Sudbury and Bulmer Walk

Today we did a familiar and favourite walk from Sudbury via Belchamp Walter and Bulmer.

But this was the first time I'd done it in the opposite direction. It made a pleasant change and meant we wouldn't get to the pub until after it had opened. It is based on this walk.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Friday September 6th A delightful 10.5 mile circular walk that nudges into Essex. Please meet at the Kingfisher Leisure Centre, Station Rd, Sudbury CO10 2SU for a 10.30am start. There are toilets here. Parking is £3 at the station or park in a side street. I walked this route last week and it is well worth repeating.  We will walk the route anti clockwise and have a drink at The Fox at Bulmer Tye when we pass in the afternoon at approx 2pm.  Please bring a packed lunch."

There was a good turnout of 15 of us today and it was my longest walk for 3 months. This was our route.

Here are some of my photos. It was a lovely sunny day, but a bit hot and humid at times with not much wind. We were glad of the stop at The Fox for refreshments!

Joyce briefing us at the start.

We set off along the route of the old railway line.

We crossing the River Stour, which was flowing peacefully, by the Quayside Theatre.

There was a herd of cows by the weir, but they ignored us as we walked around them.

The scaffolding has gone at Brundon Mill.

Joyce found us a shady spot for a drinks break.

We had a long stretch parallel to Belchamp Brook. Our lunch stop was abeside the abandoned "Venetian canal" - a  part of the Belchamp Hall estate.

We persuaded Joyce to allow us a little detour to visit Belchamp Hall.

Belchamp Hall and its surrounding estate have been in the ownership of the Raymond family since 1611. In 1710, the present Queen Anne mansion was built on the site of the previous Tudor house It is a period house of rich red brick, with a front nine bays wide and of two storeys below a cornice and solid parapet. It appeared regularly in the hit TV series 'Lovejoy' as the fictional Felsham Hall.

We stopped to admire the head in the gatepost.

There are some who think it looks like me... especially with my cap.

We crossed the road to the church of St. Mary, Belchamp Walter.  

It has one of the best ranges of wall paintings in Essex. Read about them on Simon Knott's site here.

As we turned back to join our planned route, we saw a couple of peacocks in the gardens of the hall. This is one of them.

Now we were heading for Bulmer. We got a view of the church as we started to climb the hill towards the village.

We had a good view as far as Eyston Hall in Borley Green

We passed St Andrew's Bulmer, but didn't stop to visit.

Just past this Tudor house...

...we came to Bulmer Tye village green.

The monument features the famous painting of Mr and Mrs Andrews as portrayed by Thomas Gainsborough (see here).

It was just a short walk from here to The Fox.

Instead of following the road to Little Henny, we took a parallel footpath out the back of the pub car park and across a couple of fields.

We had a long down and up again along a sunken path. Carriages are permitted to go along it between April and October but we didn't see any today.

We met the Angles Way and Stour Valley Path, which we followed back to Sudbury.

We returned along the old railway line path....

...to the Kingfisher Centre car park.

Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and to the others for the additional company.

You can find more details of our 11.5 mile route here on MapMyWalk (or download a GPX file here) and more of my photos here on Flickr.

Other related walks you can find on my blog include:

• Sudbury and Bures Walk (Aug 2019)
• Sudbury to Bulmer Walk (Aug 2020)
• Sudbury to Bulmer Walk (Sep 2020)
• Sudbury and Bures Walk (Sep 2022)
• Sudbury to Bulmer Walk (Sep 2022)
• Suffolk Walking Festival Wool Towns Walk Day 1 (May 2023)
• St Edmund Way Part 6 (May 2024)