Glemsford Walk

Today we had a circular walk from Glemsford Village Hall via Boxted Church,  Hartest and Giffords Hall vineyard.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Wednesday July 8th Please park at Glemsford New Village Hall CO10 7RH for a prompt 10am start. I recced this walk recently and was reminded just how beautiful The Glem Valley is with great views all round. We will walk over to Boxted Church which will be nice and cool and have a drink stop here and then onto Hartest for a stop at the pub (opens midday) and our packed lunch. After lunch, we will be passing Giffords Hall Vineyard which should be open for us to see for a few moments. I am always interested in home grown enterprises. The walk is 9 miles but quite undulating. Pls remember that some footpaths may be a bit more overgrown at the moment due to crops and there is some meadow grass on this walk too. If you need to cut the walk short then that is no problem either. "  

This was our route today.

Here are some of my photos.

Off we go. There were 13 of us today.

We were soon in among the crops. There will be some harvesting soon, I think.

We passed the Glemsford village sign.

We wondered what the significance of these little figures in the sign was. As is explained here, "...In the centre of the sign is a group of Morris dancers, known as the Morris Dancers of Little Egypt set up in 1992."

There are lots for field bindweed flowers out at the moment, sometimes, as here, in great swathes.

I liked this thatched cottage and its garden

A helicopter buzzed us briefly.

We passed Chequers House, a Grade II* listed timber-framed building, on our last walk here too. 

We're out of Glemsford now and heading for Boxted Church. Here I'm looking back the way we came...

...and forward to Boxted church.

Holy Trinity, Boxted church was open and gave us a chance to get out of the sun. 

As the Historic England listing for the church says...

"A small but interesting church built of flint and stone, mainly of the C15. The west tower has stone rusticated quoins and a castellated parapet. The chancel has interesting Jacobean hammer beam roof trusses and there is a fine octagonal pulpit with tester and a parclose screen with balusters, arches and achievements, of the same period. The communion rail is three sides with twisted balusters.

The church contains many fine monuments including painted wood effigies on a table tomb and memorials to members of the Poley family of Boxted Hall, in the C18 north east chapel. These include an alabaster monument erected in 1725 to Sir John Poley d 1638 and Dame Abigal, it has full size standing figures in niched arches and pediments. At the west end of the nave there are two C16 pews. Graded for its architectural and historical value."

You can see a nice set of photos and some of the history of the church in Simon Knott's Suffolk Churches description here.

We found the interesting statue of Sir John Weller-Poley. Can you spot the golden frog earring.

Can you spot the golden frog earring?

It is a bit of a mystery, as described here.

Her are a couple more pictures of the church.

As we carried on, we got a view of Boxted Hall, home, of the Weller-Poley family since 1392.

Feverfew is another flower that is widespread at the moment.

Just after crossing the River Glem we came to our second village sign of the day.

As it says here.... "The sign is surmounted by two helms and a lion. One honouring Sir John Poley, the other Sir Edward Hallifax-Weller-Poley, the Poley family crest, combined. Beneath and central are two box trees, relating to the village name, with a farmer and horse ploughing. To the left side are a brace of English grey partridges and a cock pheasant on the right. The name-board is decorated with two Tudor Roses."

Onwards now towards Hartest.

We had a welcome shady path for a while...

...that emerged at The Crown, a favourite stop during or after walks in the area.

We arrived the about 11:40 and the pub usually opens at 12, but Joyce went in and told the barman she had 12 thirsty walkers with her and asked if he could serve us. Of course he could! And furthermore, in addition to the drinks we bought at the bar, he provided 5 carafes of ice-cold water.

Time to start the return route to Glemsford.

We soon came to Giffords Hall Vineyard.

As their website says "Giffardes Farm was documented as early as 1408 and has experienced a few spelling changes before it became the Giffords Hall Vineyard we know today. Our first vines were planted in 1986. Since then the Vineyard has expanded to over 35 acres across two sites in West Suffolk."

Although we weren't expected, Viktoriia Kolesnyk, the chief winemaker, welcomed us and gave an impromptu tour of the winery and talk about the vineyard and wines.

Wines are made using both stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels. While the aromatic wines are usually fermented in stainless steel to preserve varietal characteristics, others are lees aged in barrel to bring a higher level of expression and complexity. 

Each of the tanks has a name. Viktoriia drew off a glass of the Bacchus for us to sample. It is one of the wines from last year's harvest that is about to go for fining and bottling.

We were also given a sample of the Rondo red wine to try. They also make wine from Pinot Noir grapes too. It is not a grape variety I had come across before. The tasting notes for it are..

"Aged in new French oak barrel, the wine reveals aromas of ripe red berries, subtle plum, and soft floral hints. The palate is smooth and structured, with fresh fruit flavours balanced by gentle tannins and a clean, lingering finish. Approachable yet elegant, this wine pairs beautifully with a wide range of dishes."

Delicious!

Viktoriia generously allowed us to have our packed lunches at the picnic tables at the front.

They have a shop, which we visited, but I didn't buy anything as I didn't have room in my little rucksack.

Now for the last leg back to the start. It was getting quite hot now.

Some more widlflowers...

Scabious....

...and bird's foot trefoil.

The Suffolk prairie.

We had a bit more up and down to go yet.

Recrossing the River Glem.

It has a hot climb up to Glemsford church. I was beginning to struggle now.

I was glad of the tap in the church to refill my now-empty water bottles.

Then it was back through the village....

...to the village hall where we started.

A great day out, with some lovely stops. Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and to everyone else for the additional company.

You can find more details of our 10 mile route here on MapMyWalk or here on OS Maps (or download a GPX file here) and more of my photos here on Flickr

Other related walks you can find on my blog include

• Bury St Edmunds Ramblers Walk - Glemsford (Aug 2018)
• Suffolk Walking Festival Wool Towns Challenge Walk - Day 4 (May 2023)
• Long Melford Walk (May 2023)
• Glemsford Walk (Jun 2023) 
• Glemsford Walk (Sep 2023)
• Long Melford Walk (May 2026)