Kett's Country Trail

Today we  did a long rural walk following the waymarked Kett's Country Trail from Eaton, on the outskirts of Norwich, to Wymondham.

But first we parked in Wymondham and took a bus to the start of the trail.

This was the invite from Joyce:

"Friday September 9th Kett's Country Trail. An 18 mile country walk from Norwich to Wymondham. Pls meet/park at Wymondham Abbey (NR18 0PH) for 7.45am so we can walk to catch the 8.15am bus to Cringleford. A quick stop in Waitrose and we will be on our way. A further stop at The Bird in Hand pub at Wreningham which is 9 miles into the walk. It's a very nice, rural walk." 

Five of us met at Wymondham Abbey in good time for our bus to Cringleford. After a short pit stop in Waitrose we went to the start/end of the Trail and got going by 9:10

This was our route.

We didn't quite do the full route, cutting out a loop south of Ashwellthorpe, but we still did 16 1/2 miles, arriving in Wymondham shortly after 3pm.

Here are a few of my photos.

Wymondham Abbey is very impressive....

...but we didn't have tome to visit - we had a bus to catch from the market square. It was market day today.

The official start of the trail - or end, depending which way yo9u are doing it.

Our fist church on the route was St Mary's, Swardeston, but we didn't go in.

The  pretty village sign at East Carleton has decorated pebbles at its base.

The story of the sign is all about herring pies. As the village websites explains...

"Back in the 11th century East Carleton had two Manors, the Manor of Carleton Curson and the Manor of Carleton Peverel and the Grand Serjeanty. The King had added land to the Manor of Carleton Peverel, in perpetuity, under curious conditions. These condition were that the Lord of the Manor should each year carry to the Kings House, wherever the King maybe in England, 24 herring pies and place them on his Majesty’s table, for which serjeanty or service, the person delivering the pies shall always receive 6 white loaves, 6 dishes of meat out of the kings kitchen, one flagon of wine, one flagon of beer, one truss of hay, one bushel of oats, one pricket of wax and six tallow candles."

And there's more - read all about it here.

Shortly afterwards we came to the Hethel Old Thorn bush.

The eponymous thorn itself is thought to be one of the most ancient hawthorns in England, possibly dating from the 13th century. In 1755 its girth was recorded as 9 feet 1 inch, but it has now decayed to a remnant of its former self. Like the nearby Kett’s Oak, the thorn was thought to be a meeting place for the rebels during Kett’s Rebellion in 1549. Long before that it may have been used as a meeting point for protesters during the time of King John. According to the information on the sign board local children would once have danced the village maypole and then scrambled to the thorn to count the number of props holding up the boughs. 

Our drinks stop was at All Saints Church,.Hethel.

While we were inside a heavy shower passed over, but the skies remained threatening.

The path was good, though.

Our lunch stop, at a bout halfway, was at the Bird In Hand at Wreningham.

The pub is the spiritual home of Lotus cars, which is about a mile away towards Wymondham, and is full of racing memorabilia of the Lotus team. 

Just as we left, the heavens opened. Poor Robert didn't have an umbrella.

We briefly sheltered in the porch of All Saints, Wreningham church until it eased off.

The village sign explains the story behind the name of the village....

...as does the village website. "Wreningham is possibly named after: the homestead (ham) of Wrenna’s

(Wren’s) people (ingas = the people of). Another popular theory is the Witch and the Wren story. It is said that a witch who lived in Wreningham heard that the Witch Hunters were coming for her. She disguised herself as a Wren and got away"

It was umbrellas up for a lot of the rest of the way.

We passed All Saints, Ashwellthorpe church.

Here we found what turned out to be a service tree laden with fruit.

It's here that we took a little shortcut.

We arrived in Wymondham via the station. The buffet wasn't open for a cup of tea.

I liked this statue at the property next door....

...and the station cottages.

We passed the cemetary...

...and crossed Toll's Meadow....

...before reaching the town centre once more.

Well, as advertised, it was a pleasantly rural walk with some nice villages and churches along the way. Thank-you Joyce for organising and leading us the the others for the company.

You can see more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.