111 From church gate turn left along the road. 777 Continue on the road past a bungalow on your 999 Turn left, with the hedge on your left. After a Pass Friar’s Farm and then turkey houses on right, and just before another farmhouse turn short distance, turn left between trees down your right, and immediately after a gateway left along a path across Wood Green. Go some steps, then right along a path through find a footpath sign in the hedge on the right through a small belt of trees and then past trees and over a sandbag bridge. cottages on your right. At Greenacres Farm by the first telegraph pole. 101010 At a fork in the path, keep left with a (B&B) keep straight on, now on a metalled road, hedge on your left and a clump of trees on leaving house on your left. 222 Follow the footpath round a field with a your right. Continue to a road. hedge on your right, leaving farm buildings behind as you turn left at the corner. Join a 888 Continue to a crossroads. Turn left and follow 111111 Cross the road and go straight ahead the common until a footpath crosses it. Turn track at the further hedge and go to your left. down a minor road with large trees on right onto this path and continue to a hedge, either side. 333 Before the track enters a wood, turn right, where you cross a wooden bridge . and with a hedge on your left follow the field 121212 After three houses and two ponds, turn edge, ignoring a large gap to your left. left at a footpath sign. At the gateway follow Continue until you reach a small gap the marked route to the right, in the further hedge. Go through this with a fence on your right, then and over a plank bridge. through the next gateway. 444 Turn left with the hedge on your 131313 Turn left with a hedge on your left and continue to a stile and a left, and then over a stile and plank bridge at the next hedge. Walk with a wood on your left. Continue on, with the hedge still on your left to the end of the field. and Mill buildings to your right, across a field to the next hedge. Discover a stile which you cross into 141414 Turn left along a path through a busy country road. trees and then right into the churchyard of 555 Cross the road and pick up a church. footpath which leads you straight across a field. Morningthorpe 666 At the further hedge turn right Rectory along a grassy track. You soon meet a stony track with a house on your right. Turn right and follow this track until you reach a metalled road where you turn left, leaving farmhouse on right. This walk starts in a peaceful unspoilt village General information for walkers and takes you through attractive countryside Amenities A Circular Walk and visits three commons. There are shops in , and two shops from the The small village of Morningthorpe is quite in : a general store in The Street (open scattered, and there are some particularly every day), and a butcher/delicatessen (open 7– 5 Mon–Fri and 7–3 Sat) on the main road Parish Church fine historic buildings near the church. (B1527) opposite the end of The Street. The tower of St John’s is believed to date of from before the Norman Conquest. There is Access by road Morningthorpe medieval glass on both the north and south Morningthorpe is south of and east of sides of the single aisle, and an effigy of St the A140 to Diss. The turning south of Long John the Baptist on one of the pew ends. Stratton church is signed to Morningthorpe. After about 1 ½ miles, take a left turning (as an S-bend Part of this walk follows the long-distance bears right), and follow a tree-lined country road. footpath Boudicca’s Way. The church is just beyond a manor house with a large barn. Parking is available on the road near the church. St John the Baptist’s Church is to be found on Ordnance Survey map Explorer 237237. The postcode at the church is NR15 2QL2QL.... Walkers are reminded that they should observe the Countryside CodeCode:

• Guard against all risks of fire • Fasten all gates St John the Baptist’s Church is • Keep dogs under close control always open and welcomes you • Keep to paths across farmland • Avoid damaging fences, hedges and walls If you have any comments or queries, please contact • Leave no litter – take it home A circular walk from the church The Church Office, The Rectory, The Street, • Safeguard water supplies Hempnall, NR15 2AD of approx. 3 ¾ miles (2 stiles) [email protected] • Protect wildlife, wild plants and trees (1 ¾ hours approx.) The Hempnall Group of Churches is very grateful to • Go carefully on country roads Mrs Monica Churchill for the lovely artwork on this leaflet. • Respect all life of the countryside Printed and published by the Hempnall Group of Churches May 2011