Norwich castle is visited each year by thousands of tourists but it hasn’t really been on my local radar of places to visit until recently – we visited for the first time in November and were keen to return as there’s so much to do.

This time we visited the Paston Treasure’s Exhibition which is on until the 23rd of September. My children are 5 and nearly 2 so I’m always a little anxious about going to a museum, and if you read my Instagram post @cookiecrumblesuk you’ll see why, as like most people my age I have a very negative old-fashioned view about museums and their ‘stuffiness’ but Norwich Castle is far from this, Esther and the whole team are so welcoming and we had a great day.

Starting Off…
We started our day by looking at the exhibition and the Paston Treasure picture first whilst the kids were still relatively focused and well behaved 😏😉, but we needn’t have worried as like all the temporary exhibitions at the castle, they take time to make them accessible to all. At the back of the exhibition was a child friendly area which was perfect for my two – with lots of hands on educational activities and a audio film which the boy really enjoyed as he could then tell me facts about the Paston Treasure. We had some great discussions afterwards… mostly to do with lobsters 😂

Quick Tip…
A good tip if going with children is to head straight through the exhibition to the kids bit and then if you are lucky enough to have a friend or partner in tow, go back to look at the main exhibition yourself as it’s really well put together and an interesting story.

The History Bit…
This beautiful exhibition explores the world of the seventeenth century from the vantage point of a single masterpiece, The Paston Treasure. This work survives as a record of a lost art collection, owned by the Paston family at their Norfolk country home, Oxnead Hall, at the height of their wealth and fame. These magnificent artifacts, gold and silver, pictures and precious stones, gathered from around the known world, made Oxnead Hall a true treasure-house during this period.
The Pastons’ wealth was short-lived and within fifty years of the picture being painted, they were bankrupt. Their works of art are now dispersed worldwide, but the surviving treasures from the painting, and others once in the Paston collection have returned to Norfolk to be reunited with the picture.

The Castle…
We then ventured to the castle keep which is my favourite bit. It’s just an amazing, so beautiful and grand it gets my imagination going – I start thinking about knights and kings and basically everything you’ve ever dreamed of if you’ve watched Kevin Costner and Robin Hood – probably not historically accurate but you get where I’m coming from.

The Extra Bits…
There is so many things to see and do in the castle in addition to the extra activities that have been put in place for the Paston Treasures Exhibition from dressing up, pictures on the throne, looking through the castle windows over Norwich and even throwing coins down into the depths of the castle. There are lots of opportunities for photos and to look though the various artifacts, my favourite being some very nice gold rings 😂. Hey I’m always hopeful 😂👑🏇 Costner is still out there somewhere and I’m sure he’d still fit in those tights 😂.

And More…
As mentioned above the castle have put on a bundle of other activities for the kids linking to the Paston Treasure Exhibition which really helps them to access the information and story in a number of interesting ways.  We really loved the lobster hat making and had great fun on the Paston Treasure Trail, but me and my sister were most excited to test out our memory on The Generation Game where you had to try and recall all the different objects from the picture. as you know if you are a regular to my page we are very competitive and after some serious straining we may have made the leader board with an impressive 24!! (Smug or what) so you’ve got to go now just to see if you can’t beat me. Let me know how you get on! There is also live interactive performances in the educational area called the Paston Puzzle Drama which sadly we missed, plus Sound Scramble as well as the pride and joy of the castle which is a collaborative piece of artwork which your are encouraged to add to😘.

All in all it’s a great day out especially for the slightly older ones. The Boy who’s nearly 6 really enjoyed it. So the Paston Treasures Exhibit gets a strong 3 1/2 🍪🍪🍪 out of 5 from us and is on until September the 23rd. Why not visit the website museums.norfolk.gov.uk or head to their instagram page @norwichcastlekeep or Facebook Norwich Castle Museum &Art Gallery for more details.