Length: 17.3 km. 10.7 miles
Difficulty: 4/10
A walk through Dedham Vale area of outstanding natural beauty, revisiting scenes from Constable’s paintings. There's some interesting churches along the way. After plans for East Bergholt's church tower were put on hold, the bells were rung by hand in a temporary cage in the churchyard. Five centuries later, they still are.(Top marks for indolence, I say). Inside the church, if open, be on the lookout for an early camel and some "putrid slime". A later church, in Stratford St Mary, has unusual flint lettering on the outside.
Trains: 9:30 Ipswich train from Liverpool St.(Stratford 9:37), arriving Manningtree at 10:23.
Return trains at xx:21 and x:50 (fastest)
Lunch: It is hard to rely on pubs right now so bring a picnic (and water) in case you need it.
The popular Sun Inn, Dedham 01206 323351 has tables in the garden. The nearby Marlborough appears to require booking.
The Dedham Craft Centre cafe is doing takeaways 01206 322677.Also in Dedham, the Essex Rose tea room 01206 323101 appears to be open.
There are more pubs in Stratford St Mary. Two appear to be open.
Tea: the National Trust tearooms at Flatford Bridge are open. It is near to Flatford Mill, the setting for Constable's Haywain (it's a wagon, not a type of pizza). Unfortunately, Manningtree's fabled station buffet closes at 2 on Sundays.
Covid-19 Compliance: please note the current guidance on this website and observe social distancing. Please sign up for this walk in advance if you can, using the London Walkers User Group site. (This saves time collecting contact details). Otherwise bring a piece of paper with your legible email address on it, which will be put in an envelope and accessed if needed for contact tracing. To report a Covid case after this walk, use covid@lwug.co.uk
Walk Directions: here.The walk can be shortened by missing out Stratford St Mary. Should be a pleasant diversion this time of year.
T=1.39
1 comment:
N=4 on a w=pleasant-sunny day. Perhaps the ticket price is a deterrent (a return - with reductions - is now £17). But the new trains are quite swish.
2 other walkers were spotted with a book copy. (Don’t they know it’s out of date?)
Buttercups took a starring role today, ably supported by cow parsley, hawthorn, speedwell and comfrey. Some of the meadows were stunning. If only I’d had a few crayons with me. I could have given Constable a run for his money .
The Sun was fully booked but my three speedier walkmates managed to get into the Marlborough. I just sat on a gravestone and wept. But it was a comfortable gravestone.
The tea rooms were open and doing good business.
Only one pub open in Stratford St Mary (another reopens ‘soon’). The village is spoilt by traffic and the A11, almost enough to warrant taking the short cut. But the church is impressive.
And so to East Bergholt where they still haven’t got the bells on the church roof .
A lot of boaters on the Stour and, something I’ve not noticed before, people on punts.
Flatford Mill was busy and the NT just had a kiosk going with a big queue.
I got the 16:50.
Memo to self : Only try to get contact details from people on our walk.
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