Guiding you through Essex The Langdon Nature Reserve covers 460 You can visit the museum by arrangement acres of woodlands, flower meadows and with staff on 01268 419103. old Plotland gardens, making it the Essex Lincewood has some wide Plotland roads for Wildlife Trust’s largest inland nature reserve. you to ride along. There are roses and sweet The Langdon Nature Reserve has four main peas from the old gardens. Ponds are home areas, each with its own special character. to newts, frogs and toads. During May and These are Dunton, Lincewood, Marks Hill June you can admire the purple flowers of and Willow Park. thousands of green-winged orchids growing Dunton is where you will find most of the on the neighbouring recreation ground. remains of the Plotland homes and gardens. Don’t be surprised to hear the tapping Nature has taken over again, but you can sound of a woodpecker at work as you ride still see garden plants and orchard trees through the woodlands of Marks Hill. All such as apple, pear, plum and damson. three kinds of woodpecker live here – green, Adders like to sunbathe in the old bungalow great spotted and lesser spotted. The wild foundations. They are shy creatures, so keep service tree, one of Britain’s rarest native away if you see one – the adder is the only trees, grows here. British snake with a poisonous bite! The hay meadows and rough grassland of On a clear day you get a really good view Willow Park are a haven for many wild plants of London. and flowers. The meadows are perfect for You too can step back to the Plotlands butterflies and as feeding grounds for the heyday. ‘The Haven’ was built by Frederick dragonflies and damselflies which hover Mills in the mid-1930s and was his family’s over Willow Park’s nine ponds. home for more than 40 years. The bungalow You can contact staff at the Langdon Visitor has been restored to its original condition. Centre on 01268 419103. Terrain Undulating, some rough and Florence Way. Telephone the Essex Traveline on muddy terrain 0870 6082608 daily between 7 am and 10 pm BASILDON Ordnance Survey Map Ref Explorer Map No. 175 Vets House & Jackson Veterinary Centre, 6.18 miles/11 km Southend-on-Sea and Basildon Chevers Pawn, Rookery Road, Blackmore, Essex www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/mapshop Tel: 01277 823858 Parking Horseboxes Parking by agreement Places to visit Hadleigh Castle Country Park, Riding along these tracks today you may have only birdsong for Langdon Nature Reserve Car Park, Hadleigh (8.6 miles/13.8km) Woodland and company, but in the 1930s you would have found yourself in the Lower Dunton Road. Tel: 01268 419103 meadows with views over the Thames Estuary. Castle ruins nearby. Horseride and footpaths. middle of a bustling community. Children playing in the lanes, Langdon Hills Country Park, (Westley Heights). Free admission (car parking charge) mothers hanging out washing in the garden and the sound of Refreshments The Crown (Harvester) Pub, Tel: 01702 551072 High Road, Langdon Hill hammering and sawing echoing through the tree-tops. These were The Dutch Cottage, (9.4 miles/15.1km) Langdon Visitor Centre, 9-5pm Tuesday – Crown Hill, Rayleigh Eight-sided cottage based the Plotlands, where London families built hundreds of bungalows Sunday & Bank Holiday Mondays on the design of 17th century Dutch settlers and chalets as their weekend homes in the country. Tesco supermarket Free admission. Tel: 1702 318150 Transport Cycling by Train - A footbridge links National Motor Boat Museum, (3.2 miles/5.1km) Laindon Railway Station to High Road bridge. Wat Tyler Country Park, Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea Bikes could be pushed directly from High Road The world’s only museum devoted entirely to onto the Country Ride on the south side of the history of motor boats. Free admission Mandeville Way. There is an alternative, rideable Tel: 01268 550077. route between Laindon Station and the Country www.motorboatmuseum.org.uk/home/index.php Ride via Station Approach, High Road and Early this century, property developers bought large areas of poor farmland in this part of Essex. They divided the land into small plots to be auctioned. Most of the plots were sold between the wars to Londoners who built bungalows as holiday homes. During World War II, many people moved into them permanently to escape the horrors of the Blitz. When the war ended there was a sprawling mass of poor housing without proper roads or electricity. Basildon became one of eight New Towns built near London after World War II to provide homes and jobs for London’s growing population. Most of the old Plotlands were redeveloped, but Dunton Hills Estate was saved as a precious nature reserve. Green-winged Today, only a few of the orchid To bungalows are left as A cyclepath runs parallel Lincewood Mandeville Basildon reminders of the Way pumping station to the bridleway alongside Mandeville Way Town Centre