Our county is rich with history and culture, and for four days in September people will be able to have fun exploring much of our often hidden heritage for free.

The annual Heritage Open Days festival is returning from Thursday, September 8 until Sunday, September 11 when there will be more than 200 places and heritage events across the county for people of all ages to discover.

Well known historic sites such Norwich Castle and Norwich Cathedral will be taking part and there will also be lots of other places involved that are not always open to the public.

From Monday, this year's Norfolk and Norwich Heritage Open Days brochure will be available for people to start planning where they would like to visit.

There are lots of events that people can just turn up to on the day and others that need to be booked in advance.

The Forum is overseeing the festival this year, after taking over the event from Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART) which ran it for more than a decade.

Cathy Eden, HODs coordinator at The Forum, said: 'We are so excited that the HODs programme for 2016 is so vibrant and varied. It features plenty of the well-loved HODs favourites as well as lots of brand new interpretations of heritage and culture from venues all across the county.

'This fantastic celebration of our local heritage wouldn't be possible without the support and hard work from many individuals, venues, organisations and volunteers and we are very grateful to all of them for helping to make the 2016 festival possible. We can't wait.'

Heritage Open Days (HODs) is England's biggest heritage festival. This year's HODs programme in Norwich and across Norfolk is being coordinated by The Forum with support from Norwich City Council and Norwich Tourist Information Centre. The programme is also delivered in partnership with Breckland Council, Broadland District Council, Thetford Town Council, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, South Norfolk District Council, Visit North Norfolk and many local organisations and individuals.

From Monday, Heritage Open Day brochures will be available from The Forum in Norwich, tourist information centres, libraries and many other venues across the county.

For more information visit www.heritageopendays.org.uk and www.theforumnorwich.co.uk for updates.