You may have seen on my Instagram (@EmWanders_) that I spent last weekend in the city of Norwich in Norfolk with the girls, to visit our friend Becky, who has a university house up there and is moving out next month. So before she moves out of Norwich for good, we all cleared our schedules to travel up there for a long weekend, to find out why she’s been raving about it for the last four years.
Obviously the pubs and restaurants have opened back up now and a lot of Becky’s friends have started moving back to their beloved uni town, so she told us it would be really fun if we all came to join her for a few nights. She was so right! We all had suuuuch a lovely time - although to be honest, after being stuck at home for the past four months, we probably would have enjoyed just about anywhere…
So, I drove us there in my car from our home town in Hertfordshire and the journey took about an hour and 45 (although including the compulsory McDonald’s, we got there in probably just over two). It was an easy drive – basically just two motorways and we were there. Becky welcomed us into her totally non-student-like student house and of course we cracked open the beers straight away, as it was about 7pm by the time we arrived. The plan was to hit the town on Friday night, although we were unsure what exactly it would be like and how many places would actually be open.
After getting ready and pre-drinking, we hopped in a taxi (all with masks on of course!) and our first stop was Wetherspoons to get a couple of cheap drinks and some onion rings down us. Next, Becky took us to a really pretty cocktail bar called Cecilia’s which was really nice (and so Instagrammable… even the toilets), but the service wasn’t very good that night unfortunately so we found ourselves waiting so long for each drink. Eventually we left to spend the rest of the night in Gonzo’s, which is apparently really quirky and has a rooftop bar, however by the time we arrived at about 11pm, they’d stopped letting people in! So feeling a little disappointed, we got a taxi home and feasted on some cheap oven pizzas and garlic bread, telling each other it wasn’t the end of the world having an earlyish night because we’d still be up late on the Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday day time consisted of some shopping and walking around the beautiful town with what seems like a church on every corner. It’s a really lovely city actually and smack bang in the city centre is the cutest little group of market stalls, selling fresh fruit, fast food, clothes, accessories, etc. It’s such a pretty town to explore. After shopping, Becky took us to the UEA campus to walk around the beautiful lake. It was incredibly peaceful despite the slight busyness of students. We had a BBQ for dinner back at the house that evening before having a little gathering at Becky’s.
The sun was shining so we decided Sunday was the perfect day for a beach day! Becky gave us the choice of visiting the closer one, Cromer Beach, which had pebbles, or Wells Beach which was a 45 minute drive from Norwich, but it was a much nicer beach with sand – that’s the one we picked. Despite feeling very worse for wear, we made it to Wells-next-the-Sea and it was such a cute little seaside town with shops for rock, fish & chips and ice cream. Driving on a little further, we parked in the extremely packed car park and took a five minute walk onto the beautiful sandy beach, full of pretty pastel coloured beach huts. We brought looooads of food and drinks, blasting happy music, and having a laugh with good company, we all had the most wholesome day. Eventually as the sun began to set, we made our way back to the house to get ready for our last night. Becky’s friend was having a house party down the road so we joined them and had such a fun night, getting in at about 4am.
As you can imagine, after three days and nights in a row drinking with barely any sleep, we were starting to feel ready to get home to our own beds. So after an amazing brunch at Number 33 café, we said our goodbyes to Becky who had been the best host and looked after us so well, and made our way back to Hertfordshire. Becky officially moves out at the end of August so we have said we are going to try and make it back for another weekend before she leaves, because honestly, Norwich is such a nice place, and being so close to such a pretty beach too, it makes for the perfect English getaway.
Safe travels!
Em Wanders x
