Stutton Walk

" Do you want to go for a walk?", asked Dawn. Yes. A chance to show her some of the best bits of the Holbrook Walk we did last month, my favourite from Joyce's Mini Walking Festival. I mapped out a shortened version of about half the length of that walk and we set off to park at Stutton as before. This was our route today...

Here are a few of my photos...

We started from the Community shop in Stutton.

We admired the garden before moving on .

We saw plenty of white bluebells today.

This orange tip butterfly was more yellow than orange.

We were soon at Alton Water.

As we crossed the dam, a sharp shower came. I was glad of my new little umbrella to keep the hailstones off.

We followed this Holbrook Creek all the way to Holbrook Bay...

...pasing Holbrook Mill on the way.

We saw a couple of muntjac deer. I managed just to catch this one with the camera.

We liked the boardwalk.

Along the way we saw a heron and this duck and little ducklings.

At Holbrook Bay the tide was out.

The Royal Hospital School is impressive. Historically nicknamed "The Cradle of the Navy", it is a co-educational independent day and boarding school with naval traditions. The Royal Hospital School was established by a Royal Charter in 1712. It was originally located at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich. The school moved in 1933 to East Anglia. It is the only UK independent boarding school to have ever been continuously granted the Queen's Banner and it flies its own Admiralty-approved Royal Hospital School Blue Ensign. It is one of only two UK schools whose students have the privilege of wearing Royal Navy uniforms, the other being Pangbourne College in Berkshire.

The Grade II listed Markwell's Farmhouse is very eye-catching and has lovely grounds.

We stopped for a drinks break at St. Peter, Stutton church to admire the view.

The Ancient House is also Grade II listed.

We kept an anxious eye on the clouds, but managed to get back to the start...

...just in time... another shower was imminent, and were home in good time for lunch. We did enjoy that! A lovely morning's walk with lots of wildlife, lovely views and interesting buildings. Highly recommended!

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