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Living in Aylsham
Most of what a family needs in Aylsham is within walking distance: four state schools, two GP surgeries, a Tesco, two butchers and a market twice a week.
Most of what a family needs in Aylsham is within walking distance: four state schools from nursery to 16, two GP surgeries, a Tesco, two butchers and a market twice a week. The town has no railway station. Norwich is nearly nine miles south, about 25 minutes down the A140, which is where the direct London and Cambridge trains leave from.
Where it is: about 12 miles north of Norwich city centre as the crow flies, in Broadland district, postcode NR11.
Buy in Aylsham if your week runs on the school, the shops and the doctor, and Norwich is somewhere you visit rather than commute to by train.
In Aylsham you can do the weekly shop, see a GP and walk a child to school without getting in the car. It is the wrong choice if you need a train most days. For that, look at North Walsham, which has a station on the Bittern Line, or at Norwich itself. If you are also looking at Holt, our Holt vs Aylsham comparison sets the two side by side.
The town centre
Aylsham’s centre still has the shops people use every week. Markets have been held here since at least the 13th century, and in 1519 Henry VIII granted a charter for a Saturday market and an annual fair. Today the general market runs on Mondays and Fridays, 8am to 2pm, selling food and household goods. The Aylsham Food and Craft Market takes over the Market Place on the first Saturday of each month except January.
There are two butchers. Coxfords is on the Market Place and G F White is at 16 Red Lion Street; The Book Hive, the Norwich bookshop on London Street, has its second branch at number 18. Bread Source runs a bakery at 30a Market Place, and Flour and Bean and Biddy’s Kitchen are both on the square.
The weekly shop is covered too. There is a Tesco superstore at 28 Norwich Road, a Budgens at 14 Norwich Road with the Post Office inside it, a Co-op on the Market Place, and a shop at the BP garage on Burgh Road.
The old ironmonger has gone. Clarke’s on the Market Place is now The Ironmongers, eight guest bedrooms at number 30. For tools and plumbing parts the nearest counter is the Screwfix on Shepheards Close.
Evenings out are limited. The Black Boys Hotel on the Market Place dates from the 1650s and was a coaching inn; it has a bar and restaurant. The Unicorn is at 10 Hungate Street, and the Buckinghamshire Arms is out at Blickling. After that it is a drive or a bus to Norwich.
Aylsham joined Cittaslow, the international network of slow towns, in 2004. It was the first in Norfolk and the second in Britain, after Ludlow, which has since left.
Schools: Good to 16, then a bus
Aylsham High School, on Sir Williams Lane, takes pupils aged 11 to 16. Ofsted last inspected it on 30 January 2024 and confirmed it as Good (URN 121164; report published 8 March 2024). It is full. The Department for Education’s register of schools shows 1,138 pupils on roll against a capacity of 1,025.
In 2025, 41% of its pupils got grade 5 or above in both English and maths, and 64.4% got grade 4 or above. The average Attainment 8 score was 44.98. Those are the school’s own published figures.
There is no sixth form. Reepham High School and College takes students to 18; others go to the colleges in Norwich. The Sanders 56 bus runs from Aylsham to Easton College.
At primary level there are two routes. John of Gaunt Infant and Nursery School (ages 2 to 7, rated Good in December 2023) is followed by Bure Valley School for juniors aged 7 to 11, which kept its Good rating at an ungraded inspection in March 2025. The alternative is St Michael’s Church of England VA Primary and Nursery School, which covers ages 3 to 11 in one school. Ofsted rated it Good in November 2023.
For admissions and the wider county picture, see our Norfolk state schools guide and the moving to Norfolk checklist.
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Getting around
Buses are the only public transport into Norwich. Sanders runs its 44, 44A, X40, X41 and X44 services down the A140 between Cromer and Norwich, and together they leave Aylsham about twice an hour through the weekday. The first leaves from opposite Tesco at 06:35 and reaches Castle Meadow at 07:09. The last bus back leaves Norwich bus station at 22:40. The Sanders 43 and 43A take a slower route through Hainford and Horsham St Faith, about 45 minutes to the city.
Other routes: the Sanders 18 and 18A run between Cromer, Aylsham and North Walsham; the Central Connect 19 runs from Wroxham through Aylsham to Dereham; and Sunbeam Coaches runs routes to the surrounding villages.
The nearest National Rail stations are on the Greater Anglia Bittern Line between Norwich and Sheringham: North Walsham, Worstead and Hoveton & Wroxham. For direct trains to London or Cambridge you start at Norwich.
By car, Norwich is about 25 minutes down the A140 off-peak and closer to 35 minutes on school-run mornings. Cromer and the coast are about 20 minutes north.
Property prices
HM Land Registry recorded 118 standard sales in Aylsham in the 12 months to June 2026. The median price was £320,000 and the mean £341,000. Detached houses had a median of £370,000 (46 sales), semis £319,000 (32), terraced houses £255,000 (32) and flats £175,000 (8). The most recent months are still being registered, so the counts will rise.
Period houses in the old centre are not all at the top of the market. Four houses on Hungate Street sold for between £310,000 and £355,000.
For the district, the UK House Price Index put the Broadland average at £313,407 in July 2026, up 2.9% on a year earlier and 0.2% on the month. First-time buyers in Broadland paid £269,619 on average. The index is adjusted for the mix of homes sold, so it will not match the simple Aylsham figures above.
