Ashdon to Great Chesterford - Around Essex (10)

In two minds whether to continue my jaunt around the county this morning - looked like another lovely day but there was a particularly attractive-looking game of football on the TV at lunchtime!

Decided that if I walked quickly enough & the buses were kind I could be back in Saffron Walden for most of the second-half & certainly home in time for the late afternoon kick-off: with the clocks going back tonight it would have seemed an awful waste of daylight & sunshine not to venture out....!

Caught the first bus of the day back out to Ashdon & was walking before the early cloud had shifted
Chilly.... but not so for November!

Bragg's Mill was built by local carpenter, William Haylock, in 1857 & overlooks Ashdon village despite being closer to Steventon End

Splendidly restored by Ashdon Windmill Trust Ltd (the mill was gifted to the village in 2000), the new sails were fitted in 2006

Song of the Day (an occasional series!): fans of late 1960s 'bubblegum' music may recall 'Magic Windmill' by The 1910 Fruitgum Company I can honestly say that the tune hadn't crossed my mind for well over 40 years.... but, suddenly, there it was!

Essex from Cambridgeshire - walking the county boundary near Bartlow

Had felt a little guilty about 'scrumping' on my last outing but passed enough well-endowed apple trees today to keep a whole supermarket-chain going for a week or two!
Apple of the Day: the one captured from a tree hanging over the footpath at Steventon End - not the one that fell & hit me on the head as I sank my teeth into its friend!

Highlight of the Day: Roman Burial Mounds at Bartlow Hills
Largest group of Roman Barrows in Northern Europe - a secluded & quite phenomenal site yet, somehow, the Great Eastern Railway managed to drive a line through here, unhindered, in 1857!


With the railway long gone, the mounds, too, seem to be disappearing into woodland

Originally there were 7 mounds but only 4 are obvious nowadays; the highest is, astonishingly, over 50' in height & has a wooden staircase to help visitors to its summit!
Excavated in the early 19th century, many of the most precious relics were taken to Easton Lodge in Dunmow where they were destroyed by fire in 1847

Quite happy to include these as a highlight as they used to be in Essex until one night in 1990 when they upped roots & moved into Cambridgeshire.... courtesy of yet more boundary changes!









Definitely back into Essex - the village sign confirms that!
Though I do understand there are more boundary changes planned - must cost a fortune in new village-signs alone!

Beer of the Day: 'Strisselspalt', a single hop ale from the Buntingford Brewery - a hop that just happens to be French grown
Pale, with a strong hoppy flavour, the notes suggest it is likely to appeal to lager-drinkers; if lagers tasted as good as this I wouldn't be averse to sampling a few more! Enjoyed this!

'The Kings Head' appears to have had something of a checkered history since my last visit
I was here several years ago on the very day that a new landlady & family were arriving; the current incumbents moved in during January 2011 & between there were several other publicans & several periods of closure
With a succesful Beer Festival during the Summer, Live Music  & good real ales perhaps this might be a turning point for this very good village pub


The Church of St Botolph stands impressively on a small hill above Hadstock



Parts of the building date back to the 11th century while the Saxon door is the oldest still in use in a British church; legends that the door was once covered with the flayed skin of a marauding Viking have proved to be unfounded.... though it's a good story!

Another feature of the village sign is the World War II airfield on Hadstock Common, officially known as RAF Station Little Walden
Returned to agricultural use in 1958, these are the only aircraft you'll see here now!

Essex Way, Stour Valley Path, Silken Threads.... now the Icknield Way - oldest of the lot!
Following England's chalk ridge it runs from Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire to Knettishall Heath in Norfolk along ancient &, in some cases, prehistoric pathways

A good area of the county for village-signs though this one at Great Chesterford is looking a little faded!

Arrived here 10 minutes before my bus was due so no time for a pint, especially as I hadn't a clue where the bus stopped or even from which direction it would approach! Great Chesterford has been here a long time & its geography is quite complicated!

