Church Farm Café & Tea Room

Stride out along quiet, tree-lined tracks from the peaceful village of Wimbotsham. A very pleasant and uplifting walk

Stride out along quiet, tree-lined tracks from the peaceful village of Wimbotsham. A very pleasant and uplifting walk

This route provides a great opportunity for an easy walk surrounded by fields, giving a wonderful sense of open space. The St Edmund’s churchyard and cemetery site is largely neutral grassland (both mown and unmown) with some scrub area. Grassland species found here include sheep’s sorrel, creeping buttercup and common mouse-ear. Common bird’s-foot trefoil, tufted vetch and lady's bedstraw can also be found in the unmown area of grassland. St Edmund’s Church is seen on your left as you approach Cannon Square from Rabbit Lane, the church having Norman origins.

This is a pleasant, easy route starting from The Howdale, one of Downham Market’s popular open green spaces. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Dominic a little further down Howdale Road at The Towers is unusual in that it was created out of a former stables and coach house. The Towers used to be the location of a great house that was once the dwelling of James Scott who donated the Town Clock to Downham Market. There was also a hospital and residential home on this site until it caught fire in 1966.

The range of soft, grassy and tree-lined paths cleverly designed in to this predominantly built-up environment makes this an ideal door-step walk. Paradise Road was named so as it is thought that the Town Gallows were sited here and that it was the closest that the poor souls who were about to suffer this fate would get to paradise before passing on. Cannon Square takes its name from the ancient cannon that was kept in front of Cannon House at the Northern end of the High Street. Two smaller cannons were also kept by the front door of the Castle Hotel.