SANTON DOWNHAM

An interesting little place, this hamlet by the river surrounded by trees. Peaceful and comparatively isolated, and the seat of the Forestry Commission's regional HQ, which says much about it and the way it is today. Walkers and strollers know it well. So do nature lovers, who may use it as the hub of their day's activity. And so do lots of tree and timber people.
But it is Santon Downham's weather which catches the eyes and ears of most folk, for the name pops up regularly on TV meteorological programmes as the warmest place in the area. Or the coldest. Or perhaps the driest. An unusual place is Santon Downham.
It is located between Thetford and Brandon in the Norfolk/Suffolk Breckland region, and it has an unusual history. In 1668 a great storm moved huge amounts of sand some 10km from the Lakenheath area and dumped it on Santon Downham. The river was partially blocked and the village partially buried, and for many decades thereafter the place was known for its 'desert-like' appearance, featureless and sandy.
Then came experiments in Breckland shelter-belt planting, which made the area popular for large estates and shooting parties. And in the 1920s, who should come along, perhaps attracted by the crash in land prices following the Great War, but the Forestry Commission which promptly began planting the now flourishing Thetford Forest plantations.
I first came across Santon Downham in the 1970s when exploring the Brecks and forest districts, and later, when the annual 23-mile Forest Walk used it as its half-way resting point. It had (and may still have) a little shop, you see, and during a succession of blisteringly hot summers it sold ice cream and chilled drinks.
But Santon Downham's reputation as a sunlit, leafy and quiet backwater had already been sealed for a long time by its weather. It is mildly peculiar, you see. Or rather, the weather station there has recorded meteorological extremes so regularly that you can find its name in the index of most books about the weather in the Norfolk/Suffolk Brecklands written over the last 50 years.
It records low rainfall yet enjoys (if that is the right word) a higher prevalence of thunderstorms than is the case in neighbouring areas. And it produces more frosts that almost anywhere else in the two counties during any month of the year. And having camped in the vicinity on many occasions I can testify to some bitterly cold mornings and swelteringly hot afternoons. Indeed, it is in the hot and cold departments that Santon Downham comes into its own.
In terms of cold - and these figures may be out-of-date, I don't know - it notched up minus-11.7C in March, 1971, and an even colder minus-18.9C in January, 1963. And for hot, well, 25C in March, 1968, for starters.
The actual science escapes me, but I believe it is all to do with Breckland's gravelly valleys and sandy, chalky, acidic soils. It's the silica, or something like that.
Aside from the science, however, Santon Downham is a nice tucked-away sort of place adrift in an ocean of trees with a climate all of its own. I have always loved it, and the walking.