[2] The name-type, which recurs in medieval records from other parts of East Anglia, derives from Middle English pedder, meaning an itinerant trader.

It starts at Knettishall Heath in Suffolk (near the Norfolk-Suffolk border, about 7 km or 4 mi east of Thetford), and it links with the Norfolk Coast Path at Holme-next-the-Sea.

It is one of four long distance footpaths which, when combined, run from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton and are referred to as the Greater Ridgeway.

At Knettishall Heath the Peddars Way links with the Icknield Way Path for 110 miles south west to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire.

There is a path linking the southern end, at Knettishall Heath, to the nearby Harling Road railway station.