August is a big and exciting month to be in Norwich & Norfolk. Not only are the children off on their summer holiday for the entire month, but that means that there’s plenty of activities to enjoy, sights to see, and places to be in the City of Stories to keep everyone entertained! Expect outdoor performances, plenty of sports, delicious food and drink, and much more. Plus, they’re all entirely free or affordable!
If you’re in need of some recommendations while you’re here in the City of Stories, you’ve come to the right place. Read on for our top picks this August…
Norwich Summer Sessions
Sporting Summer at Chantry Place
Mini Olympic Games and Meet New Four-Legged Friends at Castle Quarter
Feast in the Park at Holkham
Dinos in the Dark at ROARR!
Norwich Theatre Open Day
Summer Holidays Spent at the National Centre for Writing
Flint the Fox at Norwich Cathedral
After a series of wonderful Thursday evenings in the City of Stories, Norwich Summer Sessions is moving its performances to show throughout Sunday afternoons in August! And if you caught any of these performances across July, you’ll know just how special they were at bringing people together and creating a wonderful atmosphere in the city, making these Sunday sessions unmissable.
The second half of this year’s annual programme is filled with the same great fun and wonderful entertainment as the first, with street theatre and live music including rock, pop, indie, jazz, folk, rockabilly, blues, and even Latin music with salsa classes, all available for FREE!
You can find Norwich Summer Sessions spread across four stages in the City of Stories on London Street, Westlegate, St Gregory’s Green, Gentleman’s Walk on Sunday, August 4, August 11, August 18, and August 25, from 12:30pm – 4:30pm. For more information on Norwich Summer Sessions, including the acts on-stage and when they’re on, click here!
Visit the city throughout Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons and catch the amazing performances of Norwich Summer Sessions!
Keeping the children busy and active during the summer holidays can be a challenge, but this year Chantry Place are here to help – every single week, and for FREE (Saturday, July 20 – Tuesday, September 3). Inspired by the Euros and Olympics taking centre-stage this summer, Chantry Place are joining forces with the Norwich City Community Sports Foundation to inspire everyone to get involved and have fun with a Sporting Summer!
Every Tuesday, you’ll find the Community Sports Foundation on the lower ground floor of Chantry Place (near Frasers) delivering fun activities designed with everyone in mind, regardless of their interest in sports. Some activities include a toe tap challenge, skipping challenge, and the opportunity to be the ‘gaffer’ and host post-match style interviews.
Then, every Wednesday, Run Norwich will be hosting their own FREE family-fun, with events just as engaging and unique as the Tuesday activities! Highlights include speed bounce challenges, and treadmill and speed incline challenges… So, be sure to get involved! Find more information on Chantry Place’s Sporting Summer here.
There’s a whole host of fun to be had at Chantry Place with their Sporting Summer!
For generations, a little stone fox has been quietly hiding amongst the ancient architecture of Norwich Cathedral, watching from far and wide explore these gorgeous grounds. But this summer is different… Stepping out of the stonework to tell children about the Cathedral’s story, Flint the Fox is coming to life this summer holiday!
To mark his arrival, there will be two children’s activity days following a Flint the Fox theme, a Follow the Fox day on Thursday, July 25 and a Cathedral Alphabet Day on Thursday, August 15, when ‘F’ will be for, you guessed it, fox! There will also be a FREE Cloister Club for primary school-aged children every Tuesday with different activities to take part in, while under-7s can enjoy a special Fox’s Tales story time session every Thursday.
Then, last but by no means least, Flint the Fox will become the Cathedral’s new face of their Explorer Backpacks, which children between 5 – 11 can borrow to enhance their discovery! Inside these bags, they’ll find a full set of items to better see the Cathedral, including binoculars, a torch, compass, tape measure, and a mirror! Find out more about Flint the Fox and these wonderful events on the Norwich Cathedral website!
Flint the Fox is coming to life to make every child’s experience at Norwich Cathedral that much more magical this summer! Image Credit: Bill Smith
Sticking to the theme of sports… As the world celebrates the Paris Olympics, Castle Quarter are bringing their very own Olympics to Norwich (Thursday, August 1 – Thursday, August 29)! Every Thursday in August, White Lion Square (found at the bottom of the spiral stairs) will transform into a vibrant sports zone, offering exciting sports-themed activities for families to enjoy – and this one’s FREE too!
Castle Quarter’s Mini Olympics will span across five weeks from the beginning to end of August, each week with a varied activity to get involved in. From a mini track day with mini hurdles, long jump and obstacle course, to a day of indoor surfing without the worry of getting wet, the upcoming month at Castle Quarter has something for everyone. And afterwards, why not check out the other leisure activities on offer to round-off a family day out? There’s bowling, mini golf, retro arcades, VR gaming, and so much more! Visit the Castle Quarter website for more details.
