Whether you are a petrolhead or just fancy a day out with a difference, here are some of the best classic car shows you can visit in Norfolk this year.

1. The Pageant of Motoring

Where: The Royal Parkland, Sandringham Estate

When: May 26

Price: Adults cost £18 in advance and under 12s are free

The pageant will feature a display of classic vehicles as well as a range of vintage traders, vehicle manufacturer stands, live music and aerial displays.

Hundreds of classics will be parked together including more than 30 car club stands from manufacturers such as Rolls Royce, BMW, Lotus and Ferrari.

The Aston Martin Spring Concours will be one of the show's highlights this year with around 70 cars on display including the King’s 1969 MK ii DB6 Volante which was a 21st birthday present from his parents.

2. The 2024 Autojumble and Classic Motor Shows

Where: Arminghall car boot site in Old Stoke Road

When: Saturday June 8, Saturday July 20, Saturday September 7 from 8:30am to 3pm

Price: Adults cost £2 and under 16s are free

The 2024 Autojumble and Classic Motor Shows will take place on June 8, July 20 and September 7.

There will be free entry for the drivers of classic vehicles including cars, motorbikes and campervans that date earlier than 1999.

An autojumble selling motor and motorcycle parts, tools, memorabilia, vintage clothing and more will also be on-site as well as refreshments and plenty of parking.

3. The Norwich Classic Vehicle Club Family Day

Where: Strumpshaw Steam Museum, near Brundall

When: June 23

Price: Adults cost £10 and under 16s are free

The Norwich Classic Vehicle Club Family Day returns to Strumpshaw Steam Museum, near Brundall, on June 23 from 10am to 4.30pm.

There will be hundreds of vintage bikes, classic cars dating up to 2001 and supercars of all ages on display.

Visitors can also enjoy trade and club stands, a children's funfair, game stalls, a display arena, food and drink stalls, an autojumble and access to the steam museum.

4. Mundesley Motor Show

Where: Gold Park, Mundesley

When: July 28

Price: Adults are asked for a donation of £2

Showcasing vintage, classic and retro vehicles, the event will also be raising money for charities Norfolk Lowland Search and Rescue and the Mundesley First Responders.

The show will feature an emergency services display with food vendors and live entertainment.

5. The Reepham Classic Car Festival

Where: Market Place, Reepham

When: September 29

Price: Free

The Reepham Classic Car Festival is back on September 29 in the Market Place and it is free entry.

It will run from 11am to 4pm and there will be a wide variety of around 100 vehicles on show at the family-friendly event.

There will be food and drink traders including a hog roast, ice creams, pizzas and waffles.

A chance to feast on Spanish food and soak up the fantasy of a louche Granada – all in a pub outside Norwich. By Jay Rayner

Suffield Arms, 393 Station Road, Lower Street, Norwich NR11 8UE (01263 586858). Small plates £4-£12, cured meats £12-£22, large plates £13-£25, desserts £7, wines from £27

Hanging on the wall in the deep-varnished, oak-panelled stairwell at the Suffield Arms is a red neon sign which reads “Beer Girls Porn” with a blue neon arrow pointing to the ground floor. It is not entirely inaccurate. For all the restaurant trappings, this place still displays elements of pub. There is a public bar at the front with a pool table, a big screen TV and a number of ales on tap, many of them from local breweries like Lacons and Woodforde’s. Both genders are represented among the clientele, so in the very loosest sense of the sign, I suppose – and in a less than obliging manner – that’s the second word dealt with.

Then there is the third word. Certainly, the walls are hung with pictures, of a sort which might once have been called “risqué”: faux American pin-ups; glowering documentary shots of life-class models, preparing to pose. That sort of thing. I gave these various images a bit of my male gaze and I’ll be honest: none of them started my engine (insert your alternative euphemism of choice here). And if it doesn’t do that, it’s art not porn.

Perhaps all of this comes with the territory, by which I mean the fields that surround it. The Suffield Arms, located half an hour outside Norwich and a one-minute stroll from Gunton station, is a country pub, much as I am a country squire. Which is to say, I’ve been to the country and enjoyed myself there, but my heart is somewhere else, back in the belch and hard kerb of the city. Likewise, this is an outpost of urban sensibility amid the pasture and meadow. It’s the second business from the art dealer Ivor Braka, who has the Gunton Arms a couple of miles away. There, the walls are crusted with neon signs by Tracey Emin, flashing legends like “I said don’t practise on me”. There are works by Damien Hirst, Julian Opie and Paula Rego, and in the grounds, part of a sprawling deer park, sculptures by Anthony Caro and Sol LeWitt.

