Sudbury to Bulmer Walk

Joyce wanted to do a recce of a new walk. Would Roland and I like to join her? Yes. Of course! We love a new walk.This was the invite.

"The walk isn’t a terribly long one on Monday (maybe 9 miles) but I’d like to do a recce and maybe add a further loop if something obvious turns up. Are you happy to meet at The Kingfisher Leisure Centre, Sudbury for 9am or 9.30am? ".

We decided to meet at 9. The walk Joyce had in mind was this one from Suffolk Magazine, but starting in Sudbury, which added nearly a mile at each end, so the walk ended up as being just over 11 miles.

This was our route.

Starting at 9am, we had the best of the day's weather. Lovely conditions for walking! Here are a few of my photos.

Joyce and Roland arrived at the same time.

We started by crossing the River Stour.

We were soon out into golden summer countryside.

We walked along a hollow lane , but didn't see any roosting chickens. It had an unusual sign at the end.

We were to pass some dutch gable ends.. yes we were on track.

After a short stretch along the A131, we arrived at Bulmer Green,

One of the faces has an imitation of the famous Gainsborough painting of Mr and Mrs Andrews, who were locals. Here is a photo of the original.

We passed this tudor house at thye corner of the green...

...and were soon out in lvoely countryside again.

We came to Bulmer Village Hall, where the original walk starts, and had our drink stop.

Had we gone a bit further we would have had a more picturesque stop at the Church of St. Andrew, Bulmer Church

We headed on towards Belchamp Walter. Yet again we saw birds of prey around. Another buzzard, I think.

The church of St. Mary, Belchamp Walter appeared above the trees.

Lovely landscape. And no power lines!

In the distance we spotted Eyston Hall.

The approach to the church is across a lovely meadow.

Here we were in the heart of Lovejoy country. Here is the smart Queen Anne  Belchamp Hall, which featured in the series as the fictional Felsham Hall. Read more about it here.

St Mary's Church is just opposite.

We liked the griffin-topped gateposts.

This house is dated 1717.

Heading on back towards Sudbury now, we passed the abandoned "Venetian canal", part of the Belchamp Hall estate..

Underfoot we had a soft carpet of plants. Was it chamomile? No it didn't have a smell. Was it a form af speedwell, perhaps? There were a few little blue flowers in among the leaves.

We reached the Stour at  Brundon Mill, famous for its swans. "How many swans would we see?" asked Joyce. Place your bets... 0-25, 25-50 or 50+. I chose 0-25.

And there were? 0. From here we avoided the shortcut along the old railway track and followed the path through Sudbury Commons.

There were plenty of people at the Mill Hotel by the river.

The meadows are quntessentially Gainsborough and Constable landscapes. You could just imagine this as a painting.

No good walk is complete without a sewage works (we joked). I liked the title "Refuse Destruction Works."

Soon we rejoined the old railway and crossed the Stour again back to our start,

What did we think? Roland already said he liked it before we were 1/4 way round. I liked it too. Looking at the map, we think there is a ways of avoiding some of that stretch along the busy A131, so thumbs up. Thanks Joyce and Roland.

You can see more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.