Friday, 30 January 2026

Ickworth Estate Walk and House Tour

Today's day out was close to home and very familiar territory - The  Ickworth Estate.

This was the invite from  Joyce.

"Friday Jan 30th. Hopefully another really good day out at Ickworth Estate. Members and Free Pass holders can park free. I have booked us in as a Group Booking under Joyce’s Weekly Walks, so please mention that at the ‘hut’ if you are questioned about membership or access. I have 2 coupons that will get 4 people into Ickworth (who would like a pass?). We will meet at Ickworth Coffee Shop at 10.15am as it opens at 10am. Arrive later (10.45am) if you wish to skip coffee. 

We will walk the 10km route around the park using their all-weather track. Then we will have lunch back at the café (or you can sit al fresco with yours). We then have a free tour called ‘behind the shutters’ at 1.45pm for 45 mins. They will accommodate 15 of us.  I went along to a free tour recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. Finish time 2.30pm ish. " .

This was the route of our walk. We went clockwise.

Here are few photos. It was raining when we arrived but, thankfully, cleared up while we were having our coffee and it was dry for our walk.


The cafe was still quite quiet.


Off we go to assemble for the walk.


Joyce explaining the route, although it was Squints who was leading us today.


The fairy lake.


The view was a bit murky.


We came to the monument.


Kate told us all about it.






We're still at the top of the hill but about to come down now.


We walked along the River Linnet.


I was the only one to stop here opposite this cottage to admire the snowdrops and winter aconites by the riverbank.





That left me a bit of catching up to do!


Back past the porter's lodge.



Assembling after lunch for the tour. There were a few more than the 15 of us, but the guides were happy to accommodate all of us.



We visited the entrance hall, library and dining room and were given the history of the house and family.







The marble statue is called The Fury of Athamas and is by John Flaxman (York 1755 - London 1826)


The library.




I wondered what the music was, but there was no composer name to be seen.



The dining room.




We finished with a visit downstairs past the cellar to the kitchen.






I think I might have a go at this recipe.






A great day out. Thank-you Joyce for organising and Squints for leading the walk.

You can download a GPX file of our 5.7 mile walk here.

Other related walks you can find on my blog include
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