Come and enjoy discovering the town’s heritage amongst a vintage vibe. Wymondham Town Team held increasingly successful and popular Vintage Days in Wymondham in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and then had a gap, until this year - Vintage Day is Back!

Throughout the town centre from 11am to 4pm on Sunday 17 September there will be classic vehicles, stalls, antiques, art exhibitions, heritage craft demonstrations, Norfolk Museum Service artefacts, live entertainment, tours of the town set in 1952, valuation of antiques, plenty of bunting and a picnic site at Becketswell by the River Tiffey. All this and more as 7 heritage sites across Wymondham will be open and looking forward to receiving visitors on the day: Mid Norfolk Railway Abbey Station, Wymondham Abbey, Becket’s Chapel, Market Cross, Tolls Meadow, Wymondham Heritage Museum and Browick Road Community Orchard.

On the Market Place, a wonderful mix of musical talent will be on show, kindly sponsored by Upp. Our friends at Upp offer next level full-fibre broadband and have recently begun laying super fast cables in Wymondham. Come chat with them about speedy broadband whilst enjoying the sounds of vintage music.

The town centre will be closed to through traffic but local shops and cafes will be open for business. A heritage park and ride bus from East Anglian Transport Museum will be free to use (but donations welcome). It’ll run from the East Anglian Motor Auction site on Copper Smith Way to Avenue Road, adding that special opportunity to make the day even more vintage.

One of the Wymondham Town Team volunteer organisers Rachael Mold said “we’re really looking forward to people coming out and enjoying discovering Wymondham whether it be browsing classic vehicles, stalls, antiques and our local businesses or finding out about the history and heritage of our buildings and its people or just sitting and enjoying a cuppa surrounded by bunting and music. There’s truly something for everyone.”

In the newly restored Becket’s Chapel (access is free), you can see many unusual features including rare forms of hammer-beam roof and highly decorated arch. Themed talks and discovery activities delve into the stories of the Chapel. Learn also about our local Earl who refused a Queen in marriage and then tore out a lion's tongue, and how that story links to King Arthur (20 min talk at 14:00); or find out how they designed and built the chapel seven hundred years ago (30 min exploration at 11:30); or learn how and why different the bits of this building have been dated (30 min exploration at 15:00) On display throughout the day will be an exhibition by Breckland Artists who have something for everyone; paintings, ceramics, photography and sculpture.

In Wymondham Heritage Museum (reduced admission), exhibits and displays tell the story of the people of Wymondham and the surrounding area. Housed in The Bridewell (previously the town’s prison, courthouse and police station) you can also step into a recreated dungeon in the basement to see what life was like for a prisoner 200 years ago! The popular tearoom will be open, based in the original exercise yard for the prisoners held in the police remand cells and probably the only tearoom in the area with a 10m well in the corner!

On Wymondham Abbey grounds get hands on with Norfolk Museums Service’s Victorian wash day. Have a go with the washboard, dolly peg and posser – you will need to work hard to get the laundry done. Step back in time 6000 years to Neolithic Britain with Norfolk Museum Service. Find out about the first farmers as you grind grain on the quern stone, polish a Neolithic axe and discover how to identify prehistoric flints. And inside the Abbey will be an impressive display of vintage Meccano models, including a working Meccano Railway.

Heritage land management techniques are also there to be discovered and see what can be translated into your garden or open space. At the Community Orchard on Browick Road, 36 local heritage fruit trees have already been planted and there are the beginnings of a forest garden too. Find out more by talking to volunteers about the work on this site. Open 11:00-13:00. Whilst over at Tolls Meadow (nestled between Cemetery Lane and Norwich Road) more volunteers will be in action haymaking, using scythes and rakes. You can also stroll around the site and see and hear more about the other techniques in use throughout the year e.g. plashing/coppicing and didling.

A few quotes from happy participants of Vintage Day 2018:

“What a wonderful day on Sunday! Thank you so much for inviting me to have a stall. I did really well with lots of sales. Josie and I enjoyed ourselves, the atmosphere was great with so many people having a good time. Congratulations to all the organisers, everything seemed perfectly planned and it was good to see Wymondham Town buzzing again.” -Carolyn

“It was an absolute pleasure to take part in your event. It was one of the best events I have been to this year. I loved everything about it: the vintage and craft stalls, the music, bus rides, Dads Army and the van, the older classics, and all the people who wore vintage clothes. I was pleased where we were situated in the car park, the number of people passing through there was incredible. They were very interested in all the cars in that area. ….Lastly a big thank you to all of your team for putting on a brilliant day.” -Len