Salle is pronounced Saul and sometimes spelled either that way or as Sall on older maps or documents (and a nearby road sign). It's one of those estate villages that seem as if they've barely changed in a century. The first time I came here I was driving to a grand old cache nearby (Sunset over Salle - well worth the walk). I simply had to stop the car as I entered the village - the combination of buildings and the cricket club stunned me. It's a place you may never have realised existed, but one that I'd like to encourage people to visit.
Note: The cache was moved and clues pretty much totally changed on 7 June 2022. Although the waypoints have largely stayed the same, the clues and order of coordinates has been changed. This follows three cache containers being taken from the original hiding spot. My apologies if you had the cache saved.
This is a multicache which requires you to gather information from eight locations within the village. It won't take you long - it's a tiny place with only a handful of houses. Once you have the answers to the clues you can substitute the values in the coordinates N 52 4A.BCD E 001 0E.FGH
To find the eight values needed you'll need to visit the following eight waypoints.
WP 1 - N 52 46.862 E 001 07.514 - start at the old telephone box (how else will you call Salle?). The telephone is long gone of course, but it's been replaced by a defibrillator.
On the equipment is a code starting with the letters CHT. The last but one digit of the code is A
WP 2 - N 52 46.859 E 001 07.518 - just a few paces away is a post box. The building it's embedded in used to be the village pub, the White Horse.
The hour of the Saturday collection time is E
WP 3 - N 52 46.837 E 001 07.503 - now walk around the back of the building to find the cricket ground - the thing that first caught my eye when I drove through here. This is the very tidy home ground of Reepham and Salle Cricket Club, complete with new nets and the best scorers hut I've ever seen. It has one of the shortest straight boundaries I've come across and there's even a kiddies play area if you have little ones.
There's a single bench at these coordinates. The number of letters in the surname of the person it's dedicated to is F. The bench is getting tough to read, so there's an alternative below:
The bench is getting a little hard to read. If you can't make out the name then look across the cricket pitch at the large building on the other side (which happens to be WP 4). How many large windows are facing you? (don't worry about defining large - it should be obvious the single digit number I want!)
WP 4 - N 52 46.802 E 001 07.607 - walk across the outfield. A footpath heads across past the cricket nets and down the side of the plantation if you fancy a longer walk, but you simply need to head across to the building on the boundary's edge. Take care if there's a cricket match on to not walk behind the bowlers arm if they're operating from what we'll call the Church End.
This is the Lynton White Institute, endowed in 1929 by the Lord and Lady of the manor and acting as a war memorial it seems as well.
Find the inscription just above ground level to the right of the door which tells you the date the stone was laid. You need the decade value for D
So, if the date was 1945, the value you'd want would be 4.
WP 5 - N 52 46.797 E 001 07.614 - The building next to the Institute used to be the village school. It's now a private house of course, but from the road you can see the school bell which is still present (high up).
Right by the bell is a date. You need the decade value again - this will give you G
So, if the date was 1981, the value you'd want would be 8.
WP 6 - N 52 46.817 E 001 07.611 - cross the road to the village sign, a replacement erected in 1995.
A small plaque on the back will tell you the name of the person who unveiled it. Count the number of letters in their surname. This will give you B
If you can't read the name, the same surname is on one of the two benches overlooking the cricket pitch close to the Institute.
WP 7 - N 52 46.830 E 001 07.593 - head over to find a sign for the Salle Cycle Loop. This is an off-shoot of the Marriotts Way and loops around Salle. One number appears twice on the signposts.
The number on the signposts will give you H
WP 8 - N 52 46.825 E 001 07.621 - now go inside the rather fabulous church lychgate. This is an excellent place for a sit down in the dry and figure out the final coordinates if it's raining.
On the north side of the lychgate is an inscription which mentions Woolmer White, the First Baronet of Salle. The estate is to the east of the village, but the church here isn't on the estate as they sometimes are in these parts. The village, however, is still pretty much owned by the estate and houses here are rented rather then bought.
The very first part of the inscription is a date. Find the last value in the date. This will give you C
The cache:
The cache is a small container. It is, of course, outside the church boundary and is easily accessible. During spring and summer you may need to watch for nettles, thorns and other stinging plants and the like.