Ickworth - Off The Beaten Track (5-6 miles)

Ickworth house and park belongs to the National Trust.  It is free to walk in the extensive grounds.

This route is taken from the website (Off the Beaten Track walk).  I have copied and pasted their instructions as they were pretty good. We ended up walking a bit more due to the field in the section 8 being overgrown (hubby had shorts on and didn't relish being bitten!) and no diagonal path being obvious so we went carried on rather than turning left and followed the wood around the field until we reached the stile .

We also stopped off at the Walled Garden to see the spectacular wild flower meadows. I think from some of the seed heads we might have been a week or two late for the peak but it was still stunning nonetheless.

Wild flowers in the Walled Garden, Ickworth

Lunch was at the restaurant. Slightly disappointing after great previous visits. They have changed the menu and it is not table service any more which means big queues at the counter and a long wait for our food, which seemed overpriced now compared to other NT places we visit.

Route:

1. From the Porter’s Lodge visitor centre take the path opposite towards the Albana Wood, follow the path going through two 5 bar gates. Just after going through the second gate take the path to the right at the small ‘Albana Wood’ stone. Stay on this path until you reach the large green Trim Trail sign, then turn right following the trim trail.

2. As the trim trail goes down a left hand slope and you reach a junction, turn right off the trim trail and leave the woods into an open field. Follow the path down the side of the field with the trees on your right and cross the brook on the wooden bridge.

Sheep at Ickworth

3. Once across the brook, turn right on to the wide track, and shortly through a 5-bar gate. Follow this track until you reach the next 5 bar gate where you will see a cottage beyond the gate and a bridge to your right. Do not go through the gate but turn left and walk up the hill until you intersect the main track and turn left towards Dairy Wood Cottage.

Dairy Wood, Ickworth

4. As you approach the cottage, turn left across the grass and go through the gate in the corner of the field into Dairy Wood. Stay on this track and don’t take any turns or junctions. You will exit the wood briefly and keep on the track as it re-enters near the edge of the wood. The next paragraph covers the loop into Twist and Horsepool wood, so if you wish you could carry straight on, missing out step 5 and re-joining the walk just a few metres further on at the start of step 6.

5. Very soon after you have re-entered the wood look for a barely discernable track/fork to your right. Follow this track which has a ditch on your left as you go gently up hill. Just before you exit the wood cross the ditch to your left and follow the track through the woods. Take the right fork when you intercept another path and you will eventually meander next to some stagnant ponds to your left (great habitat). Keep going until you reach the main path cross roads; turn left for a short distance and left again on a ‘main path’ effectively doubling back into the same woods. Keep on this path until you exit the woods.

Dairy Wood, Ickworth

6. As the path leaves the wood, you will see a clear path between the cropped fields going downhill. Follow the path between the fields to the wide track at the bottom and then turn right. Stay on the wide track for a while. Shortly after passing the ‘White House’ on your right you come to a cross roads. Go straight across the cross roads (stone bridge to your left/cattle grid to your right) following the grass track.

Ickworth Park

7. With the Walled Garden and Canal lake on your left, turn right through the gate approximately at the centre line of the gardens (opposite the summer house), and head up the hill towards the wood-line of Lownde Wood. On reaching the wood, turn left and walk along the front of the wood with the Canal and gardens at the bottom of the slope and to your left.

8. After approximately one third of a mile, you will reach the meeting of a number of fences and gates; go through the gate into the field beyond and then immediately left into the adjacent field. Go diagonally across this field to the opposite corner and cross over the stile onto the path and turn left back towards the walled garden.

Ickworth Park

9. Follow this track until you reach the Walled Garden and turn right keeping the wall of the garden to your left.

The Walled Garden, Ickworth

10. At the end of the Walled Garden take the main road past the church and back up towards the Rotunda and gardens. Go through the 5-bar gate turning immediately right, and enter the Italianate gardens. Enter the West Wing via the orangery and stagger to the restaurant where you definitely deserve a cake or pudding or two.

The official route on the Ickworth website is 5 miles
Our route was 6.25 miles
See the route on mapometer
Terrain: Grass and dirt tracks mostly, moderate climbs in places. Latch gates, kissing gate. Can be muddy in places in wet weather.
Habitats: Meadows, fields (animals grazing), woodland, lakes.
Facilities: Toilets and cafe at Porter's Lodge entrance and at the Rotunda. Rotunda toilets can also be accessed at the back.  Toilets also near the church.

Ickworth (South Pleasure Grounds) (4 miles)

Ickworth house and park belongs to the National Trust.  It is free to walk in the extensive grounds.

