Norfolk, Cambridgeshire - all good! Ely is a lovely spot too so either location would be positive but very flat!

There is a good, frequent service from Liverpool Street to Norwich. I've never previously heard it referred to as "fast," though

I used to live in Norfolk as a child, three of my nieces live in Norfolk and they are all very happy there.

Suffolk is good as well lived there too

Hi,

We have visited Norfolk a few times since we have moved back from Perth, we really like the County, your near some great beaches, lovely villages, the broads (water not female lol) we found Norwich had everything a City needs to offer while still retaining a lot of the original character etc. Great University, good train links in to London. The only thing some might find Norfolk is not for them is the lack of Motorways etc but we found that to be a pleasant change and after living in Perth (W.A) we certainly did not have a problem with that AND Norfolk seems to have very decent weather AND your also a fairly easy hop, skip & a jump on the Ferry's to Europe. Good luck with whatever you decide.

That reminds me of another plus with living in our near Norwich.

The airport. Regular scheduled flights to Jersey, Guernsey, Edinburgh, also the usual holiday charters to many interesting destinations. But here's the best bit; daily KLM flight to and from Amsterdam. The world is then your oyster!

So true...just a hop, skip and a jump and hey presto! Schipol airport, Amsterdam.

It is a proven fact that before a railway system came to Norfolk in the 1830s it took less time to board a boat on the east Norfolk coast and to sail over to the Dutch coast and then on to Amsterdam than it did to travel down from Norwich to London by coach and horse.

I agree with the contributor to this Forum who said that the trains down to London from Norwich can not really be called "fast" in terms of overall travel time...too many stops on route.

Thank G-d the trains are a bit slow though. Keeps hoi poloi out, and keeps property prices in Norwich modest.

Have to say I can't really understand the importance of HS-2.

From Birmingham, you will reach London in 49 mins instead of 84 mins - so what? 84 mins isn't that bad ... and as you say, I'd rather avoid half of England becoming simply a suburb of London.

That would really be not nice, I feel sorry for people who have lived all their lives in the Counties around London who now cannot afford to live in those areas because of Londoners who move out of London but still work in the City, thats is one of the main reasons house prices are what they are in those type of areas.

If you are looking for something cheap and cheerful to do for the rest of your life, how about walk around Norfolk visiting the parish churches (and the abbeys and other ecclesiological bits.)

Norfolk has more medieval churches per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Nearby Suffolk is pretty good too.

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/mainpage.htm

At one stage Norwich was famous for having 365 pubs, one for each day of the year

Norfolk is a lovely place, especially if you're 'outdoorsy' like walking, cycling, boating etc.

Is there a 366th one, that only opens once every 4 years?

Don't know, but wrent there 52 churches? One for every Sunday too?