Sandy to Arlesey Walk

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Walk Maps

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Walk Options

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13. Main Walk (18½ km)

1. Short Walk 1, finishing at Biggleswade (14¼ km)
2. Short Walk 2, starting from Biggleswade (11¼ km)

Walk Directions

Click on any section heading to switch between detailed directions and an outline, or the heading above to switch all sections.

If you are doing Short Walk 2 (from Biggleswade), start at §E.

1. Sandy Station to The Lodge (southern exit) (4½ km)
• Turn right out of the station and go up to the junction with the B1042. Turn right to cross the railway and continue along the main road. In 600m turn right onto a cycleway through The Lodge nature reserve. For the full route, turn right at the first path junction and follow the RSPB's Hillfort Trail on a zig-zag route around Galley Hill and back along a valley. Turn right at a junction to switch to the Old Quarry Trail around the back of the main buildings. Turn left onto a path leading up to the Lodge Gardens, then rejoin the Old Quarry Trail (in the opposite direction) in a loop around Old Heath to the southern exit from the reserve.
  • For a shorter route you can omit either the first part of the Old Quarry Trail by going up to the meadow in front of the main building, or the second part by going directly to the southern exit.
    
1. Arriving on Platform 2 – which has an information panel about Captain Sir William Peel? – go out of the station and turn right. Go up Station Road and turn right at the mini-roundabout to cross the railway on the road bridge (the B1042, which becomes Potton Road). Ignore minor roads off to both sides and walk along the wide pavement of the main road for 600m, passing the town's cemetery.
2. Just before reaching some chevrons at a left-hand bend, turn right onto a designated Cycle Path through The Lodge Nature Reserve. Follow the cycleway round to the left, climbing steadily through a pine wood. In 300m you come to a path junction.

A more straightforward route through the reserve (via the RSPB Visitor Hub, its café and a public bridleway) is described in §H of Walk #264.

3. For the suggested route fork right at the junction, joining the RSPB's Hillfort Trail. This swings right and becomes a fenced path heading S, with views across New Heath on the left.
4. In 500m you come to an information panel about the hill fort? on Galley Hill and the path veers left to continue just inside its low rampart. At the next corner follow the path round to the left, now heading N.

   You can see the continuation of the trail in the valley down to the right.

5. In 250m the path swings right and doubles back to go along the valley floor. At the bottom it curves round to the left into a more wooded area, passing some small ponds on the right. In a further 75m turn right at a path junction to switch to the Old Quarry Trail, which soon comes to another junction.
   

6. Short cut 1 (−1 km)

1. To cut out the loop around the Old Quarry and the Lodge Gardens, turn left. Follow the path up steps and across a meadow in front of the mansion. Resume the directions at [?], where the main route rejoins from one of the paths on the right signposted to the Lodge Gardens.
7. For the full route turn right and follow the undulating trail as it winds its way around the wooded slopes of a low hill, avoiding side paths into an old quarry on the left. The main path levels off near the foot of the hill and heads S, passing the stone pillars of a disused entrance off to the right.
8. The trail then climbs again and swings left, with some far-reaching views through gaps in the trees on the right. It turns left again to head N for 100m, then drops down some steps on the right. In 75m turn left off the trail at a path junction, signposted to the Lodge Gardens.
9. Go up a flight of steps and through a wooden gate at the top into the Lodge Gardens, at the back of the administration buildings. You will be leaving the gardens 150m away to the right and a straightforward route would be to head in that direction to reach the Fountain Pond in the more formal part behind The Lodge?.
   • If you are not pressed for time the gardens are worth exploring. For example, detouring off to the left when you enter them would reveal a “Heritage Trees” information panel by a ‘national champion’ Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo).
10. Leave the gardens through a wooden gate in their south-eastern corner, at the end of a paved path running alongside a balustrade. Keep ahead at a path junction by a large sweet chestnut tree.

