Sudbury to Hadleigh

Sudbury

Set on the Stour, Sudbury is an ancient market town, surrounded to the south and west by water meadows. Historically, it has thrived on the textile industry, particularly wool and then silk. The artist Thomas Gainsborough was born in the town in 1727 and his birthplace ‘Gainsborough’s House’, is open to the public. The town has a twice weekly market and a diverse range of shops and eating places. It also boasts a wealth of facilities including a theatre, river trips, a fine cricket ground and boat and croquet clubs.

sudbury-tc.gov.uk/visit

From the car park take the footpath in the SE corner which leads onto the railway walk, bear right and then almost immediately left across a small footbridge to Friar’s Meadow. Follow this footpath alongside the River Stour for approx. 1 mile. Near the weir pass through the restriction into a housing estate keeping on the right hand side. After the boatyard turn right and follow the pavement alongside the river and bear left past a millpond on your right. Carry on ahead to a road. Take the road, cross the railway line and you will arrive at a main road.

Turn right and cross the road into Head Lane. Walk along Head Lane for approx. 300 yards then take the footpath on the right hand side between houses.

This path continues past the school on your left and then does a right and left turn. After another 300 yards the path takes a left turn past the rugby club on your right. In approx. 300 yards you will come to a sports field on your right. Continue to follow the path with the fence on your left. The path turns left and after 100yds you will come to a road (Wells Hall Road).

Turn right into this road and after a further 200 yards, turn right into Blackhouse Lane. In 20 yards turn left into the allotments car park. Keep straight on past the allotments up the hill into the woods. Continue upwards on this track bearing right to eventually exit the woods with some fine views over the Stour Valley to your right. Continue straight on this path for approx. 600 yards until you meet a metalled road at Little Cornard. Turn right on this road and immediately left through the farm yard. In 150 yards turn left where the track bears round to the right and you will see Little Cornard All Saints Parish Church on your left.

Continue bearing right on the track and in 50 yards the path turns to the left past a small orchard. In 150 yards the path bears right. Follow this path keeping the hedgerow on your left. The path continues for a further ¾ of a mile where it zig-zags right and then left between two barns. The path then continues right and almost immediately left through the gates of a nursery school. (Please ensure all gates are securely locked behind you.)

On exiting the nursery onto a road turn left and continue along the road for approx. 750 yards past the television masts. Shortly after the road bears right take the footpath on the left. This path continues for approx. 600 yards and then turns left skirting the tree line. After another 300 yards go through a gate bearing to the right into the woods (Assington Thicks). The path goes straight ahead for approx. 800 yards to a road.

You are now in Assington. Turn left along the road on the pavement and in 200 yards cross the road by a bus stop into Vicary Estate. After a short distance you will see a footpath leading off the road straight ahead. The path here goes to a kissing gate then drops down through a nature reserve and over a small footbridge. It then rises up through some trees to meet a crossway of paths. Take the left hand path following the field edge to the road in approx. 500 yards. Cross the road into a track leading to the Parish Church of St Edmund.

With the church on your left go to the rear of the church where you will see a path across a field to a stile. Cross the stile and go straight onto some old tarmac, the remnants of the old road, and follow along this until you see a lane going off the main road opposite. Cross the main road (care: fast traffic) into this lane. After approx. 350 yards take the footpath on your right. The footpath continues following the field boundary and in 300 yards swings left and then right. Follow the field edge, bearing right in 200 yards and then sharp left after 20 yards through some trees. The path continues for 200 yards through to Firs Farm where you will meet a track T Junction.

Turn right for approx. 150 yards then left on a footpath beside a house. After approx. 600 yards the path turns right then left after a further 200 yards. Follow the path for a further 800 yards until you meet the main road. Cross over this road (care: traffic) and turn right and then left down the road to Boxford where you will get to the Parish Church in approx. 250 yards.

From the church doorway turn right towards the village centre and right again along the village street, initially alongside the River Box. Follow the road round and then turn sharp left up Cox Hill taking a footpath on the right after approx. 80 yards.

Keep straight ahead with the field above on the right and gardens on the left. Keep in an onwards direction along the bridlepath passing a pond. (The path may be muddy in winter – if so, a path up on the bank is drier and is walked by locals). After the next field the path has been diverted so keep straight on when the track bears right to Bower House Farm.

Keep to the left of a small wood and at the far corner, at a T junction of paths, turn right to follow the edge of the wood to cross a farm track to emerge on a lane.

Turn left along the lane to a lay-by beside the main road at Bower House Tye. Cross straight over the main roard (care; fast traffic) and take the path beside the gate. In a few yards bear right along the field edge which turns to the left to reach Potash Lane.

Take the path straight across the lane and keep ahead to the next lane.

Turn left for a few yards to take footpath on the right by Doles Farm. Keep ahead along the field edge (the path kinks right and then left) to another lane.

Again, cross straight over and keep ahead across a field and drop steeply downhill to a stream and steeply up the other side of the valley.

As the path emerges at the top and widens follow it to the left and then to the right by a gate. In a few yards at a path junction turn left to keep the hedge on the left. Distant views of Hadleigh start to appear.

Continue ahead to step down to a road and turn left for a few yards, passing the driveway to ‘Holbecks’, then taking the path on the right.

The path heads downhill alongside Holbecks Park to a cottage. At the cottage turn right down the track to Toppesfield Bridge. Just before the bridge take the footpath on the left.

Follow the riverside path to the left to cross a new footbridge over the River Brett.

Go ahead bearing left through a new housing development to reach the High Street.

Turn right along Hadleigh High Street and at the mini roundabout turn left then first right to the car park in Magdalen Road.

Hadleigh

Set on the river Brett, Hadleigh is a once royal Viking town and the reported burial place of Danish King Guthrun. It prospered in the 15th and 16th centuries through its cloth trade. Timber and plasterwork buildings line the High Street which is the backbone of the town. St Mary’s Parish Church, with its tall lead spire, is bordered by a magnificent 15th century Guildhall and red-brick Deanery Tower. The town has an eclectic mix of shops, services, restaurants, cafes and pubs that have a strongly independent feel.

visithadleighsuffolk.co.uk