Can anyone tell me about Dereham, Norfolk

[Mrspoopoohead]

Posting for traffic - we’re considering a move to Norfolk and have found some properties near Dereham that look suitable. I was just wondering what the area and schools are like (both primary and secondary). Thanks

NC for this, I grew up there and go back regularly to visit family.

It's horrible. I hated living there, and hate going back. The town itself is full of pound shops and charity shops, nowhere decent to eat out except a couple of decent curry houses. Vile pubs. I went to northgate high school and hated it.

If you enjoy watching people fight and bottle each other outside kebab shops of a weekend evening and seeing boy racers do laps around the high street then go for it.

Norwich is lovely, but Dereham/Watton/Thetford are horrible.

It’s a dump!

I am approx 10miles from there, but know that Dereham does not have the best reputation whatsoever!
Schools not the best either! Neither, as previous poster said are Watton or Thetford.

You are better of considering Wymondham and Diss areas for both primary and secondary schooling. Both of which also have lead onto 6th forms with excellent results.

Road and rail links much better too.

Awful place, I don't like Norfolk at all apart from Norwich

Norwich is lovely. Dereham is a shithole.

Damning reviews here!

It depends were you choose. Breckland is quite a deprived ward overall.

I've very recently moved to the outskirts of Dereham, from Norwich. I live in a quite countryside area which is nice and considerable more affordable than Norwich.

The town itself has most things. The poster above who mentioned that it's full of pound shops... There is a Poundland, which I think you'd find on pretty much any high street in the country, so not sure that counts as "full".

It's a small town, there isn't much nightlife, but it's not the war zone some people portray it as!

I'd suggest visit and judge for yourself. We like it here (although I'll accept we're lucky so we're in the countryside and don't live in the centre or on a housing estate, which is likely to be a different experience).

I live in the countryside and a part of Breckland too.
I would disagree that Breckland is deprived apart from the towns I mentioned earlier. The rural villages are beautiful.

However you would need to choose villages with their schooling wisely. My children go to a high school in South Norfolk and I am lucky they got in, but to ensure that would be the car for the OP, I would suggest a village which has attachment schooling to Wymondham or Diss to ensure their children got a place.

If I shop (when they open) I would definitely go to either Diss which is full of lovely independents or Norwich which has everything you could possibly need and definitely a fine city as it is known.

The plus side of Dereham is that there are some lovely cheap properties to be had, and it's somewhere that I would consider living because of this. Downside is that there's very little for teenagers to do, it's not got the prettiness of some of the other Norfolk small towns,
and there is a fair bit of rural deprivation.
Personally I quite like Dereham's charity shops and there's some lovely surrounding countryside ( quite a few local nature reserves if you like that kind of thing) and the Tescos/Lidls supermarkets on the edge of town are very useable.
I am biased towards it though because I have good friends living in the surrounding area, I think once things open up again, staying in the area for a long weekend might be a good idea to give you a feel for things.

It depends what you compare to. Coming from Loughborough or Redcar, Dereham isn't so bad at all. Gressenhall is neat place to visit. Other parts of Norfolk are more highly rated, fair enough. Also look at Fakenham or Swaffham if you want to be in that area of Norfolk, OP.

Gorleston seems to be on the up, for instance.

Thanks for your comments there’s lots to think about.

We've been looking to move too and have been told Poringland and Sprowston are good areas to look at but properties are going in a day.

We stopped at a playground in Dereham on the way back from Gressenhall and that seemed a lovely location to live - but I don't know the town.

For Norfolk it is more affordable and nearer the rest of the country than the (oddly more desirable) north and (less desirable) east.

Dereham is a dump. And so are its surrounding towns like Kings Lynn & Swaffham. I only lived in that part of Norfolk when we were stationed nearby for 2 years. Couldn't leave there fast enough.

Dereham isnt great. Shops all chsrity shops, and a bit run down. Wymondham is much nicer and fairly near dereham. Schools are great and town is small and lovely.

Norwich is great.
3 mile radius of the city - all good.
I wouldn't want to live in Dereham, and that part of Norfolk. There's a reason why property is cheaper there OP!
I live two miles from Norwich, and used to live in the centre - I love it.
Lovely, bustling ancient city (when not in lockdown) and lovely countryside and coast half an hour away.
But Dereham - no.

I live about ten miles away. Dereham is not a bad place, but in places it does look tired. Others have commented on the number of pound shops and very low end pubs. I would suggest looking towards Wymondham. A nicer town, lots of small shops, nice cafes and restaurants and with good proximity to the A11. It also has Wymondham College and High which are good schools.

Doubt OP can afford Wymondham prices if she was liking Dereham.

If you can afford to look at the villages north of Dereham and Swaffham towards the coast and Fakenham.
Dereham has good amenities but I wouldn't live in the town personally.

Goodness there must be some posters on here who have lived seriously sheltered lives if they think Dereham is rough.

It is certainly not full of middle class families but the people there are lovely.

Both the secondary schools (Neatherd and Northgate) are good schools.

To be fair the town centre is not like it used to be, but town centres are dying everywhere.

I grew up in Dereham and visit family frequently. There are no streets I would be concerned about walking around. Where I live now (much bigger, supposedly middle class) has some definite no go areas.

To be fair Dereham is not pretty, but is a great base for Norwich, The Broads, The Coast, Thetford Forest.

There are some beautiful properties though.

Don’t be put off by negative views.

Didn't Norwich win some award for being the happiest place to live?
King's Lynn would be preferable to Dereham for me, but then I'm biased - I grew up there and although it's not what it used to be, it's a handy place for access to the Norfolk coast which is beautiful, wild and unspoilt. It has some very old and historically important streets and buildings and nice suburbs out towards Gaywood, Gayton and the Woottons, all of which have good schools. Personally, if I were to move back to Norfolk, I would look further towards the coast - Hunstanton, Wells, Burnham Market. Thetford and that area are bland in comparison. Taverham is beautiful, towards Norwich again. The prettier areas will obviously be trickier with regard to schools but to be honest, if it's Norfolk that you want, you won't really get the Norfolk atmosphere and character until you move further East across the county. You could also maybe consider the fens around Ely - that has a very different vibe but again there are some lovely places around there. But then you would be looking at East Cambridgeshire instead.