Things you didn't know about... Norfolk

Norfolk gave us our greatest naval hero

Horatio Nelson was born in 1758 in Burnham Thorpe, on the Norfolk coast. He was the sixth of 11 children, joined the Navy when he was 12, and had become a captain by the time he was 20.

Norfolk's Saxon history towers above the rest

The round tower of St Andrews Church at East Lexham, outside Swaffham in Norfolk, is the oldest Saxon tower in England—it's around 1,000 years old.

Street life in Norfolk is centuries old

Norwich, Norfolk, is claimed to have the most complete medieval street pattern in the whole of Great Britain, with more than 1,500 historic buildings within its centre, including a Norman cathedral.

Why Norfolk folk are keen as mustard

Jeremiah Colman first advertised his mustard in Norfolk's Norwich Chronicle in 1814, but it wasn't until 1866 that the famous yellow livery appeared. In 1903, Colman's purchased a rival mustard manufacturer that was originally known as Keen & Son, which led to the saying "keen as mustard".

Norfolk is a racing certainty

Lotus founder Colin Chapman built his first trials car in 1948, and Team Lotus, based in Norwich, Norfolk, went on to win seven Formula 1 Constructors' Championships and six Drivers' Championships. The company also designed the gold-medal winning sprint bicycle ridden by Chris Boardman at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Norfolk—a shoppers' paradise

Norwich, in Norfolk, moved up to the top five shopping destinations in the UK when the Chapelfield shopping complex opened in September 2005, boasting 32,000 sq m of retail therapy on the site of the old Nestlé chocolate factory.

Norfolk—fields of dreams

Over 96 per cent of Norfolk, the fourth largest county in England, is rural. Much of the countryside is given over to agriculture, woodland, forestry or designated open space.

Norfolk Broads—Britain's largest protected wetland

The Norfolk Broads is Britain's largest protected wetland, with the equivalent status of a National Park. It's home to some of the rarest plants and wildlife in the country.

Norfolk gets its wind up

The United Kingdom's first major offshore wind farm was installed near Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk.

The author of Black Beauty was a Norfolk lass

Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty, was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in 1820.