I know Dereham quite well. Possibly the first thing to point out, if you're trying to follow road signs to get there, is that 'East Dereham' and 'Dereham' are the same place!
The shopping centre is fairly compact, with not a great many shops that people would want to go out of their way to get to (but reasonably pleasant none the less). Market day is Friday. (Theoretically Tuesday is also Market day, but there are only a handful of stallholders on Tuesdays):
http://derehamtc.norf...ishes.gov.uk/markets/
Accommodation in the area is listed here
http://www.dereham-ti...uk/accommodation.html
but you should check the exact location of establishments before booking anything, as most of them are several miles outside of the town.
(Also check the links, down the side of that page, for more information about the town).
The most central accommodation is probably The George Hotel
http://www.lottiesrestaurant.co.uk/
which is well-reviewed among the listings on TripAdvisor:
http://www.tripadviso...a_England-Hotels.html
Dereham doesn't really have a great deal to offer visitors. Head into Norwich for excellent museums, theatres, restaurants, shopping etc:
21:06 Mon 15th Nov 2010