Wednesday, 27 April, 2022
Our fridge was now stocked so I made sausages with toast for breakfast. Such a good idea. We were loving having a kitchenette.
We left the hotel room with no clear direction. First we walked right from the front door, instead of left. We were on St Faith’s Lane and headed over to Recorder Street. On the corner was a little garden with a lovely gate.
On the street outside was a row of houses leading up to the main road, Prince of Wales. The ne on he corner was my favourite. I wondered what the cost of houses was here in Norwich. I don’t have a clear idea of when these houses were built, but they were pretty – a line of them leading down to what is or was a theatre.
We had thought about going down past the station today to Riverside, but instead we crossed the road and headed into what was called the Kinge Street Quarter. This area promised lots of historic houses and it delivered. It’s also where Julian of Norwich counselled the citizens of Norwich, had her 16 visions, which inspired her book ‘Revelations of Divine Love’ the first book written in English by a woman. It’s considered quite a literary area. The historic houses date from the 12th century. Below, the house with the timber frame over flint rubble and brick ground floor is the Dragon Hall, a former merchants’ hall, dating from the 14th Century. The oldest house is the Music House – 12th century – and I don’t think I photographed it since, looking at the images online, it wasn’t that remarkable! If you know Norwich and see it below, please let me know.
And, although we thought we weren’t going to Riverside, this area does border the river and there it is, with its brand new housing.
We considered takng a look at a model home in the area but it didn’t tempt us for long. It was just funny seeing Pizza Hut and TGIFridays in such close quarters to the timber framed buildings on the street outside.
And the churches and churchyards continued.
Talking of continuing so did our jumbled sense of the geography of this place. Turning away from the river, we were suddenly in the Castle Quarter so again close to the market. This suited us since we had decided that we would have a ‘chip off,’ the market Lucy’s fish and chips vs Grosvenor.
The market was bustling but I didn’t have any step in me so Krish headed in for Lucy’s while I sat at City Hall, a building with a crazy tower on top. It’s supposed to be very interesting inside – we never made it in.
Krish was gone for quite a while and came back with some chips and three fish bites. Krish couldn’t resist the onion rings, but wish he had. That’s always the case. Verdict later.
To get up to Pottergate we walked through the newer pedestrianised shopping area and into The Forum (a mix of free exhibitions, events, activities, catering, shopping and learning opportunities) for a bit.
I think the next photos might show the Guildhall. I’m not sure! I’ll be perfectly honest and say that I have no idea which photo belongs to what anymore. But I photographed anything that struck me and hope you enjoy them.
This time we found Pottergate and the Grosvenor Fish Bar easily. Time for the second part of the chip off. We had chips again, a cod goujon, and some gravy – my request.
And the result. Divided! Krish liked Lucy’s chips, while I thought them a bit too well done and with an odd taste (beef fat? although I think Grosvenor also uses fat instead of oil. Both had a batter that was thicker than we liked. Lucy’s batter tasted nicer but Grosvenor’s fish was a larger piece so moister and more flavourful. Neither won prizes with us but I’d choose Grosvenor. Fun, though!
More walking! We headed quickly through the Lanes and over to the Cathedral Quarter. We were thinking about cake. First we went into Jarrold’s department store to check out the food hall. It was actually a circular counter with some selections laid out including the curiously oozy and soupy ‘Scooping Gorgonzola’ which might have tempted me any other day.
We saw a church with a cafe but some people coming out said they were closing in ten minutes, so that was out.
We finally reached the cathedral and my phone was dying. I was taking photos with it, thinking I’d left my camera at home. The refectory was open for another hour – we were in luck and looked around a little bit before heading in for cake.
When we got to the refectory we were disappointed to see almost everything sold out. No cake for us! I plugged my phone in for a while. I sat next to a table full of these lovely people, my first encounter with The Red Hat ladies, with their red hats and purple dresses. When we left we checked out some of the cathedral but not the church part – it was growing too late for that and my legs knew it. Coming down the stairs, the old part of the cathedral was fully exposed.
You can see by the pictures below that the cathedral is on a very large plot of land with other buildings around it.
Yes, all of this was inside the cathedral grounds. It must have been quite a community in its day.
I was ready for a rest and a shower before we went out for dinner later, and then we saw that we were in a path leading to the river so decided to follow the laneway.
We did get back to the hotel. That’s when I got in the shower and couldn’t turn the temperature down. I grappled with this for quite a while until I had to put my clothes back on and go to the desk. They couldn’t help. Having already started a bit of my wash I continued by washing my hair in the kitchenette sink. Then the hairdryer also stopped working. I was torn between giving up for the day and pushing ahead with getting ready to go out. Hotel fun and games!
Eventually, hair dried, and some new clothes on, we did leave. We had no idea where to eat but settled on a place called Haggle, which was described as Middle Eastern tapas, with a decidedly Turkish sounding menu but with a lamb tagine that passed the Krish stamp of approval. It was on a street north of the Cathedral called St Benedict’s Street. This seemed like a long walk but eventually we got there, passing a place called The Halls, the UK’s most complete medieval Friary.
It was a picturesque walk in what must be a trendy part of town. No wonder there were so many restaurants. We hadn’t reached Haggle and the road was running out, so I sat down in front of one of Krish’s rejected food spots, Farmyard. When he came to find me he read the menu and said it looked interesting (this time?). The woman standing near the till came out to ask, are you thinking of coming in, cos our kitchen stops taking orders in ten minutes. We said we would decide in five. And we did. She led us to a table – I liked the fact that the place didn’t have a lot of tables – nice distance between each one, not loud, no music to compete with, an open window to the kitchen (I could see them painstakingly plating and putting things on plates just so) and just generally not a fussy, should have worn something nicer, atmosphere. And I liked the fact this all felt like personal attention and not a hardsell. Below is what we ate: Salt cod croquettes, Octopus, Duo of lamb and some leek gratin, and the delicious’Chocolate Bar.’
The bill was £70. A lot but we were on holiday!
We walked slowly home passing Haggle, which we’d somehow overshot earlier, and I wondered out loud why going back always somehow seemed shorter. It was 22:45 and almost time for bed so I got in and slept. Another day in Norwich over.