THEATRE

You can still get your mitts on Les Mis tickets – but you’ll need to get in quick. Stopped in its tracks due to the pandemic, the long-awaited show is back at Norwich Theatre Royal until Sept 24. Massively popular, Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Misérables is a phenomenal production. Expect all your favourite musical numbers (we’ve got our hankies ready for I Dreamed a Dream) set against a backdrop inspired by Victor Hugo’s own paintings.

For flawless dance with impeccable comic timing (and muscled men in tutus), another hot ticket this month is New York’s all-male drag ballet troupe, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (above), who will be performing sassy spoofs and hilarious homages to classical ballet from Sept 30 to Oct 1.

FOODIE FESTIVALS

Bikini season is over so let that belt out a notch and prepare to stuff yourself silly at this month’s glut of food festivals – all in the name of supporting local of course. First on the menu, the North Norfolk Food and Drink Festival (above) is serving up a delicious feast in the Walled Garden at Holkham Hall, from 3-4 Sept. Now in its 13th year, it is a huge celebration of food grown, reared, caught, made or sold in North Norfolk, with a side helping of entertainment, including a cookery theatre and kids activities.

Got an appetite for more? The UK’s biggest food and drink touring festival is chomping its way into Norwich for the first time, between 9-11 Sept. Like some kind of gastro-Glastonbury, the Foodies Festival in Earlham Park combines celebrity chefs and chart-topping stars. Watch cooking demos from MasterChef champions, Great British Bake Off stars and Michelin-starred and top local chefs, whilst soaking up live music from the likes of Sophie Ellis Bextor (who’s just released her own recipe book), Scouting For Girls, Liberty X and S Club Allstars. The chilli-eating comps and food challenges are perhaps best taken on after you’ve sampled the delights of the Drinks Theatre.

Another day, another touring food festival! Stick a fork in it at the sizzling Sausage and Cider Festival on 24 Sept at St Andrew’s Hall in Norwich. The Halls will be full of sausages of all shapes and sizes, ciders from around the world and live music. There’s also craft beer and a gin bar, plus gluten-free and vegan bangers available.

Meanwhile, just over the border on the 24 & 25 Sept, the long-running Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival will have you drooling over its tastings, demonstrations and masterclasses. Chosen by The Telegraph as one of the best festivals in the UK to visit, there’s plenty to get stuck into over the two days, including the Adnams Drinks Experience (the rosé Prosecco for me please) and the Family Meadow with ride-on farm machinery. New for this year: the Larder celebrates Suffolk’s fruit and veggie farmers, and the Seafood Stage is dedicated to the fisheries and seafood on the East Coast.

Not strictly September, but it pays to plan ahead (and you might have regained your appetite by 27 Oct). Let’s be havin’ you at Delia’s Food & Wine Workshop! Perhaps more famous in these here parts for her passionate involvement with the Canaries than her culinary prowess, Delia is still the original queen of home cookery. Hosted throughout by Delia and chef Alex Mackay, this Italian-themed day includes a live cookery demonstration from Alex, a three-course lunch and a tutored wine tasting.

ART & CULTURE

England’s largest festival of history and culture is back from 9-18 Sept, with this year’s theme being Astounding Inventions. Historic and landmark buildings will be throwing open their doors for free Heritage Open Days celebrating our rich history of invention, industry and innovation. There’s more than 250 events taking place across Norfolk, from immersive virtual reality experiences to exclusive behind-the-scenes tours. Marking the 250th anniversary of the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital, a special exhibition at The Forum will transport you from when the hospital saw its the first patients in 1772 to the present day. Seek out the cabinet of curiosities housing intriguing medical artefacts.

Yet more doors are flung open this month… this time giving you an opportunity to have a good nosey around the (suddenly very tidy!) workspaces of Norfolk’s most creative folk. One of the largest, most successful open studios schemes in the country, Norfolk Open Studios runs from 24 Sept-9 Oct with artists including painters, sculptors, weavers, and furniture and jewellery makers taking part. Snap up an original artwork, explore an arty trail, watch demos and even have a go yourself.

