The diverse range and quality of evidence gained from surface artefact collection and excavation has been combined with historical sources to provide a sound basis for the understanding of human settlement and land-use patterns in Barton Bendish parish from the Iron Age to the 17th century. Just over the parish boundary, a very detailed fieldwalking survey of one field, next to the deserted medieval settlement of Caldecote, provided evidence of multi-period activity on chalky and Breckland sandy soils. The two fieldwalking programmes — geographically close yet different in scale and intensity — are presented here together to make an interesting contrast in terms of both methodology and results.