Reinterred: J is for Jolly Sailor Walk

Today we reached J in our alphabet of walks - J is for Jolly Sailor.

It was a circular walk from the pub of that name in Orford on the Suffolk coast.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Monday April 7th J is for The Jolly Sailor at Orford, Quay Street IP12 2NU. There is street parking on Quay Street and also a pay n display car park opposite the pub (£4). Let’s meet outside the pub for a group photo at 10am and then walk over to the Riverside Tea rooms for drinks/toilets. I have an 11 mile circular route that includes the Suffolk Coastal Path, Orford Castle + Church, Tunstall Forest, Sudbourne Estate and the Iken Boot. Pls bring packed lunch as no facilities after we leave Orford."

This was our route today.

Here are a few photos.

We met at the Jolly Sailor pub a little bit later than planned due to congestion in Coddenham caused by the alternative route for HGVs avoiding the village being closed.... I'll say no more on that.

We had our group photo (at the top of the post) and went for drinks at the Riverside Tea Rooms. I'd brought a flask of coffee so didn't need to queue and had the chance to take a few photos. It was a beautiful sunny spring day and Orford Ness is just across the water here.

The mysterious pagodas. Read my blogs on Orford Ness using the links at the end of this post to discover more about them.

Time to get walking.

Orford castle..

..and church, about which more later.

The splendid castle. - read about the recent conservation work here.

Now we were on new paths for me. We passed Sudbourne Park. The manor of Sudbourne dates from Saxon times. "The manor house, originally known as Chapmans, was built by Sir Michael Stanhope in 1621, and became Sudbourne Hall. The Hall was rebuilt in 1784 in Palladian style and the estate was bought in 1871 by Sir Richard Wallace MP who organized famous shoots in the 1870s for, among others, Edward, Prince of Wales. He also refaced the building with brick, built the stable courtyard in 1875 and laid out the gardens to the south.

In 1909 the Estate was bought by the wealthy industrialist Sir Kenneth MacKenzie Clark who held lavish shooting parties in the pre-war years 1909-14, employing two dozen gamekeepers and shooting as many as 6000 pheasants in a day. His son, also Kenneth MacKenzie Clark b.1903 ( later to be the famous critic, art historian and broadcaster), lived in the house as a boy at this time, and was brought up largely by servants and nannies as his parents lived an extravagant lifestyle in London, Monte Carlo and on their yachts in the Mediterranean.

After the war the economic situation was more difficult even for those as wealthy as Clarke, and the estate was sold off piecemeal in 1917, 1918 and 1926. The Forestry Commission bought much of the land in the 1920s.

The whole area of Sudbourne was closed for tank training in the second world war, with the Hall becoming the Officers' mess. After the war the Hall was in poor repair and was demolished in 1951.

The remaining wings of the house, and the courtyard buildings and game larder were converted in the 1980s into residential units, now known as Sudbourne Park. "

Onwards through the estate towards Chillesford.

I recognised these trees and piglet fence from our recent Gromford walk, although we were going in the opposite direction then.

Turning southwards to head back towards Orford, we passed a house called the Iken Boot. Confusingly this is not the old pub of that name nor this refurbished cottage, but a "bespoke, contemporary replacement" bungalow - see here.

Shortly afterwards we came across these calves.

Our lunch stop was at the village hall in Sudbourne.

Back in Tunstall forest, we came across some lovely gorse bushes.

The striking All Saints, Sudbourne church is quite a distance from the village.

It was well worth visiting.

I liked these silhouettes in the window...

...and the beautifully restored hatchments.

We came to some lovely blossom...

and passed through the hedge to head downhill back towards the coast, getting a great view of Orford ness and the buildings of Cobra Mist, originally the site of an experimental Anglo-American military over-the-horizon radar, then more recently a broadcasting station for the BBC World Service.

Nearly back now, we could see Orford's St, Bartholemew's Church

We went inside to visit.

I remember there was someone practising on the organ the last time we were here. It was originally situated in the Turner Sims Hall in the University of Southampton. Read about it's restoration and installation here and here and a concert showcasing it here.