Rendlesham Walk

Today we had a circular walk from Rendlesham village via Rendlesham Forest and Staverton Thicks.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Thursday January 16th. We are heading off into Rendlesham Forest and Staverton Thicks. Our start point is the Pavilion cafe at Jubilee park, Rendlesham. The postcode is IP12 2GT. I am not sure where this is and I understand that parking has to be nearby. We will work it out. Let’s meet there at 10am for refreshments/toilets. We will start walking at approx 10.20-30am if you wish to skip coffee. Our circular walk will be about 12 miles but I haven't walked here for a while so please be adventurous with me. Please bring lunch and drinks " 

This was our route.

Here are a few of my photos.

We met at Rendlesham Community Cafe at Jubilee Park, tucked away among the modern housing estate, but we all found our way there eventually.

It's just as well not everyone wanted a drink as the café is small and there were 16 of us today.

We passed the Rendlesham village sign...

...which also commemorates the 1980 UFO incident in the forest, of which more later.

This explains what's on the sign.

We skirted the disused Bentwaters airfield, which closed in 1993, and were soon in Rendlesham Forest

We were on the Sandlings Walk now. I had to walk super fast to get in front of the group to take this photo.

We came across a sign for the UFO trail, which we followed to the forest centre. We walked this in January 2022 (see here).

"In December 1980 several sightings of a UFO were reported in Rendlesham forest. Many think these mysterious events are the most significant UFO incident to have occurred in the UK. During the evening of 26th December, a Sudbourne resident reported a mysterious shape (like an upturned mushroom) in the sky above his garden. Later that night two United States Air Force patrolmen at the RAF Woodbridge East Gate spotted unusual lights in the forest, and were given permission to go in and investigate. What they reported was very strange....". Read more in the brochure here.

Our lunch stop was at the forest centre.

There are several trails that start and finish here.

We needed 3 tables for our lunch.

By the time we were ready to go the sun had come out, which was a pleasant surprise.

Heading on through the forest we saw these hugging trees.

We had rejoined the UFO trail and came to this in a clearing...

 "At the clearing towards the edge of the forest the patrol were to report that they had spotted a conical object about the size of a car, floating on beams of light just 12 inches above the ground. There was a mist surrounding it and the craft appeared to be metallic with black markings on one side. They tried to approach the object – it was like walking in slow motion. Suddenly the craft rose rapidly in a flash of light and disappeared. Had the patrolmen been spotted?"

The graffiti we saw last time had been cleaned off. Below these hands.... 

...it used to say "ET GO HOME!".

We had our group photo for the day here.

Onward now in the sunshine.

A row of Breckland pines trees making a typical skyline scene.

At this pig farm a herd was being driven.

We got sight of the edge of Staverton Thicks, but we had a bit of road walking to do to get to the far side where the footpath was.

Peeking up over the reservoir here we caught a glimpse of the tower of  the church of St. John the Baptist, Butley, but this is as near as we got to it.

At last we cam to the public footpath into the Thicks.

Norfolk and Suffolk Life magazine mentions Staverton Thicks in an article in the August 2024 issue about picnic spots.

"The Thicks is an enchanted place; only for true believers and those determined to wander from the path. Part of  the ancient Staverton Park, The Thicks is a pollarded deciduous woodland reminiscent of Lothlorean. The huge. twisted oaks are accompanied by some of the biggest holly trees in Britain, as well as birch, rowan, and other native trees that twist and lean across a fern covered expanse near Rendleshem Forest. A site Of  Special Scientific Interest, its range of wildlife is rich, and there is an almost eerie feeling of otherworldliness. Its most prominent tree, the King Oak, is 500 years old and is 7 metres in girth. Being wood pasture, there is enough space to sit and set up camp. and being in the midst Of these phenomenal beings is truly remarkable. Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor were recorded to have been to 'dine beneath the oaks' at Staverton: their greatness even then was something to behold. Sitting among them feels a bit like being in a council of ancient wizards: here is a wisdom beyond words, a place to disappear."

You can read more in this blog post, which has some great pictures (Thanks for sending me that, Joyce) and this article (thanks for posting a link to that in the Facebook group, Karen).

It is said you can work out the approximate age of an old oak tree like these by how many people it takes, hand in hand, to encircle the girth. This one was about 350 years old by that measure.

There are some great shapes in the old gnarled wood.

We were skirting the edge of the woods by another pig farm.

Some more tree photos.

Is this one the King Oak? It looks big enough, but the OS map suggests differently.

Gary Battel, Woodland Advisor for Suffolk County Council and board member of Small Woods,  was onsite and came to greet us and told us a bit about the history. He told us that the mysterious fenced off areas we had seen each had about 100 acorns planted in them. He invited us to come back another time and spend longer looking around.

At the north end of Staverton Park is a wetland area.

We went by a solar panel farm before we reached the Sandlings Walk again and turned west to walk around the MoD area and  back around Bentwaters airfield.

Back in Rendlesham we again passed the village sign...

...and were soon back at Jubilee Park.

A great walk that kept our feet dry and the trees at Staverton Thicks were spectacular. Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and to everyone else for the additional company.

You can find more details of our 12.7 mile route here on MayMyWalk (or download a GPX file here) and see more of my photos here on Flickr.

Related walks you can find on my blog include..

• Rendlesham Recidivists Walk (Oct 2020)
• Rendlesham Forest Walk (Jan 2022)