"Great Massingham is one of Norfolk’s most attractive villages located approximately 40 miles west of Norwich and 13 miles to the east of King’s Lynn, having one of the most impressive greens in the county. Several large ponds dominate the village, some of which have their origins as the fish ponds for an 11th century Augustinian Abbey. The village has won many awards such as a ‘CPRE Community Open Spaces’ award and several ‘EDP Pride in Norfolk’ awards for villages with a population under 1000. Its origins are thought to go back to the 5th century, but today it is still a thriving community with a village shop and post office, several small businesses and a well patronised pub and restaurant, also recognised in various awards, which also offers bed & breakfast. The Church of St. Mary is a focal point in the village opposite the green. There is also a modern surgery, a thriving Primary School and popular Pre-school."
Great Massingham is in an area of the county that I don't know that well, but for this visit I had good friend John Head with me and he is something of an expert on West Norfolk.
John weaves in and out of the local lanes safe in the knowledge that he knows exactly where he is going. I sit in the passenger seat completely confused!
Incidentally Great and Little Masingham has an online newsletter called the Mallard and so that's something we have in common as in Hethersett we have the Hethersett Herald.
The Hethersett Herald is available at www.hethersettherald.weebly.com and the Massingham Mallard can be viewed at: https://www.greatmassingham.net/the-mallard/
I hope you enjoy my photographs of Great Massingham and hope they show some of its beauty.
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As we drove along we were talking about strangely named Norfolk places. One of my favourites is a tiny hamlet by the name of Fustyweed. Then there's Clint Green and there's the deserted village of Alethorpe.
And so the list goes on. So here's a quiz for Norfolk people. Do you know where these places are? For those outside the county, well some of the names might raise a titter.
We have Bagthorpe, Barmer, Barton Bendish, Bull's Green, Bustard's Green, Cess, Cobbler's Green, Crabgate, Drury Square, Dumpling Green, Fiddler's Green, Freeland Corner, Ivy Todd, Little London, Little Snoring, Great Snoring, Maypole Green, Nogdom End, Nowhere (which appropriately no longer exists), Pudding Norton, Puddledock, Short Green, Sweeting's Green, Three Holes, Waterloo, Withergate and Wormegay.
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A sign of the times. Overheard in Great Massingham by a mother to her offspring.
"If you don't behave there''ll be no mobile or tablet tonight."
In my day it was no tea or television and a tablet meant something to ease stomach ache before going to bed.
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Myself and John got talking about the use of code words in certain situations. We know that preparation for the Queen's funeral was known for years as Operation London Bridge and this was no secret.
The worst attempt at a code word has to be at Norwich City's home games. If there is a trouble in one of the stands we here the message over the PA: "Mr Carrow is in the Barclay stand" or "Mr Carrow is in the City Stand." This is obviously a deeply secret code to inform the authorities that there is a problem. It would take a genius to break it. When everything has been sorted we get "Mr Carrow has left the stadium."
So obvious has this become that the message now brings hoots of laughter from the crowd who have even made up their own chant around the subject.