This route is taken from the website (South Pleasure Grounds walk).  I have copied and pasted their instructions as they were pretty good and added the odd note where I thought helpful.

1. Starting at the Porter's Lodge visitor reception take the path (on the right) towards the Walled Garden (and the church). You will pass a small pond on your right.

St Mary's Church, Ickworth

2. Just past the church, go straight ahead by turning off the hard road onto the grass path that leads
to the left of the Walled Garden. Go through the five bar gate and immediately bear left on the grass
path veering away from the brick wall. Within a couple of minutes you'll see our bird hide on your right.

3. Continue along this path past the bird hide (do not take the right fork when you come to it, just carry on), cross over the wooden foot bridge (and walk along wooden walkway) and take the right
hand fork in the path, climbing a short series of steps bringing you to the Fairy Lake.

Fairy Lake, Ickworth

4. Turn right at the Fairy Lake and continue along the footpath (pass The Round House) and take the second right turn marked Katharine's Wood.

5. In Katharine's Wood continue to the end of this path until you reach a cottage called Ivy Cottage.
Turn right at the cottage and follow this path until you get to the beginning of Lownde Wood. (Pause here to take in the view of the estate and the Rotunda)

Views of the park and rotunda

6. Enter Lownde Wood on the patch (the middle path) between the Lownde Wood and red footpath way marker.

7. In Lownde Wood follow the path which firstly bears right and then bears left. (Keep going!) On your left you will pass an observation post before coming to a clearing break. Cross over the clearing (keep the observation post on your left shoulder do not turn right - the path isn't well used or marked) and enter to wood again. On your right hand side you will come to a metal fence, continue on the path to a Y junction and take the right grassy footpath.

8. At the crossroads turn left and you will cross a small wooden bridge. Follow the dirt track which will
lead you to a small brick bridge at the corner of the field. Keep following the path, passing a rusty,
corrugated and ruined metal cabin on your right.

9. At the next junction turn right and follow the path until you reach a T junction where you'll see an
observation post. Turn right and go through the gate into the field.

10. As soon as you're through the gate turn right and follow the wood line for a short time keeping it to
your right, until you can see the Rotunda in the distance ahead of you.

11. Leave the wood line and head across the field towards the Rotunda passing laid down tree trunks
and passing through a gate on your way. You're heading for a kissing gate (in the distance at the bottom right hand corner of the field) which is lined up with the centre of the Walled Garden just beyond it.

12. Go through the kissing gate and turn left. Walk by the side of the Canal Lake and cross over the
decorative (wooden) foot bridge at the end of the lake.

13. Having crossed the foot bridge, keep the Walled Garden to your right and continue up the slope
to the hardened footpath. Turn right and retrace your steps on this path past the Church and back
towards your start point.

Our route was 3.9 miles
See the route on mapometer.com
Terrain: Flat, grass and dirt tracks mostly, moderate climb at the end. Latch gates, kissing gate, some steps.  Can be muddy in places in wet weather.
Habitats: Meadows, fields (animals grazing), woodland, lakes.
Facilities: Toilets and cafe at Porter's Lodge entrance and at the Rotunda. Rotunda toilets can also be accessed at the back.  Toilets also near the church.

Southwold to Walberswick, Suffolk (6.3 miles)

Although we have been to Southwold many times we’ve never been to Walberswick so we thought we’d do one of the popular walks in this area.  I had found various versions of it online and thought I had it all planned out but we did get lost - twice at least!  The map shows the version we ended up doing - we went wrong somewhere in the Walberswick nature reserve and never did walk through the reed beds as I had anticipated!  As we weren’t sure where we were, or how far we would have to go to eventually get back to the village, you’ll see we ended up doubling back while we could still see the church.  We stopped for lunch in The Anchor - a bit of a shame they don’t just do sandwiches but the fishcake and chips were lovely.  We both really liked pretty Walberswick, a contrast to the madness of Southwold at this time of year, so we will go back to get lost some more!

Although there is parking in various places around Southwold, we parked in a free car park on Ferry Road and because we needed a toilet stop and had just past one we went left towards Southwold first.  We then cut down a footpath that runs along side the road and comes out at the Harbour.  If you don’t need a toilet detour (and don’t worry we later found some at the Harbour - near the caravan site - anyway!) then take a right out of the car park and walk up to the end of Ferry Road.  

The ferry crossing from Southwold to Walberswick

Turn right down the harbour wall.  Here you will find the ferry if you wish to cross this way (the ferry operates in the summer only and closes for lunch). However, we walked alongside the River Blythe with its boats and fish shacks, passing The Harbour Inn, until we reached a metal bridge to cross over to Walberswick.  