old Plotland High Mandeville Way way of life. Rd footbridge To One of these To Basildon Laindon Basildon is ‘Hawthorn’ down Railway Station Town Centre Town Centre TESCO Nottingham at the top of Third Way Nightingales The Avenue. In the garden Highview Lindens Gt. Berry Lane Ave Shelley Ave hedgerow there is a up stile take care Florence Way Monterey cypress tree Stack Ave down take and an oak tree. Lower Dunton Road care Lake Looking at the difference in their Coiled Adder reservoir Dunton sizes, which tree do recreation recreation Dunton Marks Hill flower-rich ground you think is the ground meadow don Hills High Rd Long spring oldest? They were The Haven Wood & summer actually both up Lang planted on Third Ave Visitor Centre Hawthorn The Bridleway the first day (toilets & Lincewood that Refreshments) Staneway Hawthorn’s To Broomhill original owners Horndon on the Hill Wood moved there in the The Chase 1930s. The Monterey cypress is a Stacey To fast-growing evergreen tree with Drive Willow Basildon steps take Park upward sweeping branches. care Westley Road Town Centre gap KEY Hall Wood The Crown Main route View N Westley Heights Other routes Woodland S Road fp Finger post Dry Street outhway link to Track Public house Dry StreetLangdon Hills River or stream Telephone Country Park B1007 Lake or pond Parking To horseride Built up area Horndon on the Hill 011 km mile Woodpecker at work Marks Hill. Guiding you through Essex Inside Pentlow Church is the tomb of built on the Welsh marches by Judge Kemp, his son John and John’s Hubert de Burgh in the 13th century. wife Elinor. The kneeling figures on The castle had only just been built the side of the tomb are John and when the conditions of a peace Elinor’s children. treaty with the Welsh meant it had You will be able to see Pentlow to be demolished! It was known as Tower long before you reach Pentlow. “Hubert’s Folly”. Pentlow Tower is a 90 foot high, Pentlow Tower was built as a eight-sided brick tower standing on memorial to his parents by Edward Pentlow Hill. It is a folly. This is the Bull in 1859. Forty-eight churches name given to a building which can be seen from the top on a clear seems to have no use. They were day. Pentlow Tower is on private often look-out towers or fake ruins property. Please respect the privacy built by rich landowners. The name of the landowner. You can enjoy comes from ‘folie’, the French word good views of the tower from the for delight or pleasure. Perhaps the surrounding countryside. word is also a reminder of a castle Terrain Vets Undulating and hilly in places Lees & Partners Equine Clinic, Catley Cross Stables, Wickham St. Paul. Ordnance Survey Map ref Tel: 01787 269006 Landranger 155 Bury St. Edmunds & Sudbury Places to visit THE BELCHAMPS Explorer 196 Hedingham Castle, (7 miles/11.3km) 12.3 miles/19.8 km Sudbury, Hadleigh & Dedham Vale Castle Hedingham. Magnificent Norman keep, with banqueting hall and minstrel’s Parking Horseboxes gallery. Lake and woodland walks. Parking by agreement: Riding down Hoe Lane one Sunday in times past, you might have Admission fee; please ring for The Half Moon Public House, opening times: 01787 460261 met the villagers of Pentlow walking to church. Like many churches, Belchamp St. Paul. Tel: 01787 277402 Pentlow Church is quite a distance from the community it serves. It is Castle Hedingham Pottery Refreshments (7 miles/11.3km) Studio and showroom, one of only six churches in Essex with a round tower. A local tale tells The Half Moon Public House, with talks, courses and demonstrations. Belchamp St. Paul. that the tower was a well-shaft which was exposed above ground when Viewing free. Tel: 01787 460036 The Pinkuah Arms, Pentlow the surrounding earth was washed away in a flood! What do you think? (evenings & weekends only). Colne Valley Railway, (7 miles / 11.3km) Buntings Farm Shop: on B1064. Castle Hedingham. Award-winning vintage Clare & Cavendish: steam railway. Dine on the luxurious pubs, shops, teashops etc. Pullman train. Admission fee. Tel: 01787 461174 Transport The Belchamps to Sudbury Station 4.4miles (7.1km). Public Transport Information Tel: 0870 608 2608 The larch is a deciduous conifer tree, unlike most other conifers which are N evergreen. The larch has small egg-shaped cones which open CAVENDISH A1092 Pentlow to let the wind blow away its seeds. Layby Follow fp track Pentlow fp Follow path Farm Hoe Lane B1064 Willow through School Riv plantation er Stour wood Barn Farm Bower Follow fp A1092 Hall headland Ponds Pond Busy Pentlow Down road 01 km 1 mile CLARE Tower River Stour fp Country Park Follow Farm Power lines headland Shop Larch Trees Down Pinkuah fp Pentlow Lane Bower Hall Paine’s FOXEARTH Farm Manor gradual Hickfords Hil View towards To Foxearth, climb Claredown l Pentlow Tower Long Melford Farm & Sudbury Layby The River Stour forms part of the fp To Bellybones Bradfield’s moat of Pentlow Bradleyhill Long Lane Farm Temple Hall.