Norfolk Corners

Booton is a small village between Reepham and Cawston to the north of Norwich. Its population stood at 196 in the 2011 census and, for the most part, it is a fairly typical rural English village with a few houses and farm buildings interrupting the sprawling expanse of arable crop fields. It is charming and peaceful and the flat landscape affords panoramic views in all directions. As you scan the horizon, you may be surprised as I was, to spot an extravagantly ornamented church looming there. Having made its bold announcement the building invites a closer look so we made our way over on a footpath across a wheat field. The church is slightly obscured by trees so as we rounded those trees for a proper look it was quite a revelation. The two towers and central minaret look like they would be more at home in Westminster than this sleepy Norfolk village. As you enter the gate, the blackened, winged figure of St. Michael the Archangel regards you gravely from his plinth ...

  Buried deep in the University of East Anglia (UEA) campus in Norwich, sits The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts , looking out across the Yare Valley. As well as hosting many art works of international renown, the building itself is a triumph of architectural design by none other than the young Norman Foster . It exhibits many of the features that have become his trademarks and anyone who has spent time in Stansted airport terminal building may experience a little deja vu when they set eyes on the arts centre for the first time. The Sainsbury Centre (which opened in 1978) served as a template for the later airport building. The exposed exoskeletal structure is one of the most notable similarities and has been much imitated, to the extent that its impact may have been dulled by familiarity. Stansted Airport Terminal (photo by Oxyman and used here under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License ) With great design co...

As you arrive in Norwich from the south, the A11 turns into Newmarket Road and just before you reach the city centre you pass the site of the old Victorian hospital that closed in 2003. Its domed spires (or maybe spired domes) and dutch gabled front still stand today though much of the building was rebuilt as the hospital was converted to flats. A little way behind the flats and the housing that has replaced the rest of the hospital, is a green square that includes a playground for young children and some outdoor basketball courts. On the other side of the path this marble arch stands as an entrance to a small open grass field. The playground, courts and field form Jenny Lind Park. The name 'Jenny Lind' will also be familiar to many parents whose children have needed medical attention in or around Norwich since 1854. The Jenny Lind Infirmary for Sick Children was the UK's second children's hospital after Great Ormond Street and...