Bradfield St George Walk

This morning we did a circular walk from Bradfield St. George church.

We did it after I got this message via the blog...

"Hello John,

We are in Suffolk in June. I'm planning our walks and I was looking to a Chris Barker walk (2015) seen on Bury St Edmunds Ramblers

I wonder where I can park our car at the Bradfield Saint George church? I see on Streetview a gate leading to private "The Old Rectory" Maybe you can help me out please? 

Kind regards, 

Bert & Marjolijn"

The walks Bert refers to can be found on this page which includes this walk from Bradfield St George church. When I looked at it  and the OS Map I couldn't be sure about the car park at the church. I also noticed it went along some paths I hadn't walked before (but it turned out I had walked a lot of them on this walk in 2019). At 5 miles it was just a nice length to do before our lunch so I decided to do it with Dawn.

We did it in the opposite direction to Chris's write-up and I didn't start my tracker until 1/4 mile into the walk but this was our route.

Here are a few photos.

This is the driveway up to the church. I didn't chance it because it looked muddy and just parked on the road just about opposite,

But at the end of the lane there is a small car park. So the answer to Bert's question is you can park there.

St George's Church.was open so we went in.

As Simon Knott says, "You could not be in doubt of the dedication of this church. There are fragments of a 15th Century figure of St George in a chancel window, and a 20th century carved image of St George stands in a medieval niche flanking the chancel arch, and the glorious reredos, a memorial to the lost boys of the Great War, is the best of its kind in the county. St George must have been a very high Anglo-catholic church in its day, and the reredos, with its depictions of the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Magi, and the figures of St George and St Felix flanking the piece, is a relic of those days. Above it, the crucifixion in the east window is to the design of Edward Fellows Prynne in 1913 and made by Thomas Fellowes, one of the last shouts of the triumphant pre-WWI Church of England."

Here is the statue of St. George....

...and the reredos.

Useful to know for future walks - the church has a toilet.

We set off on the walk passing the colourful farmhouse of Hall Farm.

In the distance we could see Rougham Church.

We had to cross a field here but it wasn't too muddy.

On the other side it was hard to see any path across the next field so we walked round the edge. 

The path through Rushbrooke Wood was pleasant. It was diverted round the farm and stables although map still shows it going past the other side of the barn.

After a short stretch along Linkwood road, we turned onto Parsonage Lane, which took us to Little Welnetham village.

It was a bit muddy here, but only for a short stretch.

We were surprised to see a clematis with flowers looking ready to open. Nearby we also saw our first bluebell of spring, also nearly ready to open. Everything is going to be early this spring, I think.

In Little Welnetham we just crossed the road onto another path. I noted the spelling on the Parish Council noticeboard. The OS map spells the parish with an H, as does the noticeboard, but the village without it (as I have spelled it). Most odd.

Our path took us round the back of St Mary's Church. On another day we might have detoured to visit it.

Descending from there we got some nice views and a sighting of a deer.

Over this stile (there were 2 more on the walk, if I remember correctly), we joined the path along the route of the old Bury St. Edmunds to Long Melford  railway line.

I should have guessed... This was rather muddy in places, but my feet just about stayed dry.

We passed the Old Station House and continued east.

A long wide path took us towards Frog's Hall. Rounding it the path then took us to Hollybush Corner....

...where we found the village sign for Bradfield St Geroge.

One more pleasant field edge...

...and then it was a short stretch along the road back to our starting point.

Not the best time of year to do the walk, I think - it was rather too muddy places for me, but I think it will be lovely in June. Thanks Bert for giving us a reason to walk it.

You can see more of my photos here on Flickr and more details of our 5 mile route here on MapMyWalk (or download a GPX file here).

Other related walks you can find on my blog include:

• Rushbrooke Walk (Jul 2019)