Reinterred: Long Melford Walk

Today it was Steve's turn to lead a walk for the group. This was the invite.

"Wednesday June 23rd Steve will be leading a 10 mile walk from Long Melford. Meet 10am at free car park next to Long Melford Old School Community Centre CO10 9DX. Toilets & drinks at start / end, but none on route. Walk goes via Kentwell Hall, Glemsford, Foxearth Meadows Nature Reserve, Foxearth, haunted Borley and Liston Mill . Lovely views. Picnic lunch needed. "

Interesting. The first part of the walk was very familiar, but then we visited some paths and places I, at least, hadn't been to before. This was our route...

We met as planned in Great Melford on a nice sunny but not too warm morning. Perfect weather for walking. Here are a few of my photos.

In the car park opposite Melford Hall and ready to go.

We walked towards the church first passing pretty cottages and gardens and Trinity Hospital. It was originally built in 1573, but was largely reconstructed in 1847

Holy Trinity Church. Long Melford is very impressive. According to this article, "The nave, at 152.6 feet (46.5 m), is believed to be the longest of any parish church in England. There are nine bays, of which the first five at the western end are believed to date from an earlier structure." It was open so we went in for a look.

We continued along the Stour Valley Path to Kentwell Hall, famous for its Tudor re-enactments.

After Pond Plantation there was a junction of paths and we tirned left, continuing along the Stour Valley Path towards Glemsford.

I recognised these houses by the road from another walk, but can't find it on my blog.

We crossed a wobbly bridge.

We still had a view of Long Melford church.

Some of the fields are looking quite summery now.

My first buzzard photo of the summer.

Another lovely poppy-lined path.

We passed Station House on the disused Stour Valley line that ran from Colchester to Shelford, near Cambridge, just before crossing the River Stour into Essex.

We did a little tour of Foxearth Meadows Nature Reserve....

...before arriving in Foxearth.

Our lunch stop was at the beautiful St. Peter and St. Paul's church. Read about its restoration here.

We enjoyed looking inside...

...before having our lunch in the churchyard.

Heading on towards Borley we could still see Long Melford church.

Borley church, as the linked article by Simon Knott says... "...became, in the 1930s, the focus of notoriety thanks to the activities of a conman and self-proclaimed 'ghost hunter' called Harry Price. Price elaborated on the hoaxing and spoofing of the successive Rectors and their families of the time. As a result of his books, Borley Rectory became known as 'the most haunted house in England'. The hokum and fakery still attract a lunatic fringe of sensation-seekers with nothing better to do, and hence the church is ordinarily kept locked, unusually for north Essex. An unlikely knock-on effect of the events at Borley was what happened at nearby Middleton - one might even imagine there was something in the water around here which led to such shameless self-delusion." (read more about it by following the link).

Now we were on our way back via Liston. We only saw the church from a short distance...

...as we crossed the River Stour again at Liston Mill. As the webpage The Watermills of the River Stour says, "There was a watermill here in 1086 DB. A lease dated 1813 of ‘a watermill called Liston Mill’ with house and lands (13 acres), contains a detailed list of fixtures in the mill. The mill was demolished in 1887 after falling into disuse. The mill house remains." Oo. I think I recognise a lot of those watermills!