Diggers move in to give Castle Gardens a facelift

Diggers have moved in to give Castle Gardens in Norwich a "facelift" more than 10 years after the scheme was originally approved.

A £27.5m refurbishment of the castle itself was completed in 2025. Now work is underway to improve the surrounding gardens in time for summer.

Funding for the £400,000 garden scheme was approved back in 2015.

Mike Stonard, Labour leader of the city council, described it finally starting as "really exciting".

The work includes widening paths, putting in more seats for the Whiffler Theatre, an open-air performance venue, and the relocation of a Princess Diana memorial stone.

The castle reopened in August 2025, five years after work started on the Norman keep.

Three months later it had already attracted more than 110,000 visitors.

Given the increase in visitors, Stonard said it was about time the gardens got a "facelift".

He said: "It needed a bit of TLC and we've known that for some time.

"We've had the major refurbishment of the castle keep, which is magnificent.

"It took a little longer than expected, there were some delays with that.

"We had to wait for that to be completed before we could move all these diggers and earthmovers in to do this work, but when it's finished I think it's going to be magnificent."

Stonard hopes opening up the gardens will help address anti-social behaviour.

"The best way in my experience to manage anti-social behaviour is to make places more accessible and more used by the public and then those who want to commit anti-social behaviour they'll move on, they won't go there," he said.

"It's a beautiful part of the Castle Quarter and we need to look after it," he added.

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