Official Visitor Website

Diss

An entertaining market town with a mysterious Mere and a cultural heart in the Heritage Triangle.

Come to Diss, where the ducks regularly walk from the Mere to the bakery for lunch treats. Then let them guide you back to the park around the Mere, to enjoy the view over the lake and the wildlife gardens, and debate whether this is the crater of a long extinct volcano or a deep pit left behind by a glacier after the last ice age.

It’s incredibly deep and full of fish, including monster catfish, which adds to the thrill when you stroll out on the boardwalk, ice cream in hand. Or sit back on a pub or café terrace and watch for unusual ripples.

Famously it’s also the destination in one of Sir John Betjeman’s poems, as described in this extract where he’s urging Mary Wilson to travel with him…

Yes, it will be bliss,

To go with you by train to Diss,

Your walking shoes upon your feet;

We’ll meet, my sweet, at Liverpool Street.

Browsing and shopping for everything you need is what you do in a market town, so starting at the Mere, follow the High Street all the way to the Heritage Triangle with its historic Yards, such as Cobbs Yard and Hales Yard. It’s all there, from frocks to knitting wool to fabulous baskets to unique artworks to kitchen ironworks, and to gorgeous food and wine. At the foot of the Triangle, is the well-organised Diss Museum in the wonderfully-named building called The Shambles.

At the top, is the striking Corn Hall Exchange with its imposing Doric pillars, once a place for farmers to trade gossip and corn, and today a cultural hub with a packed programme of art events, exhibitions and shows. Then a short drive away you’ll find the 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum and Bressingham Steam Museum & Gardens.

Visit Diss, for an entertaining time that could last way into the night.