The Village Hall are once more running car boots. There are a limited number for 2026 and they are currently free to sell at.
The recommended start times for buyers is 8.00am – sellers a bit earlier. Teas, Coffee and Bacon buttys, available from the Village Hall.
Contact the Village Hall if you need more details.
The Village Hall are running another Classic Car and Bike show in June. Further details from them and/or on Facebook.
Residents across West Suffolk will now begin receiving a standard size 240-litre green-lidded recycling bin in preparation for the launch of the new Better Recycling service in June.
Around 80,000 bins need to be delivered to households across West Suffolk. Therefore, the deliveries are being done in three stages over the next few months and completed by a contractor, Kee.
Please store your bin safely, number or name your bin, and do not use it before the new service starts in June. A detailed information pack and collection calendar will be sent to households in May with more guidance and advice.
Those properties deemed to need an adapted service, like flats with communal bins or terraced housing without a front garden, will be provided with alternative bins which will be delivered to a different schedule but before the new scheme starts in June.
The delivery dates and locations below are estimated and subject to change.
Santon Downham are part of the Third stage deliveries currently schduled for Monday 20 April to Friday 15 May 2026
More details of the whole scheme can be found here
The coffee mornings are back at the village hall
Date so far are
October 8th and 22nd
November 5th and 19th
December 3rd and 17th
We start at 10.30 am and conclude at noon.
We are happy for you to bring along any visitors you might have.
For the 2nd year running the Breckland Club is running an annual Oktoberfest.
It runs from the 3rd of October to the 12th.
Normal club opening hours apply but the event is open to everyone (not just club members).
In June 2025 we received a query from Derek Matthews seeking further information on his great uncle Earnest who was recorded in the 1921 census as living at Downham Hall.
The census shows him as a Horseman (Timber) and employed by the Downham Syndicate with an address of Downham Hall.
The Downham Syndicate was operated by former members of the Canadian Forestry Corps who were stationed at Downham Hall during WW1.
It’s likely he worked with a team of horses extracting timber from deep in the forest to load it onto the timber railway operating at the time.
We knew Santon Downham was famous for being hot but we think this is the first time we’ve been responsible for a heatwave.
In case you didn’t know a heat wave is triggered if the temperature passes a particular threshold for three days in a row. It’s not constant but varies by region.
In Suffolk, where the threshold is 27C, a temperature of 29.3C was recorded in the village of Santon Downham on Thursday the 19th of June. This was the third day in a row the county’s threshold had been breached – resulting in a heatwave being declared.
The previous week recorded the hottest day of the year (so far) and SD claimed the record with 29.4C on the 13th. The Met Office announced this with a little video.
Those are the official numbers however our own weather station thought it was a bit hotter….
Santon Downham welcomes Brew and Bloom (BREWAND.BLOOM) a cake and coffee caravan offering much needed refreshements to the village.
Mark and Colin have opened the caravan (near the old Post Office – see map) offering a variety of cakes, tea and coffee etc.
Their aim is to open Fridays,Saturdays and Sundays (and Bank Holidays) throughout the summer months.
Weather records fell yesterday when the UK recorded the hottest start of May since 1860.
Kew Gardens, in south-west London, registered 29.3C on Thursday afternoon taking it past the previous May 1 record high temperature of 27.4C at Lossiemouth in Moray in 1990.
Santon Downham came a close 2nd with 27.8C – which still beat the 1860 record.
Interestingly our garden weather station recorded 28.1C.
Coach Services have updated their website and have a new App for timetables and tracking live buses.
live timetables and App
for those of you who prefer a simple timetable a copy of the printed one can be found here