Diss is a picturesque market town with parklands, live entertainment facilities, and has won the ‘Best Kept Market Town in Norfolk’ award. There are fine examples of period architecture in the town, including timber-framed buildings with Georgian and Edwardian facades.The central attraction to the town is the Mere, which is a six-acre lake with a park and children's play area next to it. The town has many shopping and leisure facilities as well as great transport links, being on the main line from Norwich to London. In the Domesday survey the town had been recorded as Dice, Dic, Dize, Disce, Dysse, Dis and Diss. The name may come from the Anglo-Saxon for a ditch, moat, earth or embankment, which refers to the Mere or to the bank on which the town began.