10 things that shocked me when I moved from Yorkshire to Norfolk

It seems obvious now that there would be a difference between rural North Yorkshire and the south-east city of Norwich, but when I initially moved for university in September, the change caused quite the shock.

While I had stayed in the south of England before, there is a big difference between visiting and living. With the little knowledge I had of Norwich, I wanted to embrace the differences.

Little things very quickly become bigger deals once you’ve spent a bit of time away from your homeland, and here’s what has lodged in my brain as the biggest differences between living in Yorkshire and Norfolk.

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1. Norfolk is very flat

I know this is an obvious one, but this well-known fact of Norfolk caught me a little off-guard, in a good way. With being in the Yorkshire Dales and with the Lake District on my doorstep, I am very used to mountains, hills and the strangers that visit them.

While I would have thought that a flat terrane was boring, the first time I drove through Norfolk with my mum, the beauty of the late-summer scenery was unexpected.

2. Different Farming

When I was back home for Easter, one of my favourite things to see, were all the lambs frolicking in the fields. I look forward to every year. Yorkshire specialises in grazing livestock farms, and there seems to be an auction mart in every other village.

However, Norfolk, seems to specialise in arable farming, having a climate and soil ideal for wheat and barley. The vibrant yellow of the rapeseed on the drive down was so sudden and gorgeous.

The amount of apple trees I saw on the side of the road also put a smile on my face, even if it was just because my mum stopped at every tree to pick them.

3. People aren’t as friendly

Now I am not saying this to be rude, and it may just be a difference between rural and urban areas of the country, but moving from a town where everyone says hello to you to suddenly having no one talking to you was a very odd experience. However, this might be because I’m at university where the environment is different, as I will occasionally get a smile out of dog-walkers.

4. Dialect

I had always assumed that people down south moved up north for university and vice versa, but apparently rural Yorkshire students go to Leeds and Londoners move to UEA. While this isn’t an issue, the way I pronounce certain words seems to annoy some.

While I wouldn’t say I have much of an accent, especially as it seemed to dull down when I’m in Norwich, my slight northern twang has raised a few eyebrows.

5. Regular transport

Again, this may be a difference between rural areas and urban ones, but I cannot get over the fact that a bus arrives roughly every 15 minutes. And how regular trains are! What a blessing as well!

Back home, a bus no longer runs through our town, but the next village on, about four miles away. Trains also take all day to arrive, and usually cost an arm-and-a-leg!

6. Church spires

There are over 650 churches in Norfolk, which happens to be the greatest concentration of churches in the world. While I am used to seeing churches, with there being at least four in the town I went to school in, I certainly wasn’t used to seeing so many beautifully gothic spires.

Me and my mum use them as a sign that we were close to the border and excitedly point them out and count them to pass the time.

7. Food

In my opinion, there is no better way to end the week that with a roast with a Yorkshire pudding. Now, I know that a roast is very British and not just Yorkshire, but when the meat is local there is nothing better.

While I haven’t had a chance to try the famous Cromer crab, I can imagine how wonderful the seafood is in Norfolk, having recently had the best strawberries I’ve ever had, grown
locally in Norfolk.

8. Bookish

While I only live about two hours away from the Bronte Parsonage Museum, and about the same distance from Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage in Grasmere, not many people seemed more excited by that fact than me.

Around here however, there are more book nerds than I can count and of course I mean that in the best way! The history Norwich has as a City of Literature is amazing, and it was one of the reasons I picked to study here.

9. Weather

I live in the wettest part of the country the, North-West, so of course, moving to the South-East, would mean a change in temperature. It is much dryer down here and much warmer too, which not only meant that I could enjoy the sunshine more, but I saved a bit of money on jackets too.

However, going back home for Christmas was a massive shock, I have never experienced cold like it!

10. How similar they both are

I have to admit, this article was a lot more difficult than I anticipated as there are a lot more similarities than differences. While it shouldn’t be really, this comes as a surprise to me.

However, this does explain why it was so easy it was for me to settle into life in Norwich and I’m sure that if I was in rural Norfolk, I could list lots of similarities, but that wouldn’t be as much fun would it?

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