Hargrave and Great Saxham Walks

Joyce was busy this week and not able to offer a group walk, so she asked me if I would. But of course!

This was the invite.

"Next week's walk is a two-parter on Weds 1st July which John is leading. We will meet/park at 10 am at Hargrave Village Hall, Wickhambrook Road, Hargrave, IP29 5HY,for a 6 ½ mile circular walk, stopping for a drinks break at Chevington church about half way round and passing some lovely cottage gardens. 

Our afternoon walk will start a couple of miles away at the car park of Great Saxham Church, IP29 5JW meeting at 1:30pm and will be a 5 mile “West Suffolk Wander” with some lovely wide paths, rolling landscape and country views. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described St Andrew’s church as ‘one of the prettiest churches in the county, both in itself and in its setting’. To get there from the A14 head for Little Saxham. At Little Saxham turn right and then left for Great Saxham. The church car park is approximately 1 mile further on the right. 

Please note there are no facilities on either part of the walk, so bring your own refreshments and sustenance."

In all there were 5 of us for the morning and 4 for the afternoon. The weather forecast was for some possible light rain showers, so we took our waterproofs just in case.

These were our routes. The first part is this walk by Roger Medley on the Whickhambrook Village site,  and the afternoon walk was based on this walk, a West Suffolk Wander by Chris Barker, online on the East Anglian Daily Times site.

Here are a few of my photos.

Off we go from Hargrave Village Hall.

We were amused by this sculpture opposite Grove Farm.

...and this in Factory Lane.

Was this the factory, we wondered?

Our first view of Chevington Church,

There are some lovely gardens at Church Cottage and the Old Schoolhouse.

At All Saints, Chevington Church, we stopped for our drinks break. The church was open this time so we could visit inside.

Onward towards Hargrave Church and we got caught by a short shower on the way.

We didn't tarry at Hargrave Church.

Along Water Lane, this time I took the correct path.

...and we were back at the village hall by 12:30.

Here we said goodbye to Steve and set off for the 2 mile drive to Great Saxham in convoy. Here we are parked in the church car park and had our lunch, although it turns out we could have used the church porch.

St. Andrew's Church  was open so we were able to have a peek inside.

This is some of the 17th Century stained glass referred to by Simon.

As we weren't having to wait for anyone to join us we were able to get going at 1pm. We set out with fluffy clouds, but had our waterproofs with us. Just as well, as it turned out!

It is quite a rural walk with little sign of civilisation a lot of the time sand some lovely rural views.

This time the ford was dry so Ann and I walked through it.

There are some lovely field edges with plenty of wild flowers.

We had some air cover...

At the 3 mile mark I asked the group if they wanted just to do the 5 miles or add in an extra loop of about 2 miles that I had done last time. We decided to go the whole hog.

Talking of hogs, when we were at the highest point of our walk we could this pig farm in the distance.

Then we came to the adventurous bit through the woods beside the fish ponds. Roland suggested I was taunting those who are taller than me (which was everyone) with the low branches. This one nearly required limbo-dancing skills.

 Then another shower came. A bit heavier and longer this time.

But it cleared up and we got a chance to dry off on the last mile or so through the village and back to our cars. "Don't rain again before we get back", pleaded Ann to the skies.

On the way we were surprised by the number of cars coming along the road... including 2 leaving the church car park as we got there. I think there may have been a funeral.

Just as we got there it started to rain again, this time the heaviest of all the showers so our goodbyes were a bit hurried.

Well that turned out quite nice. Thanks to Ann, Peter, Roland and Steve for the company. Sorry you got a bit wet at times!

You can see more of my photos here on Flickr and more details of our routes Hargrave Walk Route and Great Saxham Walk Route on MapMyWalk. You can also see more on my blog posts of my recces Hargrave Walk and Great Saxham Walk.