In the 18th century, Reepham was at the centre of an important barley-growing and brewing region and boasted 13 pubs. The wealth generated at this time is reflected in the quiet grandeur of the market square, which is lined with listed red-brick Georgian buildings.
The walk begins outside one of them: the Old Brewery House, known locally as Dial House from the sundial above its generous portico. Though beer is no longer produced here, you can still enjoy a local brew from the Reepham Brewery at the edge of the town.
The route leaves the square to take you along Back Street, where tiny cottages crowd around a large timber-framed house with a jettied upper storey. At the end of the street is the oval churchyard — an acre of land unique in that it once contained three churches and still serves two, marking the place where the parishes of Reepham, Whitwell, and Hackford meet (it was the original site of the market).
All three churches dated from the early 13th century. All that remains of Hackford's church, which burned down in 1543, is a fragment of tower wall. The Perpendicular tower of St Michael's, Whitwell, dominates the scene, and the church contains a fine Jacobean pulpit. St Michael's is linked by its choir vestry to St Mary's, Reepham, which boasts an important 14th-century altar tomb to Sir Roger de Kerdiston, carved in superb detail.
The route follows the road, then heads up a narrow path (on your right are the aviaries of 19th-century Moor House). Reepham Moor was an area of low, wet land drained to become the common and divided into tithes.
You follow a narrow lane, then cross a field to the old railway line, one of two that served Reepham. As you follow a grassy track, the cathedral-like church at Salle is on the skyline to your right: built around 1420, the Church of St Peter and St Paul is one of the finest 15th-century churches in the country.
After strolling alongside a narrow coppiced wood where you may see partridges, pheasants, and rabbits, you cross a field and follow the drive to Salle Moor Hall. This flint house is thought to have been built by Geoffrey Boleyn (Anne Boleyn's grandfather) and was certainly owned by James Boleyn, her nephew. Much enlarged around 1840, it became a shooting hall for the local gentry, and earthworks around three sides of the house are evidence of a much earlier moated manor.
From the hall, the route leads over a field and through narrow pastures back to Reepham. You enter the town near one of the old station buildings and follow a quiet lane back to the market square.
