sea (+44 (0)1328 710227) and Felbrigg Hall just outside Norwich (+44 (0)1263 837444) will provide satisfyingly stuffy days out with cream teas, antique rooms and beautiful gardens. Ask at your hotel for the best local estate and gardens.

And...

'Very flat, Norfolk,' as Noël Coward so succinctly said in Private Lives. So it's important to know a bit about the tides: they change hundreds of acres of perfect sandy beach into a pretty but pebbly few yards. The BBC's weather webpage is handy for times of low and high tides.

Shopping

Most towns have a market at least once a week. Cromer's is on Fridays, Sheringham market is Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Swaffham has an antiques market on Saturdays. If you drop in to the Saracen's Head at Wolterton for some food or an afternoon's supping in the beer garden, there's a lovingly run (and affordable) little gallery and vintage interiors shop, The Shed, next door.

Viewpoint

You're not going to climb any mountains in Norfolk, but Gunhill, west of Holkham Bay, gives a beautiful panorama across land and sea.

Something

The beaches along the north Norfolk coast are well known and well loved for their beauty and romance. Take a blanket and picnic (or just a bottle of something good) and find your own spot among the dunes.

August Cromer Carnival is a proper English village affair, with floats, bands and fireworks (www.cromercarnival.co.uk). October Champion's Day at Newmarket (www.newmarketracecourses.co.uk).