Interesting footnote: in the 1630s the village was popular as a stopover for those travelling to Newmarket races, Charles I was a regular visitor. Drunken behaviour by race-goers on one particular Easter Sunday led to a ban on Sunday horse-racing which stood for well over 300 years!

Well, ended up at 'The Cross Keys' after all.... the only pub I could find in Saffron Walden showing football but they did manage to serve me this time! Arrived about 10 minutes into the second half only to find that I'd missed 5 goals! Did see another 3 before the end - cracking stuff & a good decision!

15th century building  & 2 of the ground-floor windows on the corner are original!

Steeple Bumpstead to Ashdon - Around Essex (9)

Yet another fine day with November just around the corner!

Les away in Dublin with Jamie, Kirstie & Andy &, by all accounts, needing their water-wings just to cross the road!
Rain forecast here for this afternoon which influenced my plans a little: bus from Saffron Walden to Steeple Bumpstead, short walk finished by lunchtime & a bus back to the car from Ashdon
As can be seen from the photos, the sky was even clearer at the end & I spent an excellent afternoon wandering around Saffron Walden in gloriously warm sunshine!

Steeple Bumpstead's Moot Hall is recorded in the Domesday Book though the current building wasn't constructed until 1592, by local villagers
Originally housing the school, it now occupies rather a strange traffic-island!

From one Bumpstead to another!
Took a slightly circuitous but attractive route over the fields to Helions Bumpstead & then along the lane via Wiggens Green & the wonderfully-named Pale Green
One day I'll walk here & Pale Green Cottage will be painted accordingly!
Good to see 'The Three Horseshoes' still thriving - much too early for a pint today but it's provided welcome refreshment on several occasions in the past

First sortie over the border into Cambridgeshire... but only by a few hundred yards! Pinched an apple from a tree hanging over the lane & marched on through Olmstead Green, feeling quite guilty as I passed a man vacuuming his tennis court, but if he'd seen me he didn't let on!
A 'high-point' in the south-east of the County with Castle Camps' All Saints Church in the background & Shudy Camps' water tower just visible on the horizon

Had been talking about rare breeds &, more specifically, ostrich burgers in the pub last night & suddenly I bumped into some of their relatives!





These are rheas from the Oakview Pork & Poultry Farm near Camps End - there were some interesting-looking pigs, too, but they were less inclined to pose!





Arrived in Ashdon with what I thought was excellent timing: bang on midday & 29 minutes until my bus was due to leave.... from right outside the pub!
The 'Rose & Crown' wasn't open & displayed no opening times, though lights were on & dogs were out in the yard
At 12:24 the front door opened & someone emerged, yawning, to visit the shop next door.... my patience is wearing thin

Back in Saffron Walden I tried 'The Cross Keys', advertising food, football & Real Ales & it was quite busy - the only problem was that there was nobody serving!
After a couple of minutes standing at a deserted bar I went off in search of anyone who really wanted business....
Ended up here at 'The Kings Arms': bacon & brie baguette, excellent pint of tried & trusted 'Doom Bar' (Beer of the Day & not for the first time) one of 3 ales on draught, friendly & cheerful service.... now it can't really be that difficult!

Before I retired my visits to Saffron Walden always involved hours confined in the Teachers' Centre, usually in the middle of Summer - I remember several enthralling sessions in 1986 when I discovered all about the introduction of GCSE English
Lovely to see the town has another side!

Learned about local philanthropists, the Gibson family; bankers & brewers who gifted many fine buildings, gardens & statues to the town including this ornate drinking fountain, erected in 1863 to commemorate the marriage of the Prince of Wales to Princess Alexandra of Denmark

Amazing turf-cut maze! Largest in Europe & a designated Ancient Monument!

Its original date of cutting is unknown but it's first recorded in 1699 when it was recut - a task repeated in 1828, 1841 & 1859 before being laid with bricks in 1911

35 metres in diameter & over 1500 metres in length, it's based on a variation of the medieval labyrinth pattern: one of those occasions when I needed to be young enough to climb a tree to see this at its best!

