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What makes East Anglia a 'must see' location?

Getty Images The Sutton Hoo helmet is a decorated Anglo-Saxon helmet found during a 1939 excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial. It is facing the viewer and on the left while a woman is looking at it on the right.Getty Images
Lonely Planet noted East Anglia for its countryside, coastline and cultural offering, including the Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo

East Anglia has been named one of the top regions in the world to visit by travel guide Lonely Planet. The region, encompassing Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, was described as "enigmatic" and praised for its versatility, with its coastline and "timeless villages and lively cities". BBC News explores why it is being shouted about as a location for domestic and international travellers.

Cambridgeshire

Christopher Hilton/Geograph The west end of Peterborough Cathedral. It has three huge arches, and many pinnacles rising above it. It is made of golden-coloured stone. Above it is blue sky. In front is the green grass of a cathedral close.Christopher Hilton/Geograph
Peterborough Cathedral has a beautiful setting through a large gate, just off the city's main shopping area

Cambridgeshire has two of the finest Norman cathedrals in England - Peterborough, the burial place of Tudor queen Katharine of Aragon, and Ely, nicknamed the Ship of the Fens for the way it rises out of the flat, Fen countryside that surrounds it.

Cambridge is best known for its university, punts, museums and lively nightlife, while just outside the city is the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, which showcases military aviation at the site that played a key role in the Battle of Britain.

PA Media Four punts on the River Cam along the Backs on a summer's day. Each one has one or two people standing up and steering the flat-bottomed boats. Beyond the river is a shorn meadow running up to King's College Chapel.PA Media
The Cam runs through the centre of Cambridge and many of its university's ancient colleges were built along the river and can be admired by punters

There are also less well known gems, like the market town of Huntingdon, home to the tiny museum which tells 17th Century statesman Oliver Cromwell's story, and Wisbech, renowned for its stunning Georgian architecture.

The National Trust's Wicken Fen nature reserve offers a glimpse of what the Fenland countryside looked like before it was drained to produce some of England's most fertile soil. It was registered as the most species-rich area of the UK in 2019.

Essex

Sunny Sim/BBC Weather Watchers A night time view of Clacton-on-Sea. The mackerel sky is grey with white clouds. Beneath it is a big wheel which is lit up in pink. In front is a garden with steps up to the road in between box hedges.Sunny Sim/BBC Weather Watchers
Clacton-on-Sea is the largest town on the Essex coast and has a pleasure pier, arcades, theatres as well as seafront walkways

Essex is packed with maritime history, rolling countryside and varied towns, villages and cities.

The quirky seaside resort of Frinton-on-Sea contrasts with busy Clacton-on-Sea and its traditional pier, and the wilder coastline at Mersea Island was the inspiration for award-winning author Sarah Perry's novel Essex Serpent.

Dammo/BBC Weather Watchers Colchester Castle, a golden coloured castle, originally Norman built, with small glazed windows on its ground floor and large glazed windows on its first floor. There is a squat round tower at its left side and the roof is of the building is tiled in brownDammo/BBC Weather Watchers
Colchester Castle houses many spectacular Roman artefacts found in the city and was built by the Normans on the foundations of a temple to the emperor Claudius

Colchester is home to internationally important Roman archaeology and contemporary visual arts gallery Firstsite - winner of the Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2021, while Chelmsford is considered the birthplace of radio.

And the countryside has some of the prettiest villages in England, including Finchingfield - home to celebrity chef Jamie Oliver - and Great Bardfield, which was the home and inspiration to mid-20th Century artists such as Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious and textile designer Marianne Straub.

Norfolk

Walking Tractor/BBC Weather Watchers Cromer from the beach. The town rises up above the beach to the let in a curve, including a church tower and over to the right can be glimpsed its pier. Above the town is a blue sky, flecked with golden clouds from a sunset. The sky and town is crisply reflected in the seaWalking Tractor/BBC Weather Watchers
The "big skies" of East Anglia provide spectacular sunrise and sunset views, as can be seen here at Cromer

Norwich is one of the oldest settlements in England and home to another of the region's fine cathedrals, as well as 33 medieval churches and an 11th Century castle, which is now a museum.

North Norfolk has pretty coastal towns such as Cromer, stunning golden beaches, including Brancaster's, while the fishing port of Great Yarmouth was one of the most important locations for author Charles Dickens' David Copperfield in the years before it became a big Victorian seaside resort.

Holkham Hall/Instagram Holkham Hall, an 18th Century mansion. It is built in yellow stone and in front of it are formal gardens of green grass with low box hedges surrounding pale green shrubs. There are also clipped evergreen shrubs.Holkham Hall/Instagram
Holkham Hall, on the north Norfolk coast, has been lived in by the Coke family since the 18th Century

The Broads National Park is a network of 116 sq miles (303 sq km) of mostly navigable rivers and lakes, offering a haven for wildlife and tourists.

The county is home to some grand stately homes such as Holkham Hall and the Blickling Estate. It also has long-standing Royal connections because of King Charles' private retreat at Sandringham, which was also a favourite home of his late mother Queen Elizabeth.

Suffolk

Richard Haugh/BBC Very tall metal letters spelling Latitude with dark green trees behind them and a flock of pink-dyed sheep grazing the grass in front of themRichard Haugh/BBC
Suffolk is home to contemporary arts and musical festival Latitude as well as the long-standing classical music festival Aldeburgh Festival

Landscape artist John Constable was born in 1776 in East Bergholt and the Suffolk countryside was one of his great inspirations - including for his painting, the Hay Wain.

The county's past as a major wool producer led to the development of beautiful towns in Dedham Vale, including Lavenham, home to a 14th Century house used as Harry Potter's birthplace in two of the franchise's films.

The House in the Clouds at Thorpeness. The former water tower has a black clad five storey tower base, above which is a house with red walls and roof. The windows of the building are all painted white. Behind it can be seen a white windmill, the roofs of houses in amongst trees and beyond that a lake on the left
The former water tower at the coastal village Thorpeness is one of the top 100 UK buildings of the last century, according to the 20th Century Society

Some of Britain's rarest birdlife can be seen at the RSPB's coastal reserve at Minsmere, along a stretch of coastline that includes seaside resorts such as Thorpeness, Southwold and the busy port at Felixstowe.

Cultural offerings include breathtaking Anglo-Saxon treasures uncovered in a ship burial at Sutton Hoo, which featured on Netflix's The Dig, and the vast castle at Framlingham, which was the inspiration for local boy Ed Sheeran's song Castle on the Hill.

The county is home to Aldeburgh Festival, which was founded by composer Benjamin Britten, and the contemporary arts and musical festival Latitude, while Ipswich Town FC recently won promotion to the Premier League.

East Anglia: A top worldwide destination

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