It’s all displayed with the lightest of touches, as it is here. For these are places of studied, and extremely comfortable loucheness. At the Suffield Arms there are long, reconditioned communal tables which are less distressed than mildly disconcerted. There are slate-tiled floors. There’s a long counter edging the open kitchen, its frontage panelled in limed wood. Above the kitchen on the ceiling are daubed the names of painters from the Norwich School. Upstairs is what they call the saloon bar, a downlit snug with banquettes upholstered in blood-red corduroy, and swags of damask curtain, placing it somewhere between steampunk fantasy and Victorian brothel. In the most tasteful way possible, the whole place is mannered and contrived. All of which makes it a delightful place in which to loiter, even if you end up hating yourself just a little bit for liking it so very much.

At the Gunton Arms the menu is, like your critic, meaty, butch and dark. There is a live fire grill and an Elk Room in which to eat. Here, the Spanish-accented menu, overseen by a young northern Italian chef called Alberto Mesini, is full of sunshine, soft winds and tidy ideas. To go with tumblers of sherry or vermouth there’s a lengthy list of jamón, lomo and chorizo, along with boquerones, tortillas, olives and almonds. So just your basic early evening in Granada, even on a grey winter’s day in Norfolk. There is also a mildly evolved selection of tapas. The mini chorizo sausages, which elsewhere might just lie languidly in a hot bath of cider, here come glazed with a sticky sauce of reduced rioja and honey. There are padrón peppers, and white Andalusian prawns, given the lightest of grillings, then allowed to swim through a lake of garlicky, parsley-rich butter.

But the cooking also roams around Middle Eastern and North African flavours. Hunks of long-roasted lamb, in a sauce spiked with harissa, come with whorls of whipped hummus and puffy triangles of warm flatbread. The latter also turn up with a sweet-savoury dish of borani, the Iranian dip of puréed beetroot whipped up with yoghurt, garlic and walnuts, then heavily layered with crumbled feta. Aubergines have been cooked until mashable, then turned into lengthy, squared-off, crisp-shelled fritters with an almost liquid centre. Or chips as we might prefer to call them. They are stacked up like Jenga blocks and sprinkled generously with pomegranate seeds and more crumbled feta. A lot has been done to those aubergines for £7.

I don’t need to tell you that these dishes are meant for sharing. For those who hate their friends and double dipping, there are also a few larger plates, priced from £15 to £25. A couple of these source their star ingredient from the deer park surrounding the Gunton Arms, where you can first admire the wildlife and then later eat it. There’s a venison tagine with apricots or a heaped pyramid of hand-cut tagliatelle, generously swamped with a venison and pancetta ragù cooked down until dark and almost crumbly. This is solid and satisfying cooking, rather than the stuff of thrills and grasps. It’s there to lubricate the chat and give purpose to a few lost hours at one of those long tables. The most on-brand dessert is a terracotta bowl of a furiously hot rice pudding, or arroz con leche, with bursts of citrus, under a bendy, melted sugar topping which will get stuck cheerfully in your teeth. Or, because they’re still cos-playing as an English country pub, there’s a rather good individual sticky toffee pudding in a deep lake of caramel sauce the colour of molasses.

It’s while I am spooning away my sticky toffee pudding, purely in the name of diligent research, that I conclude I have really been far too literal with that neon sign in the stairwell. One of the things restaurants can do well is create a space in which you can participate in a kind of benign role play or fantasy. For a couple of hours, you are hanging out in a Thai beach shack or a Parisian café or in a Manhattan grill room where everyone talks in italics and the barman mixes a killer ice-cold martini. It’s all about trying on a lifestyle. The word “porn” in that sign? It was referring to the whole of the delicious Suffield Arms experience. And I am very much here for it.

News bites

The very lovely Seaside Boarding House on the coast in Burton Bradstock, Dorset is running a monthly series of guest chef events throughout 2024, with services cooked by, among others, Hector Henderson of Rochelle Canteen (April), Jeremy Lee of Quo Vadis (June) and Abby Lee of Mambow (October). Tickets for each event go on sale roughly a month in advance. The series begins with Anna Tobias of Café Deco in London’s Bloomsbury, who will be cooking dinner on Saturday 23 March. For more information go here.