11. Short cut 2 (−¾ km)

1. To cut out the loop around Old Heath, turn right and go through another gate. Follow the path down steps and turn left at a path T-junction to rejoin the Old Quarry Trail. Fork right at the next two path junctions to join the public bridleway heading out of the reserve and go to §B.
12. For the full route keep ahead at the path junction. Where the path passes a tall Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara) bear right through a wooden gate. To see the large owl sculpture with memorial plaques take the signposted path to the Tree of Life and rejoin the main path a little further on. This curves left and crosses the driveway to The Lodge.
13. At a path junction in front of a meadow (where Short cut 1 joins from the left) turn right. About 50m after passing a viewpoint across a small pond off to the left you come to a path crossing and turn right, rejoining the Old Quarry Trail (in the opposite direction) and also two others.
14. Go back across the driveway and take the path opposite. This turns left, descends a flight of steps and swings right, soon passing the small Jack's Pond on the right. In 200m keep right at a path junction.
15. Carry on along the Old Quarry Trail as it curves gradually round to the right through Old Heath. In 450m the path meets the main bridleway running through the grounds and you exit the reserve between stone pillars.
2. The Lodge exit to Fairfield (3 km)
• Keep ahead on the bridleway to reach Biggleswade Common. Turn right after 250m and follow a path heading west and then south-west, going under the railway line. Turn left in front of the River Ivel and head south along the edge of the grassland. Go out past Fairfield Sports Ground into a small recreation area.
1. Outside the reserve keep ahead on a broad track, ignoring another bridleway off to the right alongside the boundary wall. In 100m bear right onto a path through a patch of woodland, where a small hump takes you over the barely-perceptible route of a disused railway?. On leaving the wood the bridleway crosses a stream on a bridge and you emerge onto the open space of Biggleswade Common.
2. Go straight ahead on a broad mown path, heading S towards some buildings 500m away. Halfway across, however, turn right at a path crossing in the middle of the common to head W on another mown path. In 200m go through a metal kissing gate to continue with a boundary fence off to your left. The path later bends left with the fence and heads SW towards the East Coast Main Line.
3. On reaching the railway go through a tunnel under the tracks, using side gates next to the metal fieldgates at both ends. This leads onto another part of Biggleswade Common where you bear slightly left onto a grassy path, still heading SW. In 200m cross a stream on a wooden footbridge in a line of trees.
4. Any path ahead will lead to the tree-lined River Ivel 150m away, but the shortest route is to turn half-left. On reaching the river bear left and take any convenient path heading S through this open grassland, going through gates as necessary and never far from the river on your right.

   In several places you have a choice of staying on the straight mown path or taking a slightly longer route alongside the meandering river.

5. In around 500m the river straightens out and the suggested route is to take the attractive riverside path for the remaining 750m, crossing a ditch on a long wooden footbridge along the way. All routes lead to the southern end of Biggleswade Common, which you leave through a metal kissing gate. Continue along a narrow strip of grassland between Fairfield Sports Ground and the river.
6. In 100m go through another gate into the small Fairfield recreation area, where there is a boulder with a (faded) plaque for the Kingfisher Way? (KW). There are a few riverside picnic benches and an iron sculpture at the far end depicting the Ivel Agricultural Motor?.
3. Fairfield to the Flood Tunnels (2 • 1½ km)
• For the refreshment places in Biggleswade town centre, bear left onto the A6001 (Shortmead Street). In 250m zig-zag left and right via Long Twitchell, Brunts Lane and Chapel Fields to Church Street. Cut through Crown Yard to the High Street and Market Square. From the western end of Market Square take Hitchin Street and Mill Lane to the River Ivel. Cross the river and keep ahead on a bridleway. Switch to a permissive path on the left to get under the A1 via the flood tunnels.
  • For a more attractive route bypassing the town centre, cross the river on the road bridge at Fairfield to take the riverside path on the other bank. In 600m fork right onto a path which goes along field edges to meet the bridleway from Mill Lane. Turn right to join the last part of the main route.
    

If you do not want to visit any of the refreshment places in Biggleswade town centre you can take the much more attractive alternative route in [?], along the other bank of the river.

1. Main route (2 km)

1. Leave the recreation area by the car park entrance and bear left onto the A6001 (Shortmead Street). In 100m cross the side road (Sun Street) at a mini-roundabout to continue along the A6001 for a further 150m. Just after passing Parkland Place on the right, turn left into an alleyway (Long Twitchell).
   • If you miss this turning (which simply cuts out a short distance along the main road), turn left into Brunts Lane 50m ahead and pick up the directions below.
2. On Long Twitchell turn right down either of two cul-de-sacs and turn left at the end onto Brunts Lane. At the end of this short street turn right into a broad passageway (Chapel Fields) to the right of a school entrance.
3. The passageway curves left and then runs straight for 250m, passing the school and then a supermarket on the left. At the far end the back of the Crown Hotel is directly ahead, across Church Street. This Wetherspoon's inn is the first of the possible refreshment places and you pass its side entrance as you cut through the passageway on the left, Crown Yard?.
4. For other places the suggested route is to turn left onto the town's High Street and then loop round by the War Memorial (with the White Hart pub up ahead across Station Road), coming back along Market Square past Surfin Cafe and Rosso Lounge.
5. To resume the walk make your way to the western end of Market Square and turn left into Hitchin Street. In 100m turn right into Mill Lane, passing the Whistle and Flute pub on the left. Go straight across the B659 onto the continuation of Mill Lane.
   • After crossing the main road you could detour through a small grassy area with picnic benches to the right of Mill Lane.
6. On Mill Lane you pass the converted Ivel Mill? on your left as you cross the River Ivel. Ignore ways off to both sides to continue on a public bridleway between farm fields, heading W. In 200m the alternative route joins from a path on the right.
   

