Difficulty: 4/10
An easy-going walk through the Stour Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Approaching Sudbury, you cross the Sudbury Common Lands, ancient grazing lands where the young Gainsborough is said to have played. Hopefully, awash with buttercups this time of year.
Train 10:02 Ipswich Train from Liverpool Street. (Stratford 10:09). Change at Marks Tey for the Sudbury train (arr 11:06 dep 11:15) arrive Bures 11:27. Note that Bures is a "request only" stop. So be sure to request it.
Return at xx:42 changing at Marks Tey. Get a return to Sudbury.
Lunch
The Bulmer Fox on the main route is closed, so choose between an early stop at the Lamarsh Lion 01787 227007 (a community-run pub, handy for all routes, open from 12) or follow the later detour to the Henny Swan 01787-269238, a pleasant riverside pub in Henny Street, (the detour is no longer than the original route past the Fox). Food is served from 12 till 8pm. Great Henny churchyard makes a good picnic spot.
Tea
The suggested tea place is the Mill Hotel overlooking Sudbury Common Lands. As well as serving tea, they've got a bar. Be sure to pay your respects to the mummified cat visible through the floor in the hotel lobby. After tea, allow 20 minutes to get to the station.
In Sudbury itself you got the Black Boy and White Horse .
Walk directions: here
t=1.8
2 comments:
N=8 on a w=cloudless-warm-sunny day. The others soon accelerated away from Bures leaving poor Mr Tiger to fend for himself. All took the Henny Swan route as far as I know. At least that’s where I came across some stragglers – fellow rejects from the Olympic speed-walking team.
Great Henny churchyard is still a pleasant place to sit but I seem to remember it was being cared for as a wildflower meadow – now, except for a lucky patch of cowslips, it’s just neatly mown grass. One or two impressive dandelion displays and also some of that strange “spring beauty” stuff that I’ve only ever seen in Essex. Not forgetting the rapefields, some noisy crows and an orange-tip. Tea was had in the Mill House. Well done Mr Tiger for posting this splendid walk. Shame about the buttercups (there weren’t any).
Hi Mr T
Many thanks for the walk and for the flower identification - I did think I'd never seen anything like it before, and I didn't have the presence of mind to photograph it for future reference.
Anyway, yes we all went by Henny Street. I parted company from my fellow walkers to make a successful dash for the 1542 train, but i think most others went to the Mill hotel for tea.
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