More housing is coming. Bure Meadows, next to the high school, is 300 homes built by David Wilson Homes, and Woodgate Farm on the west side of town is the other recent estate. The Greater Norwich Local Plan allocates two more sites with 550 homes between them: about 250 south of Burgh Road, where Hopkins Homes is the developer and land is set aside for a new primary school, and about 300 on a second site. The allocations also include a 90-bed care or extra-care unit.
Official rent figures stop at district level. The ONS put the average private rent in Broadland at £938 a month in August 2026, up 4.1% on a year earlier, and £1,078 for a three-bedroom home. Our guide to renting in Norfolk covers the rest of the county.
Council tax
Aylsham’s Band D bill for 2026-27 is £2,550.76, set by Broadland District Council on 19 February 2026. That is the highest of Broadland’s 64 parishes. The county, police and district parts of the bill are the same across Broadland, so the difference is the Aylsham Town Council precept: a Broadland parish with no precept pays £2,323.08 at Band D, which makes the town council’s share £227.68 a year.
The other bands are A £1,700.51, B £1,983.92, C £2,267.34, E £3,117.60, F £3,684.43, G £4,251.27 and H £5,101.52. Broadland District Council handles planning, bins and local services; Norfolk County Council runs schools, highways and social care. Our Norfolk council tax guide compares the districts.
Broadband
We do not have an Aylsham-only figure. Across Broadland, thinkbroadband’s September 2026 data shows 84.39% of premises can get full fibre and 98% can get superfast speeds of 30 Mbps or more. Check the exact address on Ofcom’s broadband checker before you buy, and see our Norfolk broadband guide for how to read the results.
Doctors and hospital
There are two GP practices. The Market Surgery is at 26 Norwich Road. The Reepham and Aylsham Medical Practice has its Aylsham surgery at 60 Hungate Street and its other site on Smugglers Lane in Reepham. The nearest A&E is at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, about 30 minutes away by car.
Blickling and the Bure Valley
Blickling Hall, the National Trust’s Jacobean house, is about a mile and a half north-west of the town centre. The estate covers more than 4,600 acres, the parkland is open dawn to dusk all year, and a 4-mile multi-use trail takes bikes, wheelchairs and pushchairs. The Aylsham Show, the town’s agricultural show, is held in Blickling Park on the August bank holiday Monday.
The Bure Valley Railway, a 15-inch narrow-gauge heritage line, runs 9 miles from Aylsham to Wroxham. The Bure Valley Path follows it for walkers and cyclists. It is a heritage attraction and does not run a commuter service.
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How we produced this guide
District prices are from the HM Land Registry UK House Price Index for Broadland, July 2026 release. Aylsham sale prices are from HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, standard sales only, for the 12 months to June 2026. Population is from the ONS 2021 Census and rents from the ONS private rent figures for Broadland. School details are from Ofsted reports and the Department for Education’s school register (Aylsham High URN 121164, inspected 30 January 2024). Council tax is from Broadland District Council’s 2026-27 setting (meeting 19 February 2026). Bus times are from the timetables on bustimes.org. Drive times are typical times on the main roads. Broadband figures are from thinkbroadband. We update this guide quarterly. See our methodology page for source links.
Frequently asked questions
Is Aylsham a good place to live?
For families, and for anyone who wants schools, shops and a GP within walking distance, yes. The drawbacks are the lack of a railway station, a slow A140 at peak times and the highest Band D council tax in Broadland.
What is the average house price in Aylsham?
The median of the 118 standard sales HM Land Registry recorded in Aylsham in the 12 months to June 2026 was £320,000. Terraced houses had a median of £255,000 and detached houses £370,000.
How far is Aylsham from Norwich?
Nearly nine miles, or about 25 minutes by car on the A140 outside rush hour. Sanders buses take 35 to 45 minutes. There is no railway station in Aylsham.
What are the schools like in Aylsham?
Aylsham High School, for ages 11 to 16, was confirmed as Good by Ofsted on 30 January 2024. The town’s infant, junior and primary schools are all rated Good. There is no sixth form in the town.
How big is Aylsham?
The parish had 7,568 residents at the 2021 Census, up from 6,016 in 2011. It sits on the River Bure nearly nine miles north of Norwich.
Is Aylsham a nice place to live?
It suits people who want to walk to the shops, the school and the doctor. Daily London or Cambridge commuters will find it awkward, because every train journey starts with a drive or a bus to Norwich.
What is the Band D council tax in Aylsham?
£2,550.76 for 2026-27, set by Broadland District Council on 19 February 2026. It is the highest in Broadland because the Aylsham Town Council precept is the largest of the district’s parishes.
How does Aylsham compare to Reepham or Wroxham?
Reepham is smaller, and unlike Aylsham it has a school that goes to 18, Reepham High School and College, so sixth-formers can stay in town. Wroxham has a station on the Bittern Line and the Broads holiday trade. Aylsham has no station, but it has two supermarkets, two GP practices and a market twice a week.
Related guides
Data sources: HM Land Registry, ONS, Ofsted, Broadland District Council, bustimes.org. Prices to June 2026; latest Ofsted inspections. Author: James Ward, Property and Money Editor.
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