Long Melford Walk

Today we had a walk starting and finishing in Long Melford going via Stanstead on some new paths for many of us.

It was based on walk in this year's Suffolk Walking Festival. This was the invite from Joyce:

"Thursday July 7th - Long Melford. We are allowed to park at Cherry Lane Garden Centre, High Street Long Melford CO10 9DH but towards the back of the car park please. 

We will start with refreshments at 10am and begin walking at 10.30am so choose your own start time. This walk was offered by Sudbury Ramblers on the Suffolk Walking Festival and enjoyed/recommended by Theresa. It’s a 7 mile circular route. We will find a spot for lunch in the village of Stanstead so bring your picnic. I am intending to visit Melford Hall afterwards so if you are a National Trust member pls join me. There are lots more walks in Long Melford if you wish to increase your mileage after the 7 miles. "

This was our route, heading in anti-clockwise direction.

Here are a few of my photos.

Joyce explaining the route at the start.

We passed Kentwell Hall at the start of the walk. It wasn't open to visitors today.

We had (mostly) some lovely wide paths besides and through the fields.

Approaching Stanstead.

We tried to visit the church of St. James, Stanstead...

...but there was a sign saying use the smaller door...

...and that too was locked.

The village sign is very colourful.

The village website has an amusing poem about being mistaken for Stansted in Essex, with its airport.

                                                   “Where's the airport mate?,” he shouts

“Me Sat Nav says it should be ‘ere!”

He cranes his neck, he turns about

Scratches his head and sighs, ”Oh dear!”

 

“I'm sorry, chum, you're nowhere near

The place you want's an hour away.

You tell your Sat Nav, loud and clear,

It's Stanstead, but without the ‘a'!”

Glen spotted the bus timetable in the bus shelter....

Yes. You read it right. There is one bus a week, on a Thursday!

We circumnavigated the GradeII listed Stanstead Hall, once the home of the grandfather of Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's 6th wife.

We got excellent views of  St. Mary, Glemsford Church for a lot of our walk (see also the top of this post).

There was a path through the oilseed rape, be walked around the edge.

The donkeys are cute.

We walked along the fledgling River Glem for a bit and enjoyed the wild flowers, including, just to the right of centre, some spikes of what I think is purple loosestrife.

Is this Burdock? Yes it is!

We spotted some deer...

...and stopped for our lunch break shortly after.

It had turned out quite warm and sunny now.

Lovely daisies here.

Is the barley ready to harvest yet?

Soon we were back in Long Melford going through the churchyard and passing Trinity Hospital.

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."

A lovely walk. Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and to everyone else too for the company.

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