Half-term week so I waited patiently to catch it as quiet as this - the 2 teenage girls were dancing & skipping around the pattern.... this was their second circuit!

     Ruins of Saffron Walden Castle

Built in the mid-12th century by the de Mandevilles, Earls of Essex

Met a couple from Norwich here, also doing 'The Town Trail' - they'd seen the same forecast as me & couldn't understand where all the sunshine was coming from!

Highlight of the Day: I'm no great fan of gardens but Bridge End kept me occupied for an inordinate amount of time with something different or unusual around every hedge!
The ornamental garden is only one of 7 interlinked gardens & to this are added a maze, summer-houses, memorials, playing-fields & goodness only knows what else! Magical afternoon!

I entered the gardens along what appears to be nothing grander than an alleyway signposted to the Fry Art Gallery
Unfortunately closed today, it houses a collection of work by the Great Bardfield artists
A reason to return......
Beyond the small gallery the gardens suddenly open up!

Dutch garden, rose garden, kitchen garden, wilderness area.... if only I'd had the sense to pick up a leaflet at Tourist Information!
This would never have happened on LeJog!

Summer-house & lovely, south-facing, lawned garden..... & not a soul in sight!
Could have been my own back garden!

Memorial Garden to American airmen & local people killed during World War II, right alongside the Anglo-American playing fields where this summer's Maze Festival included spiral dancing & a knitted maze!

Couldn't resist popping into the 15th century 'Eight Bells' for a mid-Trail pint!
Actually seduced by the wonderful sign as much as anything!
On the bridge outside 'The Eight Bells' is a memorial to Chief Constable, William Campling, 'shot to death in November 1849... near this spot'

Myddylton Place, built as shop, home & warehouse in the 1490s

The sack-hoist in the roof was added in the early 19th century when the building was converted to maltings

 

Church of St Mary the Virgin

Largest Parish Church in Essex & built on the wealth of the saffron trade from which the town takes its name
Largely rebuilt in the early 16th century, the spire was added in 1832 making the tower an impressive 193' in height!

My favourite feature of the church? A series of 9 small medieval brasses set into an interior wall
The church guide states that they were once attached to tombs that have 'disappeared'!

'The Old Sun Inn' & associated dwellings, dating from the 14th century & originally built as homes & shops
Now an antique & second-hand bookshop, a cursory glance suggests the exterior is more valuable than its contents!
Wonderfully decorative pargetting but after strolling around the rest of the town it's easy to become blase!

And to think I only ended up here because I thought it was going to rain!

Clare to Steeple Bumpstead - Around Essex (8)

Complicated start to the day to make this a linear walk rather than a circular! Parked in Steeple Bumpstead, took one of their few buses to Haverhill & then caught another to Clare... all before I started walking!

Highlight of the Day: What? So soon?!! And on such a good day? Quite right!
Met a lady at the bus stop in Steeple Bumpstead who was able to tell me I was waiting in the correct place, despite the website telling me the bus left from Chapel Street in a completely different part of the village!
She'd been brought up in Braintree, lived on Coggeshall Road, & went to Alec Hunter! We spent 10 minutes or so chatting about John Jemison, Pete Youngman, Jean Wilson - people I worked with when I first came to Essex! Lovely start to the day

No football to rush back for today so spent a little time wandering around Clare
This is the old railway station, preserved as part of Clare Country Park: still on the Stour Valley Line & I would be rejoining it closer to Sturmer
Closed, like many others, by Beeching in 1967

The Country Park also embraces this 11th century Norman motte & bailey Castle - not a lot to see but in the 14th century this was the home of Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, one of the richest women in England

Old Goods Shed at Clare Station, now the Park Visitors' Centre
The crane is authentic but it's not a Clare original! It spent its working life in the Goods Yard at Glemsford station, a couple of stops down the line, before being 'salvaged' by a local farmer!
Donated to the park by his son in 2004

Looks like Mum has been feeding these'ugly ducklings' from her own plate!
Shortage of early morning visitors so they made a bee-line for me!

