Thorpe Woodlands Walk

Today we crossed the border into Norfolk for a walk there from Thorpe Woodlands.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Monday March 23rd We are back at Thorpe Woodlands, Shadwell, Thetford IP24 2RX. but for an 11-mile walk heading North to Bridgham and Roudham. If you would like a 10-mile walk then park near to the café but pls be aware that it is ‘change over day’ at the park so it could be busy. I am going to park in the first parking area and wander down to the café for a coffee about 10.10am.  If you'd rather not have a drink at the start then pls meet us at 10.30am at the cafe.  Please bring a packed lunch which we will eat undercover in Roudham Village. A delightful walk of various surfaces and possibly a new area to some of you."

This was our route, going clockwise throughout.

Here are some of my photos. We had drinks at the café first.

There were 16 of us today. Here is Joyce rounding us up.

We were soon out in the woods.

We walked along beside the River Thet.

We saw cows with calves and sheep with lambs today.

We crossed the River Thet here.

Some lovely blossom here by the road.

There is a giant haystack here. It reminded me of the 6ft 11in tall wrestler Giant Haystacks, in-ring rival of Big Daddy. They were two of the best-known wrestlers on the British wrestling scene in the 1970s and 1980s.

We saw several hares. Here are two of them.

We got close to the A11 but didn't cross it.

Instead we turned into Roudham Forest to Roudham Heath Picnic Area, where we had a drinks and toilet stop.

At the northernmost point of our walk, we got close to the Breckland line which runs between Ely and Norwich before turning towards Roudham village.

Our lunch stop was by the ruins of St. Andrew's Church. There was a medieval village here, now deserted.

The village Millennium project was a shelter just to the west of the church, with interesting information boards about the history of the church and of the lost village to the north (which you can see in my Flickr album). We had our lunch here.

As Simon Knott tells us in his post on St. Andrew's Church, "The story goes that workmen repairing the tower accidentally set fire to the thatched roof. The middle years of the 18th century were not a good time to be burned down; the Church of England was going through something of a low point, and the building was abandoned. What is left to us today is a pleasing ruin, at once imposing and dignified, and carefully maintained by the local authority." 

We continued through the grounds of Roudham Hall which had swathes of cheerful daffodils.

Past the hall, this gate had a sign from an old railway level crossing. We made sure to close the gate after us so as to avoid the 20 shillings fine.

We spotted a train on the Breckland line.

Where we had our group photo (see the top of the post) was a forsythia bush in full bloom.

We came the village of Bridgham.

We tried to visit St. Mary's Church, but it was locked.

Simon Knott tells us "St Mary, is a delight, and rather different to most other medieval churches in appearance. Its pleasing and curious shape is a result of the buffeting of the centuries. The tower has gone, and the west end now sports a high dutch-style gable with a bell turret. There is an imposing red-brick and flushwork porch in what can only be described as in a Suffolk style, and the chancel has been rebuilt higher than the nave. Its red tiles contrast with the slates of the nave to create an overall effect which I liked very much. As I say, it is quite unusual. The narrow upright lines that survive on the west wall suggest that this was a round tower, and the filled-in tower arch shows that it was probably of the 13th century. Altogether, this is a quirky, homely exterior, and that porch is really quite something."

Dawn spotted some writing on a couple of the panes of glass.

The writing was on the inside but even reversing the photo it was hard to make out anything other than a date of 1864. Update: After doing what I can to adjust the photo, I can now make out it says something like "John Charles Gold[smith?] leaded this [on?] March 17th 1864 at East Harling". The other one I photographed (not shown here) appears to say "John Weston M[?] G[lass?] Sept 6th 1889(?) Herringswell Norfolk." I think we need to go back when the church is open to see!

Onwards on our way back now. I liked the colour of this weeping willow.

We recrossed the River Thet where we had before...

...but took a differnt route back through the forest that took us by some fields of sheep and lambs.

We walked under the zip wire of the forest adventure park here,

And here we are back at the holiday cottages....

...and café where we started.

A pleasant walk with some new paths and sights. Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and thank-you everyone else for the company. You can find more details of our 10.5 mile route here on MapMyWalk or here on OS Maps (or download a GPX file here) and more of my photos here on Flickr.

Other related walks you can find on my blog include..

• Thorpe Woodlands Walk (Jan 2023)
• Garboldisham Walk (Apr 2025)