Claire Howard is the owner and jewellery maker at Claire Howard Jewellery, a resident of Fakenham, and the co-founder of Shop Fakenham.
Every town has its secrets — not the dramatic, headline-grabbing kind, but the gentle, everyday magic that’s easy to walk straight past. Fakenham is full of them. You just need to know where to look.
If you want to fall a bit in love with Fakenham, begin with a walk around Goggs Mill. The river wraps itself around the town, and there’s something calming about watching the water. It’s one of those routes that feels simple on paper — a path along one side of the river, over the bridge, and back the other — but in reality it gives you two completely different views of the same stretch of water. On one bank you feel as though you’re right in the middle of nature, soft grass at your feet and the river close enough to touch. On the other side, depending on the season, people feed the ducks, paddle canoes, swing off rope and there are benches to sit and think.
Walking along the river, you’ll see where the small streass branch off from the Wensum and slip quietly behind people’s gardens and along hidden channels. It’s a lovely reminder that the river isn’t just something the town sits beside — it’s woven right into the middle of everyday life.
Early birds get rewarded in Fakenham. If you stand on the corner outside the cinema first thing in the morning, before the traffic wakes up, look towards the Market Place and just pause. The view hasn’t changed much in decades. You can trace the rooflines, spot the gable wall on the end of Benbows, and get a real sense of the town that came before us — market traders, shopkeepers, shoppers with baskets rather than bags. It’s a small moment of time-travel without needing a machine.
On the surface, Fakenham looks like a typical market town — but step inside the independent shops and that’s where the secrets really begin. Many of them hold unexpected little worlds behind the front door: a sweeping staircase, a creaky wooden floor, a cellar you never knew was there, or a small shop front that leads to a big back room full of treasures or workbenches.
No two shops are alike, and that’s the joy of it.
Fakenham’s real secret isn’t a place at all — it’s the people. There are locals who feel wonderfully timeless; if they ever revealed their age you’d fall off your chair. They’re running shops with more energy than most twenty-somethings, wheeling their shopping trolleys into town every Thursday, settling into cafés to watch the world pass by, or updating friends on the latest adventures of their grandchildren. Talk to them and you’ll hear stories of the old railway line, milk rounds before dawn, and memories linked to every brick and archway in the town. They are endlessly positive about the town they love, and they help stitch Fakenham together — not because it’s a town for older people, but because it’s a town where generations stay, return, and stay connected. That mix of history and fresh energy is part of what makes Fakenham feel so rich and so alive.
You can follow Claire on Facebook or Instagram @clairehowardjewellery
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