A tiny café in southeast London has become home to Bereket, a delightful pop-up offering the food of Turkmenistan. The short menu, prepared by chef Guncha Mameddurdiyeva, includes minced lamb and butternut squash momos, yoghurt or beetroot salads, rice with mutton, and honey cake to finish. It operates from Thursday to Saturday from Café Lulu near Brockwell Park, and is BYO. For more follow them on Instagram @bereketfood_uk

The terrific Helen Graham, former head chef of Bubala, is bringing her Middle Eastern-influenced brand of plant-based cookery to the Shoreditch wine bar and shop Oranj for a three- week residency. Graham will be cooking from 5-30 March. For those who like to know about these things, the entire wine offering at Oranj is ‘natural’. Bookings can be made here.

Email Jay at jay.rayner@observer.co.uk or follow him on X @jayrayner1

Campaigners fighting controversial plans for miles of pylons across the Norfolk and Suffolk countryside have urged people to make their opposition to the scheme loud and clear.

National Grid is carrying out consultation over updated plans for the 114-mile Norwich to Tilbury power line, with a trio of public information events in Norfolk next month.

Energy company bosses say the power line is needed to allow electricity generated by North Sea wind farms to be used elsewhere in the country.

It says the scheme is a vital part of the UK's net zero ambitions and that using pylons rather than burying the cable underground will reduce the cost to energy bill payers.

But it has prompted controversy, with council leaders, MPs and the Pylons East Anglia campaign group unhappy National Grid is looking at an overland option, rather than transferring the power through offshore cables.

Rosie Pearson, from Pylons East Anglia, said: "It is essential that people take the time to go along and ask National Grid questions, like why they continue to ignore the 29,000 people who have signed the petition and why they continue to ignore alternative options which are so much better than these pylons.

"We will have representatives at each of these events, so people can ask questions, sign the petition and get tips on how to respond to the consultation.

"This is the final consultation, so it is people's last chance to make their feelings known.

"This is not a done deal. There are plenty of hoops National Grid will still need to jump through. We will keep fighting."

While the latest plans take more of the line underground, National Grid bosses said it would be up to 10 times as expensive to put it all beneath the soil.

They say running the line offshore would also be more expensive and the line would have less capacity.

Public information events will be held at Ashwellthorpe and Fundenhall Community Centre in Ashwellthorpe on Thursday, May 9, at Tidenham Community Hall on Friday, May 10 and at Diss Town Football Club on Wednesday, May 15. All last from 1pm to 6pm.

The online consultation, which runs until Tuesday, June 18, is at nationalgrid.com/norwich-to-tilbury

Documents about the plans are also available in Norwich's Millennium Library, Long Stratton Library, Tuckswood Library and Diss Library.

USING ART IN THE FIGHT

Norfolk campaigners against the pylon plan are using art and crafts to highlight what they say would be lost if the scheme goes ahead.

They have organised an art exhibition at Forncett Industrial Steam Museum this weekend to highlight the beauty of the Norfolk countryside.

Gill Starkie, one of the organisers, said: "Alongside this celebration, we plan to make clear to all those attending just how much the construction of the giant pylons will affect everyone within miles of the proposed route, as well as the detrimental effect on the environment.

"This is a different way to highlight our cause, through the arts, but we hope it will help to keep up the motivation and inspire some – hopefully, many - to get involved in saving the beauty that is all around us."

The public can visit the free exhibition, at the museum in Low Road, Forncett St Mary from 10am on Saturday (April 27) and Sunday (April 28).

Norwich's river will have an unusual visit next month, with a flotilla arriving in the city as part of a tour of the entire Norfolk Broads.

Vessels crewed by volunteers and staff of the Nancy Oldfield Trust, a boating charity, are due to moor at the Yacht Station, near Foundry Bridge, on May 11.

The visit is the centrepiece of the charity's Seven Rivers challenge, which will see the boats navigate all seven rivers of the Broads, travelling 166 miles over the course of 11 days.

