Reinterred: Eye Walk and Piggy Tail Trail

Today we had a relatively short walk from the village of Eye. I missed this walk the last time Joyce led it for the group as it was my last week at work.

This was the invite for today.

"Monday August 1st I am now leading a circular walk around the lovely village of Eye, Suffolk based on this leaflet that Anna had a hand in devising - Eye-Circular-Walks, from the Discover Suffolk site.

Please park along the B1077, Lambseth Street IP23 7AQ past the Fire Engine Station and make your way towards the Town Hall at the top of the road for a 10am start. We will head to the public toilets at Cross Street before our 8 mile walk. I suspect that the walk will finish by 1.15pm and we can then eat our packed lunch. There will be an option to visit the ruins of Eye Castle after lunch."

This was out route, which turned out to be only about 5.6 miles, but we weren't complaining as it gave us more time to explore Eye afterwards. We also got to spot a number of decorated porcine statues from the Eye Piggy Tail Trail, although we didn't set out to find them all. You can download the leaflet for that here.

We travelled anti-clockwise, as in the leaflet. Some of the route was familiar from doing the Mid-Suffolk Walk (Part 1) in March 2019 and the Anytime Daffodil Dawdle in June last year.

Here are a few of my photos.

We met by the Town Hall...

...but started and finished our walk in the Car Park by the Library... where the toilets are.

We were soon out into the Countryside, and saw plenty of straw bales in the recently garvested fields.

The route we were following was well waymarked with red signs.

There were lots of elderberries forming on the bushes along this path.

We passed along the edge of Braiseworth Orchards, which I remembered passing on the Mid-Suffolk Footpath walk, along with a few other of our sights today.

We passed the remains of St. Mary's Church. The walk leaflet says... "Only the chancel of this church survives. A Victorian church was built in the village to replace it, taking with it St Mary’s Church’s elaborately carved doorway."

We crossed the River Dove at our furthest point downstream from Eye to return along the other side.

It was getting quite warm and now the wind turbines weren't turning at all, although we did get a little breeze later in our walk.

We stopped for a drinks break with a view across the fields of Occold Church.

More bales of straw.

Not far from Eye, we passed the fishponds (read all about them here).

The path we were on, Park Lane Track originally led to Eye Deer Park and is raised above the level of the fields which were often under water. This flooding isolated the town and its castle – hence the name ‘Eye’ meaning island. It is flanked by the line of 25 oak trees planted to celebrate the millennium.

We crossed the road by this wooden sculpture. "The “Big Head”, by the Hearts of Oak Organisation,

is part of the Hearts of Oak Sculpture Trail. The little plaque doesn’t reveal whether the head is supposed to be anyone in particular or symbolic of anything, or perhaps just a big head!", says the leaflet. It was created in 2003 by Ray Brooks. (The Hoxne Man and Sculpture Seat are both also part of the trail nearby).

We crossed a second road as we circumnavigated Eye near the Abbey Bridge over the River Dove at the east end of Eye with a glimpse of the church.

I enjoyed stopping to smell the roses on the drive up to Abbey Hall.

It is built on the site of the former Benedictine Priory of St Peter built in 1011, renovating the original Abbey barn. It is available to stay at, as described here.

We stopped in a field and Joyce said three of them at the front had a plan....

...to have some fun with the straw. See what happened at the top of this post.

We crossed the field into the town.

There were sunflowers in the allotments

And here we are back at the Car Park and the official end of the walk.

But what of the pigs and other sights? Here are some more photos.

Pigcasso

Disco Pig

The Good Pig Gloriana

Flora

Hogcutt's Wildlife Garden was our favourite with all it's detail.

The Chocolate shop was popular too with some....

...whereas I had a sausage roll from the bakery.

There are a number of piglets in windows. This is Thimble.

The Grade I listed Guildhall next to the church.

This cottage is at the foot of the castle.

The walk leaflet says "Eye Castle dates back to the Norman Conquest in 1066. Although it lost its strategic importance in 1265, its prison was used until the early 17th century. Today, little remains except the remnants of a false keep and house. The views from the Castle’s viewing platform are superb and include the 14th century Church of St Peter and St Paul. The church’s 30m tower was described by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as “one of the wonders of Suffolk”.