Sunday Walk 1 – A sculpture garden in the Hertfordshire hills

Extra Walk 210 – Sawbridgeworth to Bishop's Stortford
Length: 23.7km (14.7 miles), with shorter options. Toughness: 5/10

09:55 Stansted Airport train from Liverpool Street (Tottenham Hale 10:07), changing at Harlow Town (arr 10:23, dep 10:28) for the Cambridge train and arriving Sawbridgeworth at 10:34. From east London you could take this Cambridge train from Stratford at 09:45 and not need to change. Buy a day return to Bishop's Stortford.

From Bishop's Stortford there are trains back to Liverpool Street at 00, 09 & 39 minutes past the hour, and to Stratford at 28 minutes past.

This walk is through the gently rolling countryside of east Hertfordshire, with particularly scenic stretches in the Ash valley around lunchtime and the Stort Navigation near the end. In the morning you have the opportunity to visit the Henry Moore Sculpture Garden at Perry Green; if you spend time here you can reduce the walk to around 10-11 miles by cutting out the middle section around Much Hadham.

There is a pub at Perry Green if you are taking the short cut (or simply want an early lunch) but the main options are in the village of Much Hadham, just under halfway through the full walk. You'll find plenty of tea places in Bishop's Stortford's historic town centre.

You'll need to print the directions from this pdf document.