Ingham Walk

Today we had an "endurance" walk of 15 1/2 miles starting from Ingham and taking in Ampton, Great Livermere, Troston, Ixworth Thorpe and RAF Honington. 

Apart from a brief shower of hail we were lucky with the weather and dry paths again. It was mostly familiar paths for me, being only a few miles from home, but it was nice to se the sights again, some snowdrops and a huge number of birds in Amton Water shortly before the end.

This was the invite.

"Weds/Thurs 9th or 10th Feb – Please get in touch if you’d like more details of a walk at Ingham, Ampton, Great Livermere , Troston, Ixworth Thorpe and Honington that Glen, Jane Warren and I are offering. We are unsure of the actual day (Thursday is looking more promising). The mileage could be 15 miles and it’s very rural at times so great endurance practice! I’ll keep you informed if you wish to join us." 

Today was the day. We met at Ingham Church and joined the coffee morning in the church, where we were made most welcome, before starting our walk. This was our route.

Here are a few of my photos.

I'd never been in St. Bartholemew's Ingham church before.

Before gong inside we were treated to a serenade by this song thrush in a tree at the bottom of the car park.

Ready to start walking - Joyce explains the plan.

Crossing the field towards Ampton...

..we saw some red kites.

This hole in the tree has acquired a door since Roland  took refuge in it on a walk in May 2019 (see here).

We didn't visit Ampton church.

Instead we pressed on to Ampton Water. There were sign saying that this bridge was closed, but it only really had one dodgy plank so we crossed it.

After skirting Great Livermere we headed on to Troston. We stopped for lunch at St. Mary, Troston church. It seemed rather familiar, but I don't think I've been here before.

The wall paintings are impressive. This one is of St George on horseback, dispatching a dragon, which Simon Knott tells us dates from the 15th century.

Lunch in the porch.

Onwards we went to Ixworth Thorpe which is no more than a hamlet, really. Looking across the fields we got a view of St. Andrew, Sapiston church, which I had visited on this walk,  although we wouldn't be getting that far today.

The village sign. This was the easternmost point on our walk

We walked north-west along Brand Lane to RAF Honington, before turning south-west. When we got to it, we took a short detour into Troston Woods. Heath Wood was originally the old gravel pits which were owned, along with the surrounding land, by the Greengrass family in the 16th and 17th centuries. In recent times the Wood has been maintained by villagers as an environmental space for the enjoyment of local residents. 

Here is one of the woodland sculptures. This map shows you where to find them all.

Back in Great Livermere we passed St. Peter's church...

...and sought out the unimpressive looking village sign.

After a brief shower of hail earlier we had some lively blue skies as we crossed Ampton water once again.

Can you see the dots in the distance. They turned out to be a massive flock of gulls. Here are some taking off.

Back towards Ampton now....

...not forgetting to look back at the view.

The Grade II listed Jacobean style Ampton Hall was looking golden in the setting sun. The current building dates from 1892 - the previous building burnt down in 1885. It was the birthplace in 1805 of Robert FitzRoy, who became the second Governor of New Zealand. The gardens were designed by Capability Brown, but we weren't impressewd by what we saw.

Then it was back to Ingham across the fields with a little detour via Ampton Racecourse, which is a top point-to-point venue..

In all we did about 15 1/2 miles, which is the furthest I've walked in a day for a while. Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and the others for the company.

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