Norwich

Walk down the mound's southwest ramp, cross Castle Meadow and you're in it within five minutes — England's largest permanent open-air market, trading on this same sloped square since 1075. Two hundred candy-striped stalls fan out below the medieval flint-chequerboard Guildhall on the north edge; weave between them at street level rather than viewing from above, because the smell of fresh donuts, Norfolk cheese and old books is the whole point. Photograph the Guildhall's chequerboard wall from the southwest corner where City Hall's Art Deco clock tower lines up behind it.

Tip: The herring smokers and Norfolk cheesemongers cluster on the market's east side (Row B-C) — far better for a photo and a sample than the souvenir T-shirt stalls on the west edge facing City Hall.

Slip out the market's west side onto Lower Goat Lane — two minutes down a narrow medieval alley to a chippy locals have queued for since 1937. Order the battered haddock with chips and proper mushy peas (£10), or the squid 'Goat Roll' — fried calamari in a brioche bun (£8.50) — that became a Norwich legend after Rick Stein filmed here. Take your paper-wrapped parcel down the spiral staircase to 'The Birdcage' basement seating opposite, where the same kitchen serves them on plates with a pint of Woodforde's Wherry.

Tip: The queue at the takeaway counter looks long but moves in under ten minutes — order at the counter, then run across the lane to The Birdcage and tell them your number; they'll bring it down to you with cutlery, no extra charge.

From Lower Goat Lane, head north across London Street and into the cobbled maze — five minutes brings you to the foot of Elm Hill, the most intact Tudor street in England, where the buildings lean drunkenly across the cobbles toward each other. Walk it slowly uphill: the wonky timber-framed Strangers' Club at no. 22 dates to 1450, and the antique map shop at the top has cartography from the 1500s in the window. Then loop back through the parallel lanes — Bedford Street, Bridewell Alley, Pottergate — independent bookbinders, vinyl shops and the family-run Colman's Mustard Shop hidden beside the Royal Arcade.

Tip: Photograph Elm Hill from the bottom (south end) at 13:00 when the high midday sun cuts down between the timber gables — by 15:00 the entire street is in shadow and the photo flattens completely. Avoid weekends if possible; Wednesdays the lane is almost empty.

From the top of Elm Hill, walk east along Princes Street for four minutes past Tudor merchants' houses — you arrive at the Erpingham Gate and pass through into the largest cathedral close in England. The cathedral's Norman nave and 96-metre spire (the second tallest in the country) reveal themselves slowly as you approach the west front; entry is free, but for a layover, the real magic is the cloisters (also free) — the only two-storey monastic cloisters surviving in England, with 400 carved stone roof bosses. Then exit east through the close's quiet lawns, follow the path down to Pull's Ferry — a 15th-century flint watergate on the River Wensum where stone for the cathedral was once unloaded — and walk the riverside path north for ten more minutes to Cow Tower, a lone red-brick artillery tower from 1398 standing on a bend in the river.

Tip: Enter the cloisters from the south door, not the main west entrance — you arrive directly at the carved 'Green Man' boss at the southwest corner, the cathedral's most famous medieval carving, before any tour groups find it. The Close gates close at 18:30 sharp; don't get locked in.

Exit the Close through the Erpingham Gate, turn left up Tombland and across Fye Bridge — four minutes brings you to a low-beamed riverside pub trading from this same site since 1492. Order the slow-roasted Norfolk beef rib with Yorkshire pudding (£18), or the Cromer crab on sourdough (£14) caught that morning twenty miles up the coast — paired with a pint of Woodforde's Wherry, brewed in the Broads just outside Norwich. Ask for the small back room overlooking the Wensum: at this hour the cathedral spire glows pink across the rooftops just as you're served.

Tip: Book the riverside back room (call ahead, they don't take online) — walk-ins get the front bar facing the street. Skip the chain restaurants on Tombland that look medieval but are tourist-priced — Erpingham House and The Refectory there charge double for half the food. Also: never give cash to the 'tour guides' who approach by Tombland's war memorial offering ghost walks; the legitimate Norwich Ghost Walk meets at the Adam & Eve pub and is booked online only.