Autumn Walking

You might have realised that I love walking.  Sadly at this time of year walking opportunities are fewer due to dark evenings but I have had a couple of lovely walks recently.

A few Saturdays ago I went over to one of my favourite places, Marks Hall Arboretum.  I walked up towards the lake,

and then around on the Millennium walk, along the bottom edge of the lake,

up to the memorial site where I'd heard the autumn colour was especially good.

The memorial site is a memorial to the serviceman who were stationed at Marks Hall during the 2nd world war - the colours in the acers were stunning.

This is acer rubrum 'October Glory'.  And it was living up to its name!

Then I walked back through the woods to the walled garden.

From the walled garden the views over the lake were lovely.

Later that same week my cousin and his wife, who now live in America, came to visit.  They wanted to walk on the Sudbury water meadows and we had a glorious day for a 4.5 mile circular route.

We walked along the river Stour, across the meadows the the Salmon Leap (no salmon in the river nowadays as far as I know!),

with time for a quick selfie

before walking back home along the river.  

Two great walks, hopefully to be repeated again very soon!

After the Storm Came the Calm

Today has been a day of almost constant rain and storms.  Then suddenly it cleared and left a beautiful evening so I went for a walk along the river Stour to the Sudbury.  No more words are required, just enjoy the pictures of my stunningly beautiful Suffolk. (click on any image to enlarge it)

Beautiful isn't it.

Connections

Question - what is the connection between Mr and Mrs Andrews, a military orchid and a zeppelin raid in Suffolk? Don't know? No nor did I until a couple of weeks ago.  I'll explain.

Mr and Mrs Andrews, above as painted by Thomas Gainsborough, had a son, Joseph. Joseph was a botanist and an apothecary and his preserved plant and herbarium is the oldest in existence and is now housed in the Natural History Museum in London. Within that collection is the military orchid.

Military orchids are extremely rare and are only found in two areas of the UK including this part of Suffolk.  They grow on chalk.

Now I've lived in this areas for 22 years and I wouldn't have associated it with chalk.  What I did know though was that there are some very steep and out of character 'cliffs' throughout Sudbury and a couple of weeks ago a friend and I went to hear a fascinating talk about the chalk pits of Sudbury which explained it all!

The speaker explained how there had been 11 chalk pits in Sudbury and Great Cornard. Most of the pits had kilns to burn the chalk to produce lime and at one time the railway had sidings going into the pits to transport the chalk.  There were tales of possible tunnels between the pits too and of a zeppelin raid due to the glow from the kilns causing the pilot to think it was a far bigger town that it really was!

Today I walked a footpath between 2 of the pits, I wonder how many of the residents of this housing estate realise that they're living in an old quarry.  See the chimneys at the top of the picture? That house is on the original ground level.

On the other side of the footpath I could see the measures put in by Sainsbury's to hold up the cliff edge behind their store, which was build in a neighbouring pit, that's the roof of the store in the foreground.

Apparently if you go back in time far enough Sudbury was a coastal area and the cliffs would have resembled those of Dover.

As I was walking back from the footpath I saw this beautiful blossom - a real sign of spring :-)

The Talbot Trail

Earlier on this week I rediscovered (as I had known about it before but had forgotten) a trail around my home town of Sudbury called the Talbot Trail.  It's a trail for children really and has 14 miniature bronze statutes on red posts around the town representing interesting facts about the history of the town.  It starts in the town centre; outside St Peter's Church is Pongo from 101 Dalmatians.  

In the story by Dodie Smith Pongo and Perdita stop in Sudbury to drink from the drinking fountain (which is still outside the church and about to be renovated) whilst searching for the puppies.

In the market place is Blondin - a famous (I'd not heard of him!) high wire artist who, in 1872, visited Sudbury and pushed a member of the public in a wheelbarrow across a rope suspended above the road!

I walked down roads that I usually drive along and saw things I'd never noticed before, like this lovely entrance way to a house,

this sign painted on a wall advertising the fact that a general engineer and millwright once worked there,

and this passage way 

which is intriguingly called 'Laundry Gardens' (I'll have to find out the history of that).

I found Amicia, daughter of the Earl of Gloucester who married into the de Clare family in the 12th century and brought her wealth to Sudbury,

and dancing bears who were brought to the town by victorian showmen to entertain the locals!

After a quick walk over the water meadows 

and up towards the croft I found good old Simon of Sudbury (complete with ladybirds!).

Simon became the Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of the Exchequer during the 14th Century.

Sadly for Simon he ended up being decapitated in 1381 during the Peasants' Revolt and his head was brought back to Sudbury!

I'm not really sure why it's called the Talbot Trail, apart from the fact that a talbot is a type of dog owned by Simon of Sudbury and depicted on the Sudbury town sign.

On my way round I happened to pass Oxfam and bought 2 jugs for the grand total of £4.98

and a bunch of carnations for £1.50 from the market - nice and cheery.

It's a nice little trail and I enjoyed walking down streets I've not walked down before, before walking home in the fading light along the riverbank.

Walking in the Steps of Ancestors

Today was a glorious day, the kind of day that calls out for a long walk.  So that's exactly what I did, a wonderful circular walk along the Suffolk Essex border.  I walked from home down to the river Stour and along towards Sudbury,

across Friar's Meadow in Sudbury,

and onto the old railway line.

Nowadays the train line terminates at Sudbury, just running up and down to connect with the main line services to London at Marks Tey, but in the past this line would have taken people up to Long Melford and then on to either Bury St Edmunds or Haverhill and Cambridge.

After a short walk I left the railway line and was on the Sudbury water meadows where I came across this rather magnificent grey heron.

I walked past the old bathing pool

and across the water meadows towards Brundon Mill.

I was amazed that on this glorious day in 1/2 term that there was hardly anyone about, but it was nice to have it to myself!

At the mill the swans came to greet me.

My route then rejoined the old railway line and as I walked under some wonderful old bridges I couldn't help but think about my great great uncle David Ward, who lived in Long Melford until 1940.  He part owned the foundry there, Ward and Silver, and would have travelled by train along this very line many many times, passing under the same bridges.

I was coming back towards Sudbury now, glimpses of buildings visible from the edges of the railway line, scenes that haven't really changed since he would have travelled the same route.

Soon I was back at Friar's Meadow where the trees are just starting to turn autumn colours,

past the willow damaged in last winter's gales, bent over but not snapped, 

and back along the river to home.

If any of you are interested in walking some of this same route, the middle section was the Meadow Walk, part of the Gainsborough Trail - details of which can be found here.