Length: 20.1 km (12.5 mi)
Ascent/Descent: 130m
Net Walking Time: 4 ½ hours
Rating: 2 out of 10
Take the 09.00 Norwich train from
Liverpool Street (fast to Chelmsford, Boundary Zone 6 tickets are not valid on this service!), and change at Ipswich
(10.05/10.16) onto the Lowestoft train, arrives Melton at 10.35.
Return trains from Woodbridge are on xx.17
(90 minutes journey time).
Buy a Melton Return. Advance singles are
available.
This walk criss-crosses the heart of the Deben
Valley, where it cuts through the Suffolk Sandlings, an area of lowland
heathland, and widens into a scenic estuary. Several charming churches are
passed and quiet villages and a fine heathland golf course walked through while
the busy roads in the area are all avoided. Reedbeds and rows of poplar feature
prominently early on and again midway through the route when it leads along the
Deben or through the river marshes. The UK’s Best Gastropub (according to some)
awaits at the halfway point. The final stretch follows the wide muddy estuary,
a haven for birds and saltmarsh plants, with views across the Deben to the
wooded valley edge, to end in the compact town of Woodbridge with its many tea
options.
Mid-morning the route leads – along rights-of-way –
through the world-famous Sutton Hoo Great Ship Burial site on the eastern edge
of the Deben Valley, where two 6th and 7th century
Anglo-Saxon burial grounds with dozens of mounds for East Anglian royalty
overlook the river (a wood now blocks most views though). You walk right past
the surviving burial mounds (which are in the ticketed area) and along the
sunken path up from the river that the 27 metres long King’s Boat had been
hauled up along for Rædwald, King of the East Angles’s burial in about AD 625.
A little later you pass the café, shop and exhibition hall (all in the ticketed
area).
Shortcuts are shown to enable an extended visit to
the site while still completing a meaningful walk.
Ground conditions are favourable all-year round,
with the route leading mainly through heathland, atop river walls or along
designated Quiet Lanes.
Walk
Options:
Short
Loop through Bromeswell Green Nature Reserve (Suffolk Wildlife Trust, nightingales,
butterflies etc.). Adds just a few hundred metres to the walk (with a map of it
on display roadside).
Out-and-back to the River Deben estuary opposite Woodbridge, from Sutton
Hoo Farm; adds 1.0 km.
Sutton Hoo Visit (National Trust, ticketed); there are lots of exhibits
to study in the High Hall and in Tranmer House as well as the burial mounds
site and three marked walk routes to explore.
Shortcut from Sutton Hoo back to Melton along the England Coast Path
(map-led but easy, cuts 10.5 km).
Shortcut from Bromeswell to Ufford Bridge (map-led, cuts 2.4 km).
Finish at Melton Station (17.0 km/10.6 mi).
Bus Line 70 (Ipswich – Orford) links the Sutton Hoo Approach Road
(where it meets the B1083) to Melton, Woodbridge and Ipswich. Hourly Mon-Sat,
but last bus in either direction early afternoon!
Bus Line 800 (Ipswich - Rendlesham) links Bromeswell and Eyke to
Melton, Woodbridge and Ipswich. It travels along the A1152 though, a little off
route. (Near) hourly service Mon-Sat.
Bus Line 64 (Ipswich - Aldeburgh) links Ufford to Melton,
Woodbridge and Ipswich. It travels through Ufford along the B1438 though,
almost a kilometre west of the walk route. (Near) hourly service Mon-Sat.
A Loop through Woodbridge, away from the river, leads past interesting
buildings, shops and tea options.
Lunch:
King’s River Café in
Sutton Hoo. Located
after 7.4 km/4.6 mi of walking.
Although close
to the right-of-way, the café is within the ticketed area. Walk-ins without a
ticket are not welcome! The Unruly
Pig Pub & Kitchen in
Bromeswell. The Unruly Pig is
located 9.0 km/5.6 mi into the walk. The Pig has been repeatedly ranked
Best
Gastropub in the UK. A table has been booked for 12.30, pls contact me if
you want a seat at it (£25 per person deposit).
Two more pubs en route. Check the webpage or the
pdf for details.
Tea: Several
options en
route and in Woodbridge. Check the webpage or the pdf for details.
For detailed route maps, gpx/kml files,
photos and walk directions click here. T=swc.449
#2026-07-04T09:00
A small group tried out a version of this walk back in February and this one has the same circuit around Blackheath Common, but this time it comes in the afternoon. The morning leg starts with a deceptively easy stretch through Shalford Water Meadows but then climbs steadily through Chantry Wood and St Martha's Hill before descending via the Chilworth Gunpowder Mills (with picnic tables) to the same lunch pub next to Chilworth station, the