Reinterred: Lavenham to Preston St. Mary Walk

Friday, 7 July 2023

Lavenham to Preston St. Mary Walk

Today we had a lovely circular walk starting from Lavenham via Brent Eleigh and Preston St. Mary. ..

...surely one of the most picturesque in Suffolk.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Friday July 7th Lavenham to Preston St Mary. Meet outside The Cock Inn CO10 9SA opposite Lavenham Church at 9am. There are free toilets in the public car park. We will head over to Brent Eleigh for the most delicious coffee at Cafe Como (it's a favourite) . Then over to Preston St Mary for our packed lunch at the church. The 6 Bells pub should be open for a drink if you wish. The walk will be just over 10 miles, and obviously there's time to shop in Lavenham or have an ice-cream at the end. Please bring lunch."

This was our route.

A total of 9 of us met in Lavenham and we were joined at our drinks stop by Glen to make 10 of us, although he left us again before our group photo above.

Here are some of my photos.

Setting off from the car park.

But we didn't go past thye church, leaving Lavenham in the opposite direction.

It was quite a hot day again and we were glad of some paths in the shade.

Lovely views. I think that's Preston St. Mary Church in the distance. We would be visiting it later.

We paid a visit to Café Como.

We returned though Brent Eleigh village past the Colman's Almshouses...

...and this "tudor masterpiece", Corner Farmhouse, which has been lovingly restored, as described here. The inside is as impressive as the outside!

The nettle-leaved bellflowers are in flower now.

along with the vetch and field scabious

We got a view of Kettlebaston and its church, St Mary's but this was as close as we got on our route today.

Time for another drinks stop. I stayed in the shade while the others braved the sun.

We arrived at St. Mary, Preston church, which was our lunch stop.

This gargoyle loomed over us.

Leaving Preston we passed through some of the grounds of Preston Hall where we found this mound...

...these sheep...

...and this bull.

Through some more brightly yellowed crops.

Here is a view looking back at St. Mary's church.

We continued west to Clay lane, our path back to Lavenham. No puddles to dodge today, unlike when we came this way on the Suffolk Walking festival Wool Town walk from Hadleigh to Lavenham (see here).

Descending Clay Hill we paused to look back at the interesting zero-carbon Ava House. The case study says "The intention of this application is to create a new house which is zero carbon, truly ground breaking and one which enhances its landscape setting and makes a positive contribution to the local community. It will be an exemplary building of local and regional significance, meeting the highest standards of design and sustainability".