The Stour Valley

Picturesque villages, rolling farmland, rivers, meadows, ancient woodlands and a wide variety of local wildlife combine to create what many describe as the Walking in traditional English lowland landscape on the - border. The charm of the villages, fascinating local attractions and beauty of the surrounding countryside mean there’s no shortage of places to go and things to see.

Visiting Bures & the Stour Valley Ordnance Survey Explorer Map No 196: By Bus - Bures is on the route between Bures Sudbury, Hadleigh and the . and Sudbury. Details at www.traveline.info By Car - Bures is on the B1508 between Colchester and Sudbury. By Train – main line London Liverpool Street/Norwich, change at to Marks Tey. There is FREE car parking at the Recreation Bures is on the Marks Tey/Sudbury Ground in line. Details at www.greateranglia.co.uk

Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project Email: [email protected] Tel: 01394 445225 Web: www.dedhamvalestourvalley.org

To Newmarket Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Local circular walks – free AONB leaflets To Newmarket Stour Valley Project Area Local cycle routes – Stour Valley Path free AONB leaflets Great Bradley To Bury St Edmunds To Bury St Edmunds Country Parks and Picnic sites Public canoe launching locations. Great Bradley Craft must have an appropriate licence To Bury St Edmunds www.riverstourtrust.org To Bury St Edmunds Boxted

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crossing Bury St Edmunds point of the Stour, where footpaths rise out of the village giving Tw Printed on Recycled, FSC,Melfor Long the opportunity to enjoy beautiful views instea Content and images provided by Bures St Mary Parish Councillors Leigh Ashton, Jan Aries and Gill Jackson.Lamars ECF, Carbon Balanced Paper d d h SUDBUR Cornard Great Wo Bure s Y rmingfor d as Bures St Mary, but the section on worth a visit. Dating from circa 1220 Leavenheat

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woollen cloth. It retains many timber- exposed Colchester wall timbers reveals evidence Stratfor d m Higham St Mary Kingdoms of the East Saxons to the as Chapel Barn. It was restored in the framed houses from the 14th, 15th of projecting oriel windows that would 1930s when the stone and alabaster and 16th centuries including The Old have rivalled any in the region. Raydon Dedham

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brick now disguise many timber framed St Mary’sd Church dates Ipswic h for safe keeping. These monuments are buldings, such as Church House. The mainly from the 14th century and MANNINGTRE among the best of their kind in Britain. carved jetty bressumer (see below contains numerous impressive features Cattawade It is one of several sites in Suffolk photograph) at the High Street office including one of the finest timber- E laying claim to be the site of the of W.A. Church Ltd. dates from the framed porches in . The roof crowning of St Edmund on Christmas of the nave was destroyed by lightning Church’s Office Day 855. The outline of a dragon has in 1733 but a rare wooden effigy of a been cut into a nearby hillside to medieval knight survives inside, along River Stour & Bures Mill commemorate the appearance of a with a series of monuments to the south and the Angles to the north, but dragon in Bures as recorded in the Waldegrave family of Smallbridge Hall. by the time of the Domesday Survey in Chronicle of John de Trokelowe for the In the 11th century the church was 1086 the parish straddled the border year 1405. The dragon is said to have known as All Saints and, until the 16th with approximately a third of its killed some sheep before being chased century, St Mary’s was a chapel in the land in Essex. The river split into two into a mere by the armed men of Sir churchyard. The parish was previously channels to form a natural crossing. Richard de Waldgrave. Menageries of called Great Bures to distinguish it The smaller channel bisected the exotic beasts were highly fashionable from Little Bures in Essex (now Mount medieval Common on the Essex bank in aristocratic circles during the late Bures), but adopted the dedication of but was filled in when the predecessor Middle Ages, and if this event really St Mary’s and River Stour of the present Victorian iron bridge was occurred it may perhaps relate to the built in the 17th century. Bures Mill, escape of a Nile crocodile from the to the south of the village centre, is documented example upstream at an attractive weatherboarded building Clare Castle. early-16th century and is among the of the 18th and early-19th centuries best of its kind in the country. This with a rare fragment of a 16th century building belonged to a wealthy tanner predecessor to the north. and depicts both a merchant on horseback and a butcher at his block. 4 St Stephen’s Chapel on the These are probably portraits of his hill to the east of the village is the neighbours. Dancing bears would have its Norman church in the 13th century. oldest building in the parish and is well been a common sight at the time, but The ecclesiastical parish is still known St Stephen’s Chapel EXTENDED WALK TO VISIT AND TIGER HILL Follow the path opposite the stile, which leads up over the brow of the Walking in hill. At the top, turn left, then right shortly afterwards, following the waymarked path down to Over Hall Walk 1 Cottages. When you reach the road, Bures - An Essex Escape turn left. Continue along the road, passing High Fen Seed Store on your Walk 2 left, until you reach the parking bay - A Suffolk Stroll and entrance for Arger Fen. - Extended Walk Once you have visited Arger Fen, continue along the road, crossing over Map based on Ordnance Survey Copyright mapping. All rights reserved. a small brook via a wooden footbridge Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright. Suffolk County at the side of the road. Almost Council Licence No. 100023395 2019 immediately after the brook, turn left through the large gate and follow the footpath along the edge of the field, passing through another large gate, Countryside and continuing along the edge of the Code next field. During this section, Tiger Hill can be seen to your right. You can visit by The area has a network of footpaths heading up through the field, and 4 and bridleways. We have marked suggested routes on this map and simply retracing your steps back to the have a few simple suggestions to footpath to continue onwards. 1 help you enjoy the area safely and Follow the path to the gated wooden 2 assist our work to care for it. bridge on your left. Cross over and Please follow the Countryside Code: follow the footpath off to the right, www.gov.uk/government/ with the brook on your right. Follow publications/the-countryside-code this path along the field margins, Start 3 occasionally crossing over the brook Plan ahead and follow any signs. as waymarked, all the way back to the Start • Leave things as you find them. • Take your litter home. track from Moat Farm. Cross this track • Help look after our plants and to retrace your steps back along the wildlife by keeping to footpaths field margin to the stile with the dog and not trampling verges. shutter on your right. • Dogs are welcome, but please keep them under close control at all times, especially when Cross over the stile, and walk, across amongst farm animals and in the flood meadow to the next stile bird nesting season over Brook. (March-September). Release your dog if chased by cattle. • Always clean up after your dog.