Once over the bridge we carried straight on up a well-trodden track.  This will eventually become a tarmac surface.  We followed this until we came to the village.  Here instead of going into the village we followed the bridle way and then a pathway to the right going into the nature reserve.  It was around here, an open access area, we became unsure of which direction we were heading and how far it was going to be.  We followed a path through some heathland until we came to a bench in the corner on the left where we took stock and seeing that it was nearly lunch time decided to return back to the village. 

Once back on the road we followed Church Lane past St Andrew’s church and ruins turning left onto The Street.  We walked right down this road (no footpath) until we reached The Anchor on the right hand side where we stopped for lunch.

St Andrew's Church and ruins, Walberswick

After refreshments, we crossed the road and turned left past a few shops and the green and walked down Ferry Road.  At the car park we went left across the grass to get back to the ferry.  As this was closed for lunch we went left along the bank of the river until we reached the bridge.  Rather than walking down along the river again we took the bridle way on the right.  It runs alongside the harbour roadway and joins up with the Suffolk Coastal path we took in the morning.  We however, rejoined the harbour roadway at The Harbour Inn, and walked back to the car along the Ferry Road.

Our route was: 6.33 miles
See the route on mapometer.com 
Terrain: Flat
Habitat: Marshland, Heathland, Reed beds, Coastal, Harbour, River, Estuary, Village
Facilities: Toilets along Ferry Road and at the caravan park in Southwold, various shops, cafes, pubs in town.  The Harbour Inn Southwold side of the river.  The Anchor and The Bell in Walberswick village along with various cafes, tea rooms and shops.  Ferry crossing (summer months only, check opening hours)

Why not have a look at the rest of my photos from this walk, and also from previous visits to Southwold.

West Stow County Park, Suffolk (2.8 miles)

West Stow Country Park is situated in Suffolk, between Mildenhall and Bury St Edmunds and is part of the larger ‘Thetford Forest’ area.  The park is also home to West Stow Anglo Saxon Village.  

The country park has lots of available footpaths and routes you can take, with some areas being free to roam.  Dogs are allowed but please note the information markers as you go around about keeping them on leads.  We walked in August in fine weather although it had rained the day before.  The grass is long in places.  We wore long trousers and walking shoes.  The car park is gated and locked at night although access to the footpaths is possible on foot from outside the main complex.  Please check the website for opening times of the car park and other facilities.

Small tortoiseshell 

The route we took this time included a double back along the River Lark to check for otters and kingfishers!  For this walk we also missed out the woodland section at the back of the cafe and visitor centre, although we have taken this route previously - great in autumn for fungi walks!  There are signposts and information boards dotted around the trails.

Our first ever sighting of a kingfisher!

1. Parking the car walk back to the entrance barrier and take the path on the right.  Follow the grass trail keeping the road on your left, past the children’s play area on your right, carry on until you reach the end and turn right onto a loose tarmac road.  Take this road towards the Pump House and then keep right.  
2. Follow the grass path round to the right until you come across a small pathway on your left which takes you over a little bridge.  Follow the path towards the river.  Once at the river you should have the weir on your left (no entry here).  This is where we once missed an otter by a few minutes so keep your eyes peeled!  
3. The path runs along side this very pretty section of the River Lark.  Follow the river until you come to a gate.  Once through the gate you have a choice of routes, we took the left hand route, staying with the river on our left.  
4. Eventually you will loose sight of The Lark as the path follows the curve of the lake Once past a car park (often used by fishermen) on the left, keep right until you reach a sandy area.  Again you have a choice of routes, either stay right and keep with the lake or take the gate at the top and follow our route to the right through the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) Brecklands area until you reach another gate.  On this occasion we went right but if you want to take the woodland part of the walk go straight on.  
5. Going right takes you back to the lakes.  We then went left keeping the lake on our right, past a wooden platform until we were back to the footpath junction and the river.   The left hand turn will take you back towards the meadow but, as I mentioned before, we decided to have another look along the river for the elusive otters (not found but did see our first kingfisher!)  We went right down to the end and could have carried on back the way we came past the Pump House and back to the car park but you may notice that half way down the river walk is a turning into the woodland.  We went back to that turning and followed this path through a short section of woodland, bearing right at the end and then left which took us back to the main centre.

Damselfly

Our route was: 2.76 miles 
See the route on Mapometer.com
Terrain: Flat, mostly grass paths.  *Can be very muddy in wet weather
Habitat: Woodland, lakes, river, meadows, heathland
Facilities: Toilets, Cafe, Visitor Centre, Shop, Children’s Play Area, Picnic areas, Anglo-Saxon Village, Car Park

Why not have a look at the rest of my photos from this walk and from an earlier autumnal walk at West Stow