North Pickenham parish sits in central Norfolk, just south-east of the market town of Swaffham and south of the main east to west A47 road. The village is centred within a broad plateau and is crossed by the ancient trackway of Peddar's Way which heads determinedly north by north-west across the parish. What little centre the parish has is clustered around the cross-roads of lanes where St Andrew's church sits to the south.

It is difficult to age St Andrews as it is largely a Victorian rebuild of an earlier church, even the style of the rebuild is a mixture of Decorated and Perpendicular styles so no cues as to what might have been the original age. The tower is apparently all that remains of the original building apart from a small transept.