Assington Brook Valley WALK WALK An Essex A Suffolk Climb up the cart track, turn left to St 1 2 Stephen’s Chapel. Behind the thatched Escape Stroll chapel, you will find St Edmunds Stone Dedicated to the memory of Bures Hamlet and Mount Bures leads up to the level crossing on the Dennis Ambrose 1945 – 2019 and see the Dragon. Marks Tey/Sudbury railway line. Bures St Mary Bures Dragon Walking Distance: 2.9 miles Go over the railway and cross to the from St Stephen’s Chapel Time: 1 hour 45 minutes village sign. Turn right along Craigs Walking Distance: 2.4 miles or 4.3 Lane to the last house on the right. (not including stops) miles if adding the extended walk. Just beyond the speed restriction sign Time: 1 hour 20 minutes, or 2 Start/ Finish: take the footpath on the left. Go Bures Community Centre Carpark through a kissing gate, up the bank, hours 20 minutes if adding the Terrain: Paths and tracks, across the meadow to Mount Bures extended walk. some B roads. Gentle inclines. Church and the Mount. (Not including stops). Retrace your steps to the village sign. Start/Finish: Return to the track, turn left and continue up the track to Fysh House Turn right. Pass the Old Police House. Take the valley footpath on the left, Bures Community Centre Carpark Farm. At the road walk about 25m Take the footpath on the right around bear right at the bottom, left over the Terrain: Paths and tracks, down Cuckoo Hill. Turn left onto the school field. From the kissing gate Brook. Follow this path some minor roads. Gentle inclines. track. Cross over the track and take go straight to the gate across the field. through the gate, up the field margin the grassy path down the hill with the With Nether Hall on your right, go with the hedge and ditch on your right Turn left out of the carpark. Walk field on your left. along Walnut Tree Walk to Bures to Masters Farm on Balls Road. along Nayland Road to Church Square Reaching Friends Field bear left and Mill, to the right of the mill, over a Turn right onto Balls Road. Pass Bakers and turn right towards Sudbury. Pass continue around the edge of the field footbridge crossing the River Stour and Hall Farm on your left. The Old Bakery on your left and - with the field on your left - until you through a kissing gate. At Colne Road, turn left and walk Church’s Office onyour right. Take a meet St Edmunds Way. Diagonally cross the field to a kissing past the farm on your left. Take the right up Cuckoo Hill past the cemetery Turn right, go through the gate on the gate and onto a cart track. Follow the footpath on the right, along the field entrance, and when the pavement left to visit the Community Woodland track to the B1508. Cross to Hall Road margin with the hedge on your right and down to a small stream. Cross finishes there is a footpath to the left before continuing down the edge of over the footbridge. up a bank cut in with a few steps. the field, crossing Nayland Road. Take Turn right and follow Ferriers Lane to Turn right at the top of the steps. the path around the school playing its junction with Lamarsh Hill. Walk Continue on this path a short distance field,bearing right at the corner. Head under the railway bridge, right into and take a cross-field direction to the for the kissing gate, follow the fenced the Paddocks and walk to the very end top of the hill. The path cuts through a corridor with a right turn to the of the cul-de-sac. Bear left, follow an wooded area before opening onto the Nayland Road by the Old Police House alleyway down to the Colchester Road. Assington Road. on the left. Turn left along Nayland Turn right then over the road to the Turn left along the road, past Fysh Road to the car park. footpath to the Millennium Bridge and House. Take the first right turning Maps recreation field. Walk across the field after Fysh House down a track. Follow track down to Moat Farm. This walk can be followed in conjunction with OS Pauline Philips Mount Bures back to the car park. Explorer series map 196: Sudbury, Hadleigh and Walk Church Just beyond Moat Farm, at the footpath Dedham Vale (1:25, 000 scale) junction, turn right. Walk along field and walk a short distance towards Maps This walk can be followed in conjunction with OS margin with trees and a ditch on your Two of the paths used within this route are not Mount Bures passing Brook House on Mount Bures Church Explorer series map 196: Sudbury, Hadleigh and right. You will reach a stile with a dog Public Footpaths but Permissive Footpaths that the right. Opposite Brook House Barn Dedham Vale (1:25,000) the Bevills Estate are pleased to allow walkers shutter on the right. At this point, you take the footpath behind some trees, to enjoy. The Bevills Estate is in a Higher Level have the option to extend your walk to Stewardship (HLS) Scheme with conservation dedicated to Pauline Phillips, which visit Arger Fen and Tiger Hill. areas for wildlife, so would be grateful if walkers stick to the paths & keep dogs on leads.