The Vikings and Anglo-Saxons would have known Buxton in Norfolk, an ancient settlement whose name derives from a blend of Old English and Old Norse, meaning ‘bucca’ or deer. Today its pretty cottages sit amid rolling farmland by the River Bure. It’s the home village of Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty. She’s buried in the village of Lamas, just over the river.

The area is peppered with clues to past rural industries. In fact, a merchant called William Pepper rebuilt the Buxton watermill, mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book, in 1772. The building has survived trials by water and by fire. In 1912 the River Bure broke its banks, flooding fields, drowning livestock and destroying locks along the river where wherry boats carried goods from the coast to Aylsham. When milling stopped in 1970, it became an art gallery until a fire in 1991. The indomitable mill is now private apartments. You’ll see it along this walk.

Begin at the old railway station car park. Head past the converted mill and along the road winding beside the river to join a public footpath on a farm track. Follow it over the hill to Little Hautbois Hall (pronounced Hobbis). Ignore the Bure Valley Way path and bear left. Continue along here until you cross a bridge and turnstile into a meadow. Be cautious of cattle in subsequent fields, until you walk under the railway bridge and cross a footbridge to reach the river. Cross the rail track and return to your start point.