         Clare Priory Church
The Priory is again home to a community of 7 Augustinian monks after over 400 years in private ownership, while the church is home to the tombs of Royalty!
Elizabeth de Clare was the grand-daughter of Edward I; Elizabeth de Burgh married Edward III's youngest son

Couldn't resist these mad-March boxing hares on top of 'Stable Cottage' in Stoke-by-Clare

Small village dominated by its Independent School, Stoke College
Originally named 'Grenville', it was founded in 1954 by 2 teacher-training lecturers from Bingley! In 1973 it assumed the name of the 15th century college for priests which once stood on the site

Unusual memorial in Stoke-by-Clare cemetery
I've photographed this before & it won't be long before the simple message is indecipherable

It reads:

NIKOLAI

SABLIN

Born in Russia

Dec 20th 1898

Died at Stoke

Easter Day 1969

A Beloved

Physician

Left & Below: Baythorne Park Estate
The house was built in the 17th century by the Pyke family & came into the hands of the intriguingly-named King Viall in the mid-19th



One of his tenants was farmer, George Jarvis Unwin, founder of the still-trading Unwin Grain Company whose family continue to live here!

'The Swan' at Baythorne End.... or so it was when we moved to Braintree
I remember stopping here on several food & flower foraging expeditions when collecting ingredients for home-made wine!
Was an antiques shop for many years but now appears to have retired completely!

Another fine old Baythorne building converted to a private house Baythorne Mill was built on the Stour in the 18th century, the steam engine house & chimney being added in the 19th

Now this offended my sensibilities a little! Why on earth was this quiet stretch of the Stour Valley, close to Boyton End's vineyard being carved up... & why didn't I know anything about it?!
Well, now I know - it's not a major new road after all but part of the Abberton Project to keep Essex supplied with fresh water!

Abberton Reservoir, close to Colchester, is being expanded & this is one of the pipelines to supply it with 'new' water, imported from Norfolk's Ouse river system
The water will enter the Stour at Wixoe, close to the lovely mill above, & flow all the way to the Wormingford pumping station.... which I'd seen under construction just before Bures
Northumbrian Water! Remember?!

       Momentous occasion
Crossing the Stour for the last time & leaving behind the river that has been my constant companion since I began this walk in Harwich
The Stour Valley Path can be followed northwards to Newmarket.... maybe another day!

Quick lunch at 'The Red Lion', Sturmer - long time since I stopped here, a row of 15th century cottages converted to a pub in the 19th
Very good bacon baguette but they were out of real ale so I settled for a fine pint of Aspalls Cider

Beer of the Day: a bottle of Crouch Vale's 'Brewers Gold' when I reached home! A favourite of mine from the South Woodham Brewery (I'll be there later on this walk!), sampled often both on draught & in bottles! Pale, hoppy & fruity - worth trying if you stumble across it!

In leaving Sturmer I was also leaving behind the Suffolk border; my next flirtation will be with Cambridgeshire!

This is the fishing-lake at Sturmer Hall; hotel, conference centre & popular wedding venue

Final approach to Steeple Bumpstead took me across wide open fields where way-finding was a little tricky... the scattering deer didn't seem to have much idea where they were going either!

Farewell to the Stour, the Suffolk border &, also, the network of disused railway lines I've wandered
No more, now, than a hump in the middle of farmland, this bridge once carried the Colne Valley & Halstead line into Haverhill: at its eastern end it linked with the still-operating Marks Tey to Sudbury line I used a few walks ago!

Ann: hadn't realised that about the Clare picture when I took it but I see what you mean!
The thing I'm enjoying about watching City at the moment (strictly as a neutral, you understand!) is how simple their football is; nothing over-elaborate but sharp & incisive - good stuff!