Great Days Out in Norfolk & Suffolk – English Tourism Week Launch

Launching Great Days Out 2017 at Framlingham Castle: Fiona Siddall, Easton Farm Park, Martin Dupee, Africa Alive and Abbie Connell-Smith, English Heritage (photo James Bass Photography)

Norfolk and Suffolk Tourist Attractions (NSTA) launched their 2017 Great Days Out in Norfolk & Suffolk booklet at Castle Acre Priory and Framlingham Castle (English Heritage properties) on Tuesday, March 28, to mark English Tourism Week (March 25 to April 2).

The Great Days Out booklet features 51 attractions across Norfolk and Suffolk and £260 of discount vouchers.  New members featured in 2017 are the East Anglia Transport Museum, English Heritage (Norfolk and Suffolk) and Southwold Maize Maze.

Norfolk and Suffolk's attractions continue to invest in new projects demonstrating significant confidence in the region’s tourism offer. Examples of these include English Heritage embarking on a two-phase £1.2 million visitor facilities improvement scheme at Framlingham Castle, including a new café and extended shop. English Whisky’s St George’s Distillery is developing a new restaurant and shop, which will open in the autumn, as will Dinosaur Adventure’s explorer-themed restaurant.

City Sightseeing Norwich is unveiling an upgraded DDA compliant bus, with easy wheelchair access in April. Banham Zoo will be opening its new £400,000 Californian sea lion enclosure later this summer and Amazona Zoo is opening Cromer Camping in July, the only campsite in the heart of Cromer.

On the events front, the legendary Tom Jones will be at Holkham Hall on July 23, Houghton Hall is hosting an exhibition by acclaimed British sculptor, Richard Long from April 30 and, once again, the Thursford Christmas Spectacular, the largest Christmas show in the country, returns on November 8.

Launching Great Days Out 2017 at Castel Acre Priory: Julie Enefer, English Heritage and Martin Dupee, Banham Zoo (photo James Bass Photography)

Martin Dupée, Chairman NSTA said: “This is looking like a fantastic year for all of Norfolk and Suffolk’s attractions. The Great Days Out booklet features 51 excellent reasons for day trips and short breaks in the region. It's such good news to see both large and smaller attractions continuing to invest in new facilities and innovative events, improving the visitor experience and giving a boost to our £4.8 billion tourism economy in Norfolk and Suffolk.”  

The Great Days Out booklet offers an unrivalled menu of activities from boat trips on the Broads, family theme parks, top museum collections and country houses and gardens to zoos and animal collections, heritage railways, fabulous live shows and much more.

Some 400,000 booklets will be distributed across the six counties of the East of England and to Tourist Information Centres nationwide. Great Days Out in Norfolk & Suffolk can also be downloaded from www.norfolkandsuffolkattractions.co.uk.