Longer circuit of Stansfield and Denston

walks

This 7 kilometre circuit (4.5 miles) will take about 2 hours at normal pace. The route goes along each side of the River Glem valley giving good views in most directions and passes one of the Landmark properties. The Landmark Trust is a building preservation charity that rescues historic buildings and gives them new life as places to stay in and experience. Properties include mills, castles, gatehouses, follies and towers. This particular example is a medieval manor house parts of which go back to 1250. This time of the year it is likely to be occupied but is still worth admiring from a distance. The publicity blurb describes the site of the building, Purton Green, as ‘one of the lost villages of Suffolk’.

The budget for the repair and replacement of waymarks is shrinking year on year so it is wise to take a copy of the local Ordnance Survey map. In this case the edition you need is Explorer Map 210 Newmarket and Haverhill.

Park at Denston village hall. Return to the road, turn right across the bridge and right again through Lower Green. Soon after passing the Gospel Hall and what used to be the Crown pub, you will spot a footpath sign pointing up a bank to the right. Go through a kissing gate and take the left-most of the two options (at the time of writing the waymark was missing) and head towards, and pass, two sycamore trees in the open meadow (there is a waymark on the corner post of the fence on your left) Continue in the same direction and you will find a second kissing gate hidden in the far hedge. This returns you to the road where another right turn is needed. Having crossed the brook and reached a bend in the road climb a stile ahead beside a wide barrier cum gate. Continue up the wide grassy strip with a hedge on the right. At the crossroad of tracks at the top turn left in front of a wood (now a metalled surface) and head down and up a dip until you reach a T-junction track. Go straight across under the shade of an ash tree to take an unsigned (from this end) footpath which meanders through a copse to reach a road. This can be quite overgrown in the active growing season but was clear(ish) in mid August. After crossing a narrow sleeper bridge continue ahead (do not turn left) on a quiet country road through the pleasant hamlet of Assington Green. Soon after passing the road junction (signed to Poslingford), take the footpath on the left. This accompanies a hedge on your right and a steadily expanding ditch (almost a ravine towards the bottom). On reaching a small wood follow the waymarked footpath to cross a sleeper bridge and through a gate into a riverside meadow. Occasionally there is a suckler herd, complete with bull, in this area but the cattle have never shown any interest on the occasions we have passed through. The official view is that a beef bull running with cows, as in this instance, should be perfectly safe on a footpath but this is not the case with a dairy bull. Head half right to find a footbridge across the baby River Glem and then veer further right to reach a gate in the far corner. All of this section is clearly waymarked. Go through the gate and turn left and head uphill. Halfway up the path disappears through the mature hedge on the right and you should do likewise. Go up the steps and through gates and beside the stables at the end. The official right of way continues across the drive, through the churchyard opposite and turns left on reaching the road.* If you are fortunate enough to find someone mucking out they will probably give you permission to turn left down the farm drive. This cuts out a short section of uphill road walking. If in luck choose the drive and cross the road at the bottom: * if out of luck follow the road uphill and turn left at the top, and then turn right. In either case you will follow the footpath sign (and power cables) down the drive to a red roof cottage (Purton Ford Cottage). Ignore footpath choices to the right and left. There is a ford at the bottom and a footbridge on the right. Continue in the same direction past a house and along a field edge path. At the top caution is needed particularly if your attention is drawn to the medieval building on the right. Swing sharply round on a track to the left then take the right fork in front of a large dead tree (waymark on the right). Another track joins you from the left and within 25 paces you should swing to the left (if you go too far you will find a pond on your left). Follow this vehicle track around the edge of the field (do not be tempted to cross the culvert on your left) into the next field ahead. Head downhill, cross a bridge in the valley bottom and wind your way up the other side. The track becomes a road and you must ignore the footpath on the left. Turn left at the letter box and a sign saying ‘Wickham House Cottages’. Walk uphill past what used to be a line of farm labourers’ bungalows, but is no longer. Pass a wood on the right and go over the brow of the hill. After a short while turn right in front of a post and rail fence in front of two large trees (waymark missing but there is one on the corner of the wood). Follow the field edge round to the left, skirting a small wood, and turn right again (toppled waymark) in front of the first hedge facing you. Walk along the level for a change and at the end of this length of hedge you will find a gap. Go left (waymark missing) and accompany the hedge on the right downhill. In the corner, on the right, is the exit. Cross the footbridge and turn left to reach the road. The village hall and car park are ahead to your left.

(route walked on 12 August 2008 and more recently 22 March 2020)

Roger Medley [text-blocks id=”50903″ slug=”roger-medley-tel-no”]

Coming Soon to a Fingerpost near you

Suffolk County Council has received funding for a county wide initiative to encourage more people to explore the local area. A field officer has been appointed and volunteers have been recruited to attach plaques to fingerposts in individual parishes.  Each plaque (see diagram) displays an app. which can be downloaded to modern Apple and android phones. This will display the local section of the Ordnance Survey map showing footpaths and recognised walking, cycling and riding trails. The information can be stored if walkers are visiting an area where there is limited phone cover.  Plaques have been added to 44 stable fingerposts in Wickhambrook and where fingerposts are missing or unstable these have been reported.  There are 18 of these and they will be replaced complete with plaques.  Wickhambrook is one of the first parishes in the County to complete this task.

W.I.Walking Group

The Wickhambrook W.I. Walking Group meets every Wednesday morning at 10am starting from the MSC car park for walks in the village or slightly further afield. We walk for about two hours and cover about five miles, depending on how much chatting is taking place. There are usually six of us, although we have had a dozen occasionally, dogs are welcome too.

Interested in more Local Walks?