Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Walk 8 : Bures to Sudbury
Gainsborough country
| Length | 16km (10 miles) 4 hours 50 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow at least 9 hours 30 minutes. |
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| OS Landranger Map | No.155. Bures, map reference TL 903 338, is in Essex, 13km north-west of Colchester and 8km south of Sudbury, which is in Suffolk. |
| Toughness | 4 out of 10. |
| Features | This walk has few hills and some pleasant scenery. It should be quite easy going, with simpler route-finding once a couple of farmers en route have been persuaded to maintain their overgrown footpaths. Sudbury lies at the heart of the Stour Valley, designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. On the final approach into this historic town, you cross the Sudbury Common Lands, a traditional pastoral landscape which has the longest recorded History of continuous grazing in East Anglia, where the painter Thomas Gainsborough is said to have played as a child, to tea in a converted millhouse on the banks of the river. Note that the train from Marks Tey to Bures and Sudbury does not run on Sundays in winter (September 29th to June 1st) and is irregular on Sundays in summer. |
| Shortening the Walk | If you are not having lunch in the suggested pub, you can avoid the detour to Bulmer Tye by carrying on northwards up the road to rejoin the route, in 200 metres, at the asterisk [*] in the book's walk directions. Or, if you have a map and are confident at route-finding, you could head due north along the footpath from the church at Great Henny [4], rejoining the walk at [6] in the book's walk directions. There is a regular bus service from Halstead into Sudbury, which stops outside the Fox pub in Bulmer Tye at approximately 90-minute intervals. |
| History |
St Mary's Church in Great Henny has a tower with parts dating back to the late eleventh century, although most of the church was rebuilt in the middle of the fourteenth century. Thomas Gainsborough, the eighteenth-century portrait painter, was born in Sudbury in 1727, the youngest son of a wool manufacturer. He studied in London under Gravelot and Francis Hayman. On his marriage in 1746, he moved to Ipswich, where he remained until his move to Bath in 1760. Gainsborough's House tel 01787 372 958) in Sudbury is now a museum with the most extensive collection of his paintings, drawings and prints in the world (the house is open until 4pm daily in winter; otherwise until 5pm daily; closed Monday). |
| Lunch | The suggested lunchtime place is the Fox pub (tel 01787 377 505) in Bulmer Tye, now under new management. Food from the Huntsmans Carvery is served until 2pm, (groups may be able to be served later, if you are able to phone ahead to say you will be late). Alternatively, you could have lunch very early in the walk, in Lamarsh, at the Red Lion pub. A good pace is needed to reach Bulmer Tye from the usual train. The train an hour earlier is worth considering. |
| Saturday Walkers Club | The Saturday Walkers Club do this walk each February. |
| Major Updates | The Fox (lunchtime pub) is more of a restaurant than a pub. [details] |
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| Warning | This text was taken from an older edition of the book, and is a little out of date. Please check the updates for this walk. |
Walking Instructions
For a map and detailed walking instruction, please see Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
