Published on: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Last updated: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Last week, on one rather grey and rainy morning, we headed to Norwich on the train. Norwich isn’t too far from us at all but it’s such a lovely place to visit and great for a day out with a toddler. We normally go over in the car as I’ve always been worried about keeping Edith occupied on the train. However I had absolutely nothing to worry about. She loved the journey, although to begin with she was a little bit hesitant but as soon as we spotted cows and horses in the fields she soon forgot about her previous fears.
As soon as we got into Norwich we were starving! So a trip for tea and cake was an essential. We headed to Jarrolds, an independent family run department store. I’ve always loved Jarrolds, it has always felt so friendly and the staff in the cafe were amazing. They fill up your coffee cup as soon as it starts to look empty and their attention to detail was incredible. Tidying up the mess Edith (and my husband) were creating without being in the way of us enjoying our tea and cake. And talking about the cake. Oh my. They tasted even better than they looked. It was such a treat and got us off on a great start.
We had planned to go on the Sight Seeing Tour, open top bus in Norwich to see the sights. Although we are really familiar with Norwich it’s always fun to play tourist in a place you know. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas so we planned a trip to the Plantation Gardens while the rain eased off.
I’ve visited the gardens before with my Mum and it’s so beautiful. On a busy day in the city the garden offers a peaceful and tranquil spot to take a moment out of the busy hustle and bustle. The gardens are so well cared for and are just a photographers dream. Edith loved running around and wanted to climb all the way up the stairs. As the weather was a bit grey and the stairs were wet we decided that just going up a little would be best to avoid any accidents. We definitely have to head back on a sunny day. They also have outdoor movie nights. They sound incredible and I bet it’s a gorgeous site to see. We stopped for some lunch before heading off to Norwich Castle.
The castle was great for Edith. They have exhibitions for all ages. Edith enjoyed pressing all the buttons to hear the noises of the birds and it was tricky to pull her away from that. We made it to the middle of the castle where you can still see the original features. It’s pretty spectacular. They had lots of activities on for children over the holidays which was perfect for Edith as it involved play doh, which is a big hit right now. We were asked to make our own sea monster and it was a bit of a team effort. I made the body and Edith made the head. I was pretty proud of our creation, once we were done we popped it onto the map that was showing off all the sea monster creations of the day. Edith then played with some of the castle toys before she was in desperate need of a nap. We decided to head back to the train station and we didn’t have long to wait, the train was already in the station when we got there so we hopped on to wait for our return journey. Edith woke up just before we the train started up, luckily we had a Hey Duggee magazine to keep her happy. She spent the the whole journey back reading the magazine and tucking into the chocolate treats we bought.
It was such a great day out and I had completely underestimated Edith and the train. We’re definitely going to take it more often now we know that she’s okay with it. Greater Anglia have loads of great days out with trips from Norwich to London from just £7 and children travel for just £2 return. That’s pretty amazing going. However they also have great group rates for 3-9 adults which will save you a bit of money on local trips too. You can plan your journey online at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ and discover destinations and ticket prices at https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/. For more details about places to visit in Norwich, head over to Visit Norwich.