Long Melford and Sudbury Walk

Today we had a winter 'leg-stretcher' putting the Long in Long Melford.

This was the invite from Joyce:

"Wednesday 7th December. Long Melford to Sudbury and back using the Stour Valley Path and the disused railway line. We will park and meet at Cherry Lane Garden Centre at 10am. You are welcome to arrive earlier for a coffee/shop. We are then going to use the Stour Valley Path over to Sudbury – please be prepared for some wet ground. We will pass by Friars Meadow and walk to the Market Hill. We will then have some time for refreshments as it will be lunchtime at this point. You are welcome to bring a sandwich or visit one of the many eateries in the town. I will probably go to Prado Lounge . I can see a lunchtime special of soup and half a sandwich for £5.95. We will then return to Long Melford. The distance is approx. 11-12 miles. If you would like a shorter walk, then meet us in Long Melford High Street to save 2 miles.  Lifts available from Skyliner Sports Centre"

This was our route.

There were 8 of us in all for the walk and we enjoyed some lovely winter sunshine despite the cold. Here are some of my photos.

We started by going through Long Melford.

The shop windows had their seasonal displays.

I don't think I'd noticed before that this is a crinkle-crankle wall, a feature of East Anglia.

Soon we were out in the countryside.

But not forgetting to look back.

A lovely golden willow tree.

Approaching Liston Mill.

We got a glimpse of Borley church,

Now we were on the route of the old railway line.

Passing the meadows, with a view over to Sudbury town.

We crossed the River Stour once more.

We met some of the men who kept the path we were on clear of leaves to stop the mud building up.

There are several of these around Sudbury, They are built from old tyres and none of us liked them much.

We all joined Joyce at Prado's for lunch.

She is an angel, you know. This reminded us of our trip to Devon last year (see here).

We visited the Christmas tree festival in St. Gregory's church with over 50 Christmas trees.

Now we were on our way back along the river Sour.,

Steve pointed out the salmon ladder here.

This horse nearly took a bite out of Jane's tasty hand.

We were retracing our steps now, but we didn't remember these Highland cattle from when we went the other way.

We carried on along the path of the old railway line. We admired this bridge across the river.

This used to be Long Melford station.

We came across a tree with lots of lovely red apples. And shook it to get some to take home.

The cottage on Bull Lane. We were now following , in reverse, the route of the Suffolk Threads trail I'd done just over two years ago (see here).

We passed through Long Melford again parallel to the road,

The setting sun gave a lovely glow to the red brick of Melford Hall...

...and the church...

...and the avenue of trees along the drive leading up to Kentwell Hall.

That was a lovely winter walk. Thank-you Joyce and my other walking companions.

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