Fancy making those Great British Throw Down dreams a reality? Learn to throw a pot on the wheel at the Pottery Flash Tasters at Ng Pottery in Great Plumstead (£10). There will be clay. There will be pots. There might be tears. For details, including studio opening dates, artist events and workshops, see the online brochure here or look out for the printed version in venues around Norfolk.

Arty alert! A major new exhibition kicks off this month at the Sainsbury Centre. Visions of Ancient Egypt, from 3 Sept to 1 Jan, features more than 150 works from UK and international collections, charting the art world’s obsession with this fascinating ancient culture and its icons. It’s a chance to see work from a diverse range of artists like David Hockney, Joshua Reynolds and Hector Moreau alongside modern and contemporary Egyptian artists, rarely exhibited in Britain. We can’t guarantee any Bangles appreciation (even though we’ll all be humming their 80s hit Walk Like an Egyptian).

Practically the centre of the universe (well, Norfolk), the Brisley Bell is welcoming revellers to its meadow for three days of live comedy, music and theatre at the pub’s inaugural Brisley Live! festival, from 9-11 Sept. Expect Fringe-winning comedy, genre-spanning music, an open-air play especially written for the occasion, A Brisley Murder, and more. The meadow bar and a variety of street food will keep everyone fed and watered.

The Greatest Showman eat your heart out! The weird, wacky and often way-out will be performing at The Out There International Festival of Circus and Street Arts in Great Yarmouth from 16-18 Sept. This massive outdoor event, taking place at multiple venues, is completely free – and happily close to the chippies and gold-tinged sands of Great Yarmouth. We can’t promise Hugh Jackman (although his mum does like in Norfolk, so you never know).

DAYS OUT

Squeeze in some wholesome family fun into the last day of the summer holiday. A quintessentially Norfolk experience, Wayland Agricultural Show on Sept 4 is one of the oldest one-day agricultural shows in the country. Fill your day with a gape at the main ring displays and livestock competitions, a goggle at the gardening and cookery displays, dog shows, and vintage vehicles and tractors, and go gaga over the shopping village and food hall.

Looking for more farm fun? Held at the royal estate, this promises to be the (dairy) cream of country shows. The Sandringham Game & Country Fair, 10 & 11 Sept, features all the favourite outdoor sports and pursuits (falconry, horse-riding and gun-dog displays) alongside some of the more peculiar, like horse boarding (horse pulls a man on a giant skateboard) and chainsaw carving (horror handcraft). Delivering snoozing hounds by home time, the World of Dogs has lots of have-a-go activities including races, fun dog shows and training. Humans can refuel with hearty food like locally-made cheeses and hunks of pork pie, and there’ll undoubtedly be Fido-friendly munch options too.

In need of some autumn garden inspo? The beautiful Walled Garden at Holkham Hall is the perfect setting for the pop-up Garden and Outdoor Living Fair on 24 Sept. Stallholders will be selling plants, crafts and decorative items and Holkham’s gardeners will be sharing the secrets behind the Estate’s glorious grounds. Kids will dig (sorry!) the special gardening and activity zone.

Slick on some red lippy, slip on some nylons and swing back in time at the North Norfolk Railway’s 27th Steam Back to the Forties weekend on 17 & 18 Sept. The hop-on, hop-off train ticket lets you check out the live music, wartime fashions, classic vehicles and historic displays in Sheringham, Weybourne and Holt.

In need of one more festival hurrah before autumn properly sets in? Held over the last weekend of the month (22-25 Sept) and featuring a chilled-out programme of live music from East Anglian musicians, spoken word and street entertainment, the Deepdale Festival sounds like the perfect way to say goodbye to those long days and look forward to mellowing nights. The campsite is pretty much full, but there are day tickets available.

We love a pop-up shop at Muddy – it’s a great opportunity to browse brands often otherwise unavailable on the high street, plus its a toe-dip into the world of bricks-and-mortar retail for small online businesses. Springing up at the Anteros Art Foundation from 6-10 Sept, is the fab Norwich-based Ninety-III, with its covetable collection of fun, pretty and often quirky womenswear, accessories and homeware, including North Norfolk based clothing label HollyBlocks.

Sociable September! Fun times in Norfolk this month

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