A handsome market town, full of alleyways and secret corners
You’ll absolutely know when you’ve reached the heart of Reepham. Between the churches, the Dial House and the auction house you have the hub of a town which gained its market town charter in 1277.
Reepham town square.
Follow secret alleys between buildings to discover back lanes and old houses all pushed together in a charming jigsaw mix. Back in the centre, the independent shops will draw you in too, with many temptations from curated vintage to beautiful eco to stylish floristry, before hunger drives you into the restaurant or the pub or the deli food shops for delicious local food and drink.
The big curiosity is the fact that there are two churches backing onto each other; in fact there used to be three on top of what looks to be an Anglo-Saxon pagan site, so it seems that Reepham has been a magnet for people to gather, long before it even gained its current name.
The Reepham Dial House.
A little further out you’ll find the old railway station café and bike fixing shop, then keep going to find more interesting businesses at Salle Moor, some of which welcome visitors. Salle church is also magically airy and full of light, and a good place to sit and contemplate if you feel the need. In the other direction is Whitwell Station where steam trains take you on jaunts through golden fields.
St Mary’s Reepham.
Following the train theme, this not far from the Themelthorpe Loop either, once a long-winded fix to a muddled railway network and now a 12-mile route for energetic walkers and cyclers which take you back to where you started. When you’re done come back to base and overnight in great designer style in Reepham or take to the countryside and sleep in quirky prairie cabins or a peaceful cottage down a less-travelled lane.
Visit Reepham, and follow alleyways and paths to an ancient England.