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Moving House to Taverham with Hamiltons Removals
As recently as 2015, Taverham was voted one of the best places to live by The Royal Mail, as its NR8 postcode scored highly for its good schools, low crime levels, good employment prospects, green spaces and affordable housing.
In the last eight years the village has remained a popular place to move to, for both domestic and commercial reasons. Here Hamiltons Removals, who can help if you are interested in removals to Taverham, put the spotlight on one of Norfolk’s larger villages.
The History and Heritage
Like Fakenham, Taverham lies on the banks of the River Wensum, but is much closer to Norwich – in fact it forms part of the officially-designated ‘Norwich Built-up Area’. The village is five miles north-west of the city.
Discovery of flint tools, and Roman coins and pottery, suggest the site of the current village has been occupied continuously since the year 2000 BC. The village currently has more than 10,000 inhabitants, making it one of the biggest in Norfolk. Taverham was also mentioned in The Domesday Book, when it was spelt Taurham, Taueham and Tauresham. Just as there was no definitive spelling, no one is quite sure where the name originated from. The Anglo Saxon Prince, Saint Walstan, is also believed to have worked as a farm labourer in Taverham – which accounts for his presence on the village sign (pictured).
Past village industries included tomato-growing (much of the nursery site has since been sold for housing) and paper manufacturing. The paper produced at a mill in the village was of an extremely high quality and was used by The Times newspaper, Bank of England notes, and the Oxford English Dictionary. Like the nursery, the mill is no more.
Much of the village’s economic activity is now centred around the businesses at the Beech Avenue Business Park, with many people commuting into Norwich for work.
The Current Facilities
Children can stay in the village throughout their school years – Taverham has two infant schools (Ghost Hill and Nightingale), a junior school and a high school whose catchment area also includes the neighbouring villages of Ringland and Felthorpe. The high school also has a sixth form college.
Taverham also benefits from a village hall, a library, a recreation ground, a Scout and Guide hut and a GP surgery (the village is also only a 15-minute drive from the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital). There are plenty of small, independent shops in the village, but most people go into Norwich for major purchases and recreational shopping.
House Prices
The average house price in Taverham is around £350, 000 according to Rightmove – well below the Norfolk average of around £430,000. It helps there’s plenty of choice in the village; the average detached home costs more than £425,000 but the semi-detached and terraced properties generally go for under £300,000.
Removals to Taverham with Hamiltons Removals
Hamiltons Removals can help if you are interested in moving house to Taverham. We also provide house removals services to all parts of East Anglia, we can also help with moves further afield as well – to all parts of the UK, Europe and many international destinations. As well as video surveys and online quotations, we can also offer many other services – including removals insurance and a full packing and unpacking service.
If you’d like to learn more, follow this link to read our online brochure or call us on 01379 855203.
Image: IAN ROBERTSON/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Removals to Fakenham with Hamiltons Removals
Fakenham is often described as ‘the gateway to North Norfolk’ and it’s easy to see why – it’s ideally located between Norwich and the coast, with the resorts of Hunstanton, Burnham Market and Blakeney all within easy reach. But there’s plenty of other reasons to consider moving house to Fakenham. Here East Anglia removals firm Hamiltons Removals look at the town’s past and present – and how we can help you relocate there.
Fakenham’s History and Heritage
One theory says that the name Fakenham comes from the Anglo-Saxon translation, which means ‘Place on a Fair River’; the river that runs through the town is the Wensum, which is a tributary of the River Yare and also flows into Norwich. However, it is thought there were settlements in the Fakenham area before that, with Bronze Age artefacts having been found on the site of the current town.
Fakenham has been a market town since the year 1250, and the market still flourishes; it’s held every Thursday in the town’s Market Place (pictured above). In its early years agricultural products and cattle accounted for much of the business; more recently the breadth of stalls has increased to include bric-a-brac, plants and hot food outlets, although the primary focus is still on fresh meat, fish and groceries. There’s also a flea market and auction held nearby (also on Thursday) in the town’s Corn Hall.
In the 19th century, the town became a major printing centre, and the Fakenham Prepress Solutions, a contemporary printing and illustrating company, continues this legacy today.
Its Other Facilities
As well as the market, Fakenham also has a racecourse to the south of the town. The first races at this National Hunt course were held in 1905, and it is also the venue of the West Norfolk Hunt’s point-to-point races. The course is a major contributor to the local economy, as it can be hired for private events, including weddings and business seminars, and it has a caravan and campsite as well.
The tower of the St Peter and St Paul’s Parish Church, parts of which date back to the 14th and 15th centuries, dominates the skyline of the town. For history buffs, the town also has a Museum of Gas and Local History, which reflects local life and how gas was manufactured from coal before the advent of North Sea gas.
Fakenham can also cater for your children’s education from a young age – it has an Infant and Nursery School, a Junior School and an Academy – a secondary school which also incorporates a sixth form college.
The Transport Links
It’s not just Norwich and the resorts which are within easy reach, but King’s Lynn as well – it’s just over 20 miles to the east via the A148. Cromer is also a little over 20 miles away, also via the A148, but in the opposite direction. The route of the A148 was altered in the mid-1980s to create the Fakenham bypass. There are two other major routes – the A1067, which runs to Norwich, and the A1065 (to Swaffham).
The town no longer has a railway station, but it is served by several bus routes – the Sanders Coaches and Lynx companies take passengers towards to coast, while the Network Norwich service helps commuters who want to travel to Norfolk’s county capital.
House Prices in Fakenham
Rightmove reports that the average price for a Fakenham home is £280,000 – with detached properties selling for almost £100,000 more. Post-pandemic, the demand has increased significantly, helped by the town’s proximity to both the coast and the city of Norwich.
The population of the town is around 8,300, according to the latest Census figures, although this could be swelled dramatically if the latest proposed housing development comes to fruition. Outline planning permission already exists for a 950-home estate off the A148 and includes a shopping centre, a hotel and a new primary school.
Moving House to Fakenham with Hamiltons Removals
If you are interested in moving house to Fakenham – or commercial removals to the town – then Hamiltons Removals are the people to contact. As a leading East Anglia removals company, we can offer plenty of local expertise as well as a commitment to high standards of customer service.
We appreciate that it can sometimes be difficult to get the whole moving process under way, so we offer the flexibility of video surveys and online quotations. You can also call us on 01379 855203 if you have any questions.
Photograph: Philip Halling/Wikimedia Commons