The beautiful landscapes of Norfolk are being celebrated in an exhibition of art by schoolchildren across the county.

The Norfolk Schools Landscape Art Exhibition – which is part of the Young Norfolk Arts Festival running all this week – opened yesterday at Norwich Cathedral's Hostry.

It features the culmination of a landscape-inspired art project led by Norwich School's art department and involving pupils at Woodton Primary, Ellingham Primary, Preston Primary, and Norwich School.

As part of the project the children enjoyed activities including a visit to Norwich Castle to study the work of Norfolk landscape artists John Crome and John Sell Cotman, and some pupils went on a field trip to Hedenham, where they created some of their own landscape sketch work.

Lindsay Slade, head of art at Norwich School, also enlisted the help of Raveningham-based artist Sarah Cannell to hold workshops at each of the schools.

She said: 'It was luck that soon after the school decided on the arts festival initiative I met Sarah and enlisted her help. Her bold and colourful paintings were a perfect style to inspire the young pupils. We have had some excellent feedback from the children who enjoyed working with the unusual materials and found it a fun way of painting.'

During the summer term the pupils also had the opportunity to learn about ceramics, painting, printmaking and digital media in four further workshops, and local landscape painter Nelly Fitzroy also helped to inspire the pupils.

The Changing Landscapes schools project is also part of the exhibition. It is the culmination of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts' work with City Academy Norwich, City of Norwich School and Sprowston Community High School. The pupils used SCVA's Changing Landscapes exhibition as a starting point for their own art work.

Norfolk Schools Landscape Art Exhibition runs until July 14 at the Norwich Cathedral Hostry. It is open Monday to Saturday, from 9.30am to 4.30pm, and Sunday, from noon to 3pm. Admission is free.

Young Norfolk Arts Festival runs until Sunday. Visit www.youngnorfolkartsfestival.org.uk or call 01603 728469.