Great Massingham

The ponds at the centre

Several large ponds sit in the middle of the green, ringed by flint-and-cobble cottages that huddle around the water. They were dug as fishponds for an Augustinian priory in the 13th century, and you can still fish them today — coarse fish at Scotsman's Pond, day permits from the village stores. Ducks and other waterfowl have the run of the place the rest of the time.

The pub facing the green is The Dabbling Duck, cream and duck-egg blue, with a black Labrador called Doris Dobby somewhere near the bar and treats laid out for visiting dogs. It was established in 1890 as the Rose & Crown, the last of the village's five pubs to survive — the Fox & Pheasant, Old Swan, Royal Oak and New Inn all went. This one nearly went too, saved from being turned into housing in 2006 by two local farmers.

The last pub standing

Mark and Sally Dobby run it now, with Dale Smith heading the kitchen for over a decade. The food moves from casual pub classics to seasonal dishes built around local game, some of which arrives at the pub and goes straight on the menu. The Sunday roast has been called one of the best in Norfolk. On Fridays and Saturdays the Garden Barn fires up for wood-fired pizzas and tapas, eaten in the barn or the garden or taken away. Breakfast runs to pancakes, smoked salmon with scrambled eggs, and bacon sandwiches. There's a range of local ales and the pub's own Mucky Duck Gin, thirteen botanicals with a citrus lean.

The thirteen bedrooms are named after animals and birds — Teal, Woodcock, Ratty, Toad Hall, Badger Set, Mole End — and three after airmen who flew from the local airfields: Wolstenholme, Edrich and Miller. That would be the cricketers Bill Edrich and Keith Miller, and Kenneth Wolstenholme, who later said "they think it's all over." RAF Great Massingham opened in 1940 and flew Blenheims and Mosquitoes through the war; seven aircrew are buried in the churchyard, to the left of the east window.

Village stores and St Mary's

Massingham Stores and Post Office does the rest — a full general store open seven days, a café, the Post Office counter, and the fishing permits. It was named Independent Retailer of the Year in 2021. Mark Eldridge, who runs it, put it plainly: "We always want to give back to the community that's supported us."

St Mary's Church has a 13th-century core and a Perpendicular tower that dominates the village. Its porch, built around 1300, was once a schoolroom, and by tradition it educated Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first Prime Minister, whose descendants still live at Houghton Hall three miles north.

The circular walk and Peddars Way

For walking, a 4.6-mile circular route leaves the green beside Duckling Cottage and heads out into open arable country, with Sika deer in the parkland along the way. It links up with the Peddars Way, which passes close by on Massingham Heath and runs south toward Castle Acre.

Paths out and ways back

King's Lynn is about twelve miles west, with direct trains to Cambridge and London; the Lynx 48 bus stops at the church. Sandringham is ten minutes away. The village has won awards for the upkeep of its green, which mostly means the ducks are well looked after.