No public transport so it had to be a circular walk: outwards along the Stour Valley Path so, actually over the border in Suffolk, and then returning along the Essex Way; into the wind pre-lunch with the gale pushing us along on our way back to the car!
Us? That's right - joined by Les for this one.... with the promise of lunch out in Dedham!
Edme Maltings in Mistley, producing malt for the food & brewing industries for over 120 years
Wonderful smell at both the start & end of the walk!
I finished the first leg here as well; the Essex Way passing through the workyard on marked footways
A little earlier in its history Mistley was more famous in the 17th century as a happy hunting ground for failed lawyer & self-proclaimed 'Witchfinder General', Matthew Hopkins
Too early for a beer at one of his haunts, 'The Thorn', we went off to see the swans... the reason lots of people come here now!
Started with a replica!
Amazingly, this fountain dates from the 18th century when local MP, Richard Rigby had extravagant plans to turn Mistley into a spa town
In the early days of the maltings the brick building to the right was the main maltings office
One from the Archives!Jamie, Kirstie & Lee when they walked here with me on the Coastals!
Saturday 18th April 1992 - Les was packing for some educational jaunt in Germany!
Another Rigby-relic! Robert Adam remodelled the existing Parish Church for Rigby with these impressive towers; the church lasted barely a hundred years before subsidence led to its demolition
Maltings, the sailing barges at Mistley Quay, the towers & swans.... just about says it all
Unless, however, you remember the furore caused a couple of years ago when Trent Wharfage erected fencing preventing access to what had been a public wharf for hundreds of years (anything between 200 & 500 years dependent upon the source) resulting in local demonstrations & arrests
I'd assumed the issue had been resolved but homes looking onto the mesh fence, & the estuary, still bear 'Free Mistley Quay' banners.... & there's still no access! Thought about the years it took walkers to win Kinder Scout......
Highlight of the Day: found the real swans at last! Numbers are around 250, which sounds & looks like a lot of swans until you realise that in the 1950s there were a thousand - the second largest herd in Britain after Abbotsbury.... and 'herd' is the correct collective noun!
At the head of the Stour estuary &, to a certain extent, its attractiveness depends upon the state of the tide!
Today it was excellent, with waves lapping at the foot of the sea-wall as we took the short-cut beneath railway lines to the Suffolk border
Uninteresting footnote: Margaret Thatcher lived in Manningtree & worked as a research chemist at BX Plastics after graduating from Oxford
Flatford Mill : now this would have been the highlight of the day but, being in Suffolk, it didn't seem quite appropriate when I'm supposed to be walking around Essex
Besides, there were too many people! A Monday in October? There are times when it seems like the whole world has retired.....
Willy Lott's Cottage which, contrary to popular belief, is the building that appears in Constable's 'Hay Wain'
Bridge Cottage, Flatford Mill
16th century thatched cottage, close to Flatford Mill & home to a cafe & National Trust exhibitions
Just to the left is Flatford Lock, constructed when the Stour was still navigable, & a dry dock where barges were built
Lots of superbly-preserved & beautiful buildings but, for me, walking in 'Constable Country' is more about the trees... look at the paintings! I can see more of Constable in this than in the refurbished end of Willy Lott's Cottage
First time we walked here was at the end of the 1970s, shortly after our move to Essex
The riverbank was littered with demolished elms, victims of disease, & what looked like butchered willows
Lovely to see the willows thriving......
Never seen the Stour so full.... &, yes, it looks perfectly navigable!
Heading towards Dedham & lunch - look at all those people!
Stopped here for a beer on many excursions to Dedham & have, occasionally, had lunch
Today: peppered steak pie, chips & vegetables; Les had Thai cod & prawn fishcake with chilli dip
Best pub meal I've had in a while!
Beer of the Day: Wychwood's 'Hobgoblin', an old favourite but not easy to find on draught - excellent reddish bitter, smoother & longer-lasting flavour than the bottled version... I like that!
'The Ascension' - Constable
One of his only three religious works, painted by commission for St Michael's Church in Manningtree & moved to Dedham's St Mary's when its original home was demolished
Constable walked to school every day in Dedham, probably along the path we'd just followed, & Dedham's church features in many of his paintings
Church of St Mary, Dedham
The tower is an enormous 131' in height & may have been paid for by the mother of Henry VII.... my first experience of its overwhelming size was sitting on the grass, just about here, & watching a very competitive game of village cricket, probably in 1979!
On our first visit to Dedham back in 1979, when my Mum & Dad had come to Braintree for the first time, there was more to the plan than just cricket on the village green! We'd walked to Flatford Mill & called in at the 'Marlborough Head' but our final call was at the 'Shire Horse Centre', now long-closed. Here's a memorial to two of the horses we may well have seen on that visit
Trapalanda? A mythological Patagonian horse-heaven where the mountains open to a land of plains & fields......
Welcome back to the blog! Just enjoyed reading up on your latest ventures. Another set of great pictures and wonderful weather. Look forward to the next one! Glen
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