READ MORE: Nancy Oldfield Trust's voyage of all 7 Norfolk Broads rivers

The group, travelling in a motor cruiser, an adapted sailing boat and a safety RIB, are planning to stop at 20 spots along the way, to meet up with locals and highlight the work of the trust, with the Norwich event running from 11am to 2pm the main focus.

Members of the public are encouraged to head to the river to visit the boats and find out more about the organisation, which provides boating opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged individuals, families and carers.

The expedition is designed to raise the profile of the charity and to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

Stephen Bradnock, from the Trust, said: "We are really excited about the trip, and in particular the visit to Norwich.

"We are based on the Northern Rivers, so a trip into Norwich - so far from our base at Neatishead - is unprecedented and is going to be a real highlight.

"We like to think we are quite well known in our corner of the Broads, but in many ways we still feel like one of Norfolk's best-kept secrets.

"This visit - and the rest of the trip - will be a real opportunity to meet up with new people and find others in the wider community who may benefit from the services we offer but may have never heard of us.

"People can arrange to come and see us at different places during the tour, but don't need to make arrangements in advance for the Norwich open day."

SEVEN RIVERS CHALLENGE

The expedition involves Lions Pride II, a Yeoman sailing boat specially-adapted for use by disabled sailors, Nancy Bee, one of the Trust's motor cruisers, and a safety boat.

Different volunteers will be on board the craft for different stages, as will some of the customers who use the Trust.

In total 58 different staff and volunteers are expected to take part.

The trip starts in Beccles on May 8 and is due to finish back at the Trust's HQ near Barton Broad on May 18.

During the tour the boats will stop at several locations, including: Oulton Broad and St Olaves on the Waveney; Cantley and Coldham Hall on the Yare; Norwich on the Wensum; Loddon on the Chet; Horning and Wroxham on the Bure; Potter Heigham and West Somerton on the Thurne; and Ludham Bridge on the Ant.

READ MORE: Norfolk's Poppy river ferry in Blakeney reopens for season

A BROADS INSTITUTION

The Nancy Oldfield Trust was established in 1984 by Richard Kenyon, who wanted to create a facility where anyone with a disability or who was socially disadvantaged could enjoy water-based activities.

He was supported in his efforts by his parents Nancy and Oldfield, so the charity was named after them.

It has grown significantly since then but is still based in Neatishead at the same bungalow, which can be hired out for self-catering activity holidays.

It has a fleet of 19 sailing and motor vessels for use by visitors, as well as two rafted canoes, three pedal launches and an eight-person stand-up paddleboard.

It has a small team of staff and is supported by 99 volunteers.

The charity relies on donations to carry out its work.

For more information, and to donate, visit www.nancyoldfield.org.uk

A theatre group is set to debut an edgy musical with controversial themes.

New Taverham Players will stage the East Anglian premiere of Carrie, The Musical in May.

An inaugural performance for not only Norfolk but for the whole of East Anglia, this production contains strong language, adult themes and violence.

Carrie White, the protagonist, is a social outcast who faces tense bullying at school and a cruel, over-protective mother at home.

But possessing a unique special power, she isn't afraid to retaliate when pushed too far.

The director of New Taverham Players, Tracy Melton, said: “I believe it’s right to do something different, challenge ourselves and our audience.

"This production is the absolute opposite of the froth and frolics of Legally Blonde, brought to you last year.

"Carrie will make you feel uncomfortable, get inside your head, but leave you reminded of the values of inclusion, equality and kindness."

READ MORE: Two women confront severe weather during ambitious 55km hike

Carrie, The Musical, based on Stephen King's bestseller, debuted on Broadway on May 12, 1988.

The book, released in 1974, sold a million copies in its first year.

The 1976 movie adaptation proved a critical and box office hit, earning two Oscar nominations.

The New Taverham Players are "thrilled" to have secured performing rights.

(Image: Submitted)

They aim to present the story to the audience, detailing Carrie's trail of chaos.

Despite its dark content, the New Taverham Players emphasise that the musical isn't a horror story.

The production explores themes that may be uncomfortable and includes scenes depicting violence.

However, it still features music and staging that are designed to be harmonious and dramatic.

READ MORE: Spitfire flights over Norfolk to take off this summer

Audiences can expect thought-provoking content that is not for the faint-hearted – there will be blood.

Carrie, The Musical will run from May 13 to 18, with performances starting at 7.30pm (7pm on May 18) at Taverham Village Hall.

