The lanes are packed with independent shops making it easy to get all of your Christmas shopping done in a single day.
Christmas shopping can be an incredibly stressful task when you have to buy gifts for all of your friends and family. However, there are ways of making it more enjoyable.
Taking a trip outside Cambridgeshire for the day might make Christmas shopping a better experience. If you want to get all of your present buying done in one day, you might want to travel to Norwich in Norfolk.
The city, which is easy to reach from Cambridgeshire by car or train, is home to a huge range of independent shops that you can explore to search for the perfect present for each of your family members. Norwich is home to The Lanes, often ranked as one of the best shopping spots in the UK.
The Lanes feature a group of streets to explore including Upper St Giles where you can find Georgian buildings. There are a few different bakeries and cafés like Bread Source and Kofra if you need a quick coffee before taking on your shopping list.
You can also find the Norwich Art Shop, which is said to stock affordable contemporary pieces by local artists, and the Shopkeeper Store if you are looking for Japanese-inspired lifestyle gifts.
Bridewell Alley is worth a visit if you enjoy looking through vintage pieces with Sue Ryder and Sams in the Lanes being found there. There is also the sustainable lifestyle store Atwin where you can find a range of handmade fashion, accessories, and jewellery.
Lower Goat Lane is home to Elm, which is a homeware store that stocks prints, plants, and ceramics and Imelda’s, which sells unique shoes. If you have any chocolate lovers in your life, you could go to Brownies & Coffee to pick up a few different flavoured brownies.
If you need a break during your trip, you could stop off at the Plough for a quick pint inside the cosy pub or enjoy the outdoors thanks to the heaters in the garden area. You might like to try St Andrews Brew House, which has board games available and a restaurant.
For food, you could try out the tapas at Bar Cerdita or enjoy something in the middle of shopping by visiting the Exchange in the Jarrold Department Store. The restaurant does fresh pasta, wood fired pizzas, and salads alongside an extensive wine list that you can also take home from the Food Hall.
Norwich is an hour and 24 minute drive away from Cambridge via the A11. For easy access to the Lanes, you can park in either the Rose Lane or Chantry Place car parks.
You can also take a Greater Anglia train from Cambridge station to Norwich, which takes an hour and 15 minutes.