Plus, whether you’ll be getting involved in their sporting competition or not, you can also meet some new four-legged friends at Castle Quarter this August! On Friday, August 2 and Friday, August 30, you’ll be able to meet and walk alpacas and other exotic animals from The Unicorn Alpacas, while on Friday, August 16 and Saturday, August 17 (1oam – 2pm), you’ll be able to meet friendly miniature donkeys with Miniature Donkeys for Wellbeing! You’ll also have the opportunity to learn more about their care and roles in sparking joy in people’s lives, plus they’re just incredibly cute. So don’t miss out!
From alpacas to Olympic sports, Castle Quarter have it all this August!
Grab your family, friends, picnic blankets, and chairs (in that order) – it’s time for an event for the foodies. This summer, from seafood to sweet treats, burritos to burgers, Holkham is once again welcoming back some of Norfolk’s favourite street food vendors to Feast in the Park for a fifth year. And it sounds delicious.
Feast in the Park is available every single day from right now until Thursday, August 29. Between Monday – Friday, you’ll find a ‘Mini Feast’, with a handful of vendors serving their tasty dishes, and at weekends, there’ll be even more to enjoy, giving you a whole range of cuisines to choose from! There’ll also be live music on selected weekends to bring a wonderful atmosphere to your weekend. Find out what vendors are at Feast in the Park and when on the Holkham website!
Foodies will love a visit to Holkham this summer, there’s enough for everyone to find something to love!
How would you like to explore the home of dinosaurs under the cover of night? Making its return for another year, the ever-popular Dinos in the Dark at ROARR!, will give Jurassic explorers this unforgettable opportunity to discover some wild nightlife in their 85-acre park for one-night only (Saturday, August 24, 6pm – 10pm). And this year, like year’s previous, there will be much more than just dinos at the park…
Like local band Enigma, who will set the mood with fantastic tunes to get you up and dancing, alongside a range of tasty, local street food vendors and plenty of activities to enjoy throughout the night, including educational tours with ROARR!’s resident dino hunter, face painting, and the opportunity to meet local clubs and societies. Plus, who could forget ROARR!’s much-loved attractions? Whether you’re trekking through the Valley of the Dinosaurs or handling creepy crawlies in the Secret Animal Garden, visitors of all kinds are in for a brilliant night.
The best bit? Tickets for Dinos in the Dark are available for just £10.95 per person, with annual pass holders and children under 90cm going for FREE! Find out more and book your tickets on the ROARR! website.
With music, food, and of course the dinos, ROARR’s one-night only event is a must-see this August!
Calling all theatre lovers, thespians, creatives, and fans of on-stage performance, this August has the perfect – and very rare – opportunity for you to see behind the curtain of what goes into making the theatre we know and love. It’s the Norwich Theatre Open Day (Saturday, August 24, 10am – 3pm)!
Norwich Theatre’s Open Day is completely FREE to attend and offers a huge range of activities for all ages to enjoy, especially for those looking to start a career in theatre. Activities include guided or self-guided access all-areas tours around Norwich Theatre Royal and Stage Two, audio described, British Sign Language and quiet tours (booking in advance required for quiet tours), tech talks with expert technicians to delve into backstage disciplines (booking in advance required), costume try-ons from previous pantomimes, archive exploration, a family activity trail with prizes to be won, face painting, and more! Café Royal will also be open throughout the day for those refreshment breaks between activities. As you can tell, it’s a very busy but wonderfully enjoyable day! Find out more on the Norwich Theatre website!
The Norwich Theatre Open Day will give you a look into the theatre like never before!
The creativity doesn’t stop there either! Just like every half term been and gone, the National Centre for Writing are hosting their fantastic range of events for children and teenagers of all ages this summer holiday, and it’s worth getting involved in! Events are not only really good fun, but they’re great for tapping into creativity and imagination too. Who knows if you have the next Shakespeare on your hands?
Some of this summer’s events include ‘Step into Dragon Hall: Family Activity Day‘ (Monday, July 29, Monday, August 5, Monday, August 12, 10am – 3pm, FREE), where the children can play giant games, pick up an activity bag and explore the historic Dragon Hall, get involved in creative games and storytelling activities led by local artists, or even bring lunch to enjoy in their gorgeous garden, which is now open for all! Or really lean into creativity with their ‘Design & Illustrate an Artist’s Book with Amanda Addison‘ (Thursday, August 15, £2.50 – £7.50), where the kids will use words, images, doodles, and drawings to illustrate an artist’s book telling the story of summer in the city! Whatever you choose to do at the National Centre for Writing, it’s bound to be a great way to spend the day. Find their whole summer calendar and more on their website!
Join the National Centre for Writing this summer to get creative and have bucketloads of fun!
And that’s just a few of the wonderful events happening around Norwich & Norfolk – the summer is a busy time, especially for families! For more recommendations for your calendar, check out our full list of events and take a look at our Families section for even more information about where to visit and the best places to eat!