Tickets can be purchased at newtaverhamplayers.com.

There has been another setback in the development of 670 homes on a brownfield site near the city centre.

The May Gurney and Deal Ground site, in Trowse, is an abandoned and disused former industrial site with dilapidated buildings.

In 2013 Serruys Property Company (SPC), based in Lenwade, received outline planning permission for up to 670 homes on the site, from South Norfolk Council and Norwich City Council.

The company submitted its designs to the councils at the end of February 2023 and revealed final plans as part of a public consultation in June 2023.

While the hope was that construction could start this year, final plans are still to be lodged and today's deadline has been pushed back, after an agreement was reached between the city council and Maddox Planning.

Council planning officers have agreed to put a hold on the application, until the end of July, given the lack of progress in identifying nutrient neutrality credits to comply with Natural England requirements to protect waterways.

(Image: Newsquest)

A Norwich City Council spokesman confirmed: "This is part of the wider regeneration of east Norwich, a hugely important project for the city and eastern region.

"We're continuing to work closely with the developer of the May Gurney and Deal Ground sites to resolve some outstanding technical issues with their planning application."

(Image: Stolon Studio)

Serruys Property Company declined to comment.

The Deal Ground and May Gurney plots are a key part of the East Norwich Masterplan which would see approximately 4,000 homes built in four key areas, including Carrow Works and the Utilities site between Thorpe Hamlet and Whitlingham.

READ MORE: Call for 'hideous mess' to be sorted as work on grade II listed pub stalls

The works have proved to be controversial with people living in the area - with many raising concerns about traffic and flooding.

The developer, SPC, was investigated for drastic tree felling on the site by the Forestry Commission and ordered to re-plant 300 trees after not receiving permission for the clearance.

There was also a fire in a disused building in July 2023 which sparked an arson investigation, for which a teenager remains on bail.

By Andrew Turner

BBC News, Norfolk

A patient says he felt ignored and that NHS care was lacking after he spent 14 hours on a bed in a hospital corridor.

Ivan Philpotts, 77, from Norwich, was transferred between wards at the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital (NNUH), having contracted pneumonia.

He said he was left in a bed in a corridor with no access to water, was unable to eat and that his wife was unable to visit.

The hospital said it had experienced a high number of patients last week.

"I felt very vulnerable," Mr Philpotts said.

"Nobody seemed to be taking any notice of you and you were sitting there, people walking by you.

"I was there from 8.30 in the morning until 9.10 at night before I actually got into a bay. We got no communication whatsoever."

He said for much of the day he had nowhere to put water and found it difficult to eat his lunch because there was no table by his bed.

'Not OK to normalise'

His wife Averil, 77, said she was unable to visit.

"I thought there was no point in me going up if there was no chair for me to sit in a corridor because I'm disabled as well," she said.

"I was keeping in touch. He's started off on FaceTime, but then he couldn't use FaceTime any more because he was running out of charge on his phone and there was nowhere to charge their phone.

"I was getting worried."

In November, the hospital trust introduced a "corridor care" model that was first piloted in Bristol.

The Royal College of Nursing's eastern regional director Teresa Budrey said: "We're starting to normalise it and that's not OK.

"There are patients who are suffering for hours, without proper privacy or equipment and you've also got nurses dealing with an expanded number of patients.

"We need government minsters and employers to come together for some bigger solutions across the system."

Dr Bernard Brett, the hospital's interim medical director, said: "We are very sorry to hear of Mr Philpotts' experience and we would be happy to speak with him further to answer any questions.

"The NHS across Norfolk and Waveney is extremely busy, and the NNUH is experiencing record numbers of emergency department attendances and acute admissions.

"Placing extra beds on our in-patient wards and assessment units is something we only do in extreme circumstances to reduce pressure on the ambulance service and emergency department."

He added that work done to improve the management of patients had increased the number of daily discharges, but "we have further to do to ensure we are able to manage the high admission numbers".

The average time ambulances wait outside the NNUH before patients are admitted has been reduced by two hours since the new corridor care model was introduced, the hospital's chief executive said at a board meeting last month.

Speaking in that meeting, Sarah Jane Marsh, NHS England director, said: "We have moved risk from people's houses and from the back of ambulances.

"In some cases we have moved that into emergency departments and into wards that have to take the pressure of taking additional patients."

Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830