Marsham Heath
This circular walk visits the Cawston and Marsham Heaths near Aylsham and Norwich in Norfolk.
There's some nice footpaths here, taking you around the heathland and woodland. Look out for pretty heather and birdlife including tree pipits, whinchats and nightjars.
You can start your walk from the car park on the southern side of the heath and then pick up the bridle trails and footpaths heading north. The heath lies just a mile or so west from the village of Marsham.
To extend the walk head south to Great Wood and the adjacent Buxton Heath where there's more woodland trails and wildlife to see.
Postcode
NR10 5QH - Please note: Postcode may be approximate for some rural locationsMarsham Heath Ordnance Survey Map 
- view and print off detailed OS map
Marsham Heath Open Street Map 
- view and print off detailed map
Marsham Heath OS Map 
- Mobile GPS OS Map with Location tracking
Marsham Heath Open Street Map 
- Mobile GPS Map with Location tracking
Further Information and Other Local Ideas
To the north there's one of the county highlights at Blickling Hall. The historic Jacobean Hall is surrounded by woodland, farmland, parkland and gardens. It includes three colour coded, way-marked walks and a lovely family cycle route around the 1 mile long lake.
To the north west of the Blickling Estate there's Mannington Hall and Gardens near Itteringham. The historic house is surrounded by lovely parkland with delightful gardens, woodland and a lake to see. The 18th century Wolterton Hall can also be visited in this area.
Just to the north west you'll find the village of Heydon and the 16th century Heydon Hall. There's pleasant trails around the old estate, a 14th century church and a noteworthy 16th century pub to see in this interesting area.
Head south and you can enjoy cycling and walking trails around the new Broadland Country Park. The park sits right next to Horsford Woods where there's some nice peaceful woodland trails to enjoy.
Near here there's Taverham Mill to explore. The mill is a wildlife rich nature reserve with three colour coded walking trails taking you to grassland, woodland, water meadow and a wild flower meadow. The Costessey Circular Walk can also be picked up in this area. There's nice views of the of the valleys of the rivers Wensum and Tud on this easy walk.
For more walking ideas in the area see the Norfolk Walks page.
Cycle Routes and Walking Routes Nearby
Photos
Great Wood Car Park
Flowering gorse in Marsham Heath. "When gorse is out of blossom, kissing is out of fashion", according to an old country tradition. Gorse flowers all year round, although most profusely in spring and the flowers have a distinctive and strong coconut scent. Other common names for gorse are furse, whin and furze. The shrub is a member of the pea family (Fabaceae) and native to western Europe and northwest Africa. It is closely related to the brooms, has green stems with small spiny leaves, and grows in sunny sites on dry, sandy soils.
There are many paths through Marsham Heath. This one leads in westerly direction, separating the woodland to the north from the open heathland adjoining in the south
View towards Marsham village. All Saints church from Alison Street.
Open heathland. The heather is past its best in late October, and the bracken fronds have turned brown. Cawston heath used to form part of a once huge heath that spread from Horsford to Cromer; originally it supplied wood, heather, furze and turf as well as rabbits for the pot. Much of the woodland in the area was planted on former heath and there is evidence that prior to 1066 the area was covered by forest. Cawston wood and heath once provided grazing for around 1,500 swine and sizeable flocks of sheep and charcoal as well as staves for fencing were produced to meet local needs. Since 1986 the area has been protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the fenced area to the south is in the process of being reverted from arable back to heath land.
Footpath junction. In Cawston heath. The path seen in the foreground leads to the rifle range; here it joins another which runs in westerly direction, skirting the woodland seen at right. A third path turns off at right, descending to one of the dew ponds in the woodland below