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The Rural Life Museum was originally a workhouse
built in 1775. In 1777 the workhouse had 450 inmates reaching 670
in 1801. It now houses a collection of rural exhibits. The adjacent
Union Farm was integrated into the museum in 1989.
DIRECTIONS
1) Leave the car park, cross the road and
turn left towards Dereham. At the junction turn right onto the B1146.
Cross a stream by a pretty wrought iron bridge. Turn right down
Mill Lane. The ruins of the old mill are on the right.
The lane becomes a pleasant tree-lined green track
leading through an arable and fruit area. Keep straight on the signed
path for almost a mile until it meets a cross path against a hedge.
The walk will eventually arrive back here from the opposite direction.
2) Turn right and follow the hedge for
half a mile. The path leads into a hedge-lined track and carries
on downhill to meet the road leading to Drift Farm.
Turn left along this grass and stone track. In
a quarter of a mile turn left along a road and follow it for about
a mile. At Dillington Hall look to the right to see the herd of
deer. About 200 yards past the junction of Sandy Lane, at a triangle
of wood, turn left off the road into the field by the thicket and
walk along the track with the woods to your right.
3) Three quarters of the way along this
wood turn left onto a larger track coming through the wood. Follow
the track, through open fields with good views, to arrive back to
the path junction mentioned earlier.
Turn right and follow the path to meet the road
500 yards ahead. Cross the B1110 and take the path opposite. The
path crosses a short stretch of field, a minor road into another
field and over a second minor road into a third field. Here the
path meets a small blackthorn thicket which protrudes into the field.
This leads to a bridge over the railway. Follow the path to the
road.
4) Turn left along the road and follow it
to two flint houses on a junction. Turn left and almost immediately
right and follow the road until it has passed under a bridge. Turn
right and follow the road for 200 yards and at a bend take a track
to the left into a wooded area. Follow the path for about 300 yards
across a field until it enters a wood by a large oak tree.
5) Take the left fork where the path divides
and bear right almost immediately to join a path across bracken
and heather. As the path goes downhill it enters a narrow strip
of wood and bears right. Stay in this wood until it reaches a cross
track. Turn left onto this track down to the B1110. Cross the road
and enter a wood by a stile. The path is now part of Hoe Conservation
Area. Follow the signs through the wood and across open country
to meet up with the B1146. Turn right onto the road to return to
the starting point.
From Norfolk Heritage Walks, published by the
Ramblers' Association, price £2.10.
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