Tattingstone Walk

Today we had a walk round Alton Water. I had never gone all the way round before, although I have done the southern end across the dam many times. Once again we were lucky with the weather and had a lovely sunny but crisp winter's day for our walk.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"This Monday, January17th (a change of plan!) We are allowed to park at the village recreation ground on Green Lane, Tattingstone IP9 2NB . We will meet at 10.30am and head over to walk the Alton Water circuit. We will find toilets and coffee asap and try and find a spot for lunch later on. On the way back to our cars we will take a few extra steps to explore the village of Tattingstone. Please get in contact if you'd like a lift from Skyliner Way. Please expect mud. The circular walk will be approx. 9 miles ."

This was our route.

We were going to walk from Needham Market today, but Joyce thought it might be rather muddy. 8 of us met at Tattingstone as re-planned and set off on time.

Here are a few of my photos.

Joyce explaining the plan.

Heading for the lake there was still some frost in the shade.

The Tattingstone wonder.  As described on the village website here... "Tattingstone is renowned for its folly, The Wonder. This listed building was originally two workers’ cottages but was transformed in 1790 by local squire, Thomas White, who lived at Tattingstone Place. He added a third cottage, a fake tower and a flint façade to complete the illusion that it was a church he could see from his estate.

So well known was the building that it featured in Shell Petroleum’s advertising campaign “To visit Britain’s Landmarks” with artist W J Steggles producing a poster featuring the building in 1937. Historian and broadcaster, Lucinda Lambton also featured it in her 1980’s television programme exploring follies in England and it features in her book Album of Curious Houses."

As we approached the visitor centre, we passed the field of highland cattle. They didn't pay us much attention.

The café has moved to the watersports hire centre. While the others went inside, Steve and I drank the coffees we had brought with us outside .

Then it was across the dam and up the eastern side of the lake. The gorse here was vibrant. They say "When gorse is out of bloom, kissing's out of fashion"; it says here the saying originated in the mid-19th century. The joke is that you can find gorse flowering at any time of year.

We lunched in a sunny spot by the lake.

Just along the shoreline from us we could see a gulp of cormorants roosting and toing and froing, some spreading their wings to dry them. It must have been their lunchtime too.

At the top end of Tattingstone village, near the White Horse, we came across a telephone box. The telephone inside It didn't look like the usual BT one, and sure enough it wasn't....

Steve tried dialling a story from the directory, (read about it here), but, alas,  it wasn't working.

Heading now towards Lemon Hill bridge, we passed an impressive new-build property and met the owner, Doug. He said he was thinking of opening a café and calling it "Reservoir Doug's". Ho ho!

We crossed the bridge back to the eastern shore...

..and returned to our starting point via the grounds of Chedworth Place and Samford Court. According to the website... "The main structure of the estate was built as a new 'house of industry' in the 18th century following reform of the way the poor people of the area were treated.  Under an Act of Parliament of 1764, the more wealthy members of the Samford Hundred were made Guardians of the poor, and they were required to set up a corporation to take over the handling of all aspects of this social necessity.

The directors decided to build a new Union House in the village of Tattingstone, centrally located in the Samford Hundred. They contracted Andrew Chandler of Nacton to build the house, for the grand sum of £4029.  The doors opened on Wednesday October 1, 1766 and the primary employment of the occupiers was the spinning of yarn. Unlike the picture of workhouses painted by Dickens, the Samford House of Industry was, at times, a place which many of the poor wished to live. In fact, one favourite story is of three men who walked all the way from Edmonton, North London (the former home of a current dweller), to live at the house!

The House continued in this way for over 160 years until, in 1931, the County Council took over responsibility. This changed again in 1948, when the newly-formed NHS took over to look after the mainly old residents of the house, renaming it St. Mary's Hospital.  The doors of the hospital finally closed in 1990, and villagers feared for the future as the centre of their village turned to rack and ruin. But, after several false starts, a builder began the process of converting the derelict site into the delightful haven we occupy today."

Here we can see how the tower of the abandoned St. Mary's Hospital has been incorporated into the development.

On the path we passed the first snowdrops I had seen this winter.

Now we were back at the start, with a view of the 17th century thatched cottages, which until recently, were council housing - possibly the oldest in Suffolk, or even the country.

Here I discovered what the rest had been discussing on the bridge while I took a couple of photos... they were gussing how many photos I would take on the walk. Jane asked me at this point how many, but I explained I wouldn't know until I downloaded them.... and the answer is: Roland with his guess of 70 and Joyce with her guess of 84 were the closest - I had taken 79.

But then we went on to visit the 11th/12th Century St. Mary's Church, but we couldn't go in as it was closed...

..and the village information board by the village sign.

Planted nearby was this tree. "I think it's a tulip tree", said someone... 

...And indeed it is. Read about it here.

A lovely varied walk - it was surprising how much up and down there was going round the lake, and it was not very muddy at all. Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and to the rest too for the company.

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