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Walk 2 : A 'Star Walk' by Michael Anderton
reproduced here with his kind
permission
| This 3 mile walk
starts and finishes at the Nature Reserve car park in Woodbridge Road. |
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From the Nature Reserve car
park turn right on the road to the tee junction and turn right again in
The Street. Before reaching the Fox Inn you will pass The Giants House, a
pink cottage with white front door on the right. In the 19th century
George Page and his brother Meadows became known as the Newbourne Giants.
Standing about 7 feet 7 inches tall, head and shoulders over everyone
else, they became an attraction at the Woodbridge Easter Fair when the
show's tallest man would hold a guinea above his head and challenge anyone
to reach it. They were hired by Samuel Whitings travelling show in 1869,
George died in 1870 and with Meadows is buried in the nearby graveyard at
the church.
At the end of the Fox car park turn right into Fenn
Lane, walking between houses on a stony track. At a five bar gate pass
through the kissing gate into the nature reserve, continuing along the
track to reach another kissing gate at the exit to the nature reserve.
Continue straight on to the path ahead through a tree lined avenue and
uphill to reach a stile at the top.
In the meadow beyond the trees
turn right and follow the fence line and trees around edge of field to
reach a stile leading into a fenced lined path, alongside the edge of the
wood. Follow footpath along line of trees at an open area of land and then
again between fences to reach a junction of paths at a field
edge.
Turn right and follow the path alongside a rabbit fence at
the field edge and eventually bearing right into woodland. Follow the path
now within the woodland but generally parallel to the field edge, passing
a pond on the right. At the corner of field follow the wide grassy path
straight into the woods ahead and out to the Waldringfield
Road.
Cross straight over and climb the stile beside a steel mesh
gate with a good view of the BT Research Establishment across the open
land. Turn right on the track, marked as a bridleway, parallel to the road
and behind the pine tree belt. Cross an access track and on past a pit on
the left behind an embankment, keeping to the track until it terminates at
the road.
Turn left for about 200 metres, using the verge where
possible, to the cross roads and turn right towards Newbourn. Walk for
about 500 metres and half way up incline on other side of dip in the road,
turn sharply right across the field, marked by a footpath sign, and aiming
for the BT building. At the track turn left along the track to the farm
buildings at Walk Farm Cottage.
Where the track veers sharply to
the left, continue straight on along a grassy section with woodland on the
right. Where the grassy track turns left, continue straight on along the
footpath towards the woods ahead and a stile leading into the wooded area
of the nature reserve. Continue on the footpath down through the trees,
passing a gate on the right.
Follow the path along boardwalks and
bridges and alongside a stream to return through a kissing gate to the
start at the nature reserve car park.
Fact File
Location:
Newbourne is 4 miles south of
Woodbridge
Start: Newbourne Springs Nature Reserve, Ordnance
Survey map reference TM 274432
Length: 3
miles
Conditions: Tracks and well defined paths, road and nature
reserve with stretches of boardwalk and bridges over marshy areas, 4
stiles
How to get there:-
Public Transport: For details
telephone Suffolk County Council’s Public Transport Information TraveLine
- 0645 583358
Road Route: From Ipswich take the Foxhall Road to
the A12 Brightwell Corner roundabout then the Waldringfield Road. Turn off
right after ½ mile (signposted Newbourne 2 miles)
Car Parking:
Nature reserve car park or at the village hall on Mill
Road
Refreshments: The Fox Public House
Public
Toilets: None
Map: Ordnance Survey Pathfinder sheet 1031
Woodbridge
visit Michael
Anderton's 'Star Walks' web pages |
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