2. Alternative route (1½ km)

1. Leave the recreation area on the riverside path, going up a slope to the A6001 (Shortmead Street). Turn right and cross this main road carefully, with a view of the redundant Meccano Bridge? alongside the road bridge. After crossing the river turn left down a short slope by a ‘Welcome to Biggleswade’ road sign.
2. Go through a metal kissing gate and follow the riverside path for 600m, with a short stretch away from the water's edge where the original path has deteriorated. At a Y-junction just before the riverside path crosses a stream on a footbridge, fork right away from the river.
3. The path zig-zags along the edge of a large irregularly-shaped farm field for 300m and ends at a T-junction where you turn right onto a bridleway, joining the main route.
3. About 125m after the two routes rejoin, and with the elevated A1 all too audible a similar distance ahead, veer left off the track onto a narrow path lined with blackthorn, the continuation of the bridleway. Just before reaching the A1 bear left onto a permissive path running alongside the embankment.

   The OS map shows the bridleway as going straight across this busy main road, but the permissive path leads to an unusual and much safer crossing.

4. Near the start of the permissive path ignore a very low flood tunnel under the road (there is no sensible way through the undergrowth on the other side). In 150m, however, follow the path round to the right and go under the A1 via one of a group of slightly less claustrophobic tunnels.

If you are doing Short Walk 1 (finishing at Biggleswade), go to §F.


4. The Flood Tunnels to Jordans Mill via the eastern perimeter path (2 km)
• Turn right onto a path to return to the original route of the bridleway, then in 30m turn left into the Broom East Wildlife Conservation Site. Fork left and follow the perimeter path along the site's eastern boundary to its south-eastern corner. Leave the site in this corner and turn left onto Southill Road to reach Jordans Mill.
1. On the other side of the road turn half-right onto a stony path. In 100m you cross a ditch and turn left onto a grassy track, briefly rejoining the bridleway. In 30m, immediately after passing a metal fieldgate on the left, turn left onto a permissive path into the north-eastern corner of the Broom East Wildlife Conservation Site?.
2. Inside the conservation area fork left at a Y-junction. You will be following a clear path alongside arable fields for 1¼ km, never straying far from the low wire fence marking the eastern boundary of the site. The northern part of the site consists of a rolling meadow grazed by cattle; further along there are good views across a lake created from the old gravel pits.
3. In the south-eastern corner of the site the path leads to a (usually locked) metal fieldgate in front of Southill Road. In order to get onto the road go through a gap in the hedge on your right and turn sharp left at a path junction to exit through a wooden side gate.
4. Turn left onto Southill Road, taking care as there is no pavement and you have to use its narrow grass verge for 400m. Eventually you cross a side stream followed by the main branch of the River Ivel on two narrow road bridges and bear left into the Jordans Mill site.

Continue the directions at §H.

5. Biggleswade Station to the Flood Tunnels (1¾ km)
• From the station head west on Saffron Road and go straight ahead at traffic lights onto Teal Road. Turn left into Mill Lane, cross the River Ivel and keep ahead on a bridleway. Use a flood tunnel off to the left to get under the A1, then briefly rejoin the bridleway before taking a permissive path on the left into the Broom East Wildlife Conservation Site.
1. From the island platform go up steps to the footbridge and turn left. Outside the station bear slightly left and go down to a road junction. Cross over Station Road to continue along the right-hand pavement of Saffron Road, which curves left and right and comes to a crossroads. Go straight ahead onto the B659 (Teal Road), which curves round to the right.
2. In 200m use the pedestrian crossing on Teal Road so that you can turn left into Mill Lane, passing the converted Ivel Mill? on your left. After crossing the River Ivel a straightforward route would be to keep ahead on a bridleway heading W (rejoining the suggested route after 200m), but for an attractive little diversion turn right onto the riverside path.
   • If you take the direct route (saving 400m), resume the directions at [?].
3. For the suggested route go along the riverside path for 300m, initially with a wooden fence on your left. Immediately after crossing a stream on a wooden footbridge turn sharp left at a path junction, almost doubling back. … the bridleway from Mill Lane.
4. …
5. …
6. The Flood Tunnels to Jordans Mill (2½ • 2 km)
• … The suggested route is to fork right and follow the perimeter path all the way around the site's northern, western and southern boundaries to its south-eastern corner, but you could also take the more direct route along its eastern boundary. …
1. …

The suggested route for both Short Walks is a loop around the western side of the reserve, but for convenience the Main Walk directions for the slightly shorter eastern perimeter path are repeated in [?].

2. Main route (2½ km)

1. Inside the conservation area fork right at a Y-junction. The path skirts around a pond on the left and comes to an information panel about the restoration project. It continues through a plantation of new trees, with views across a rolling meadow grazed by cattle.
2. At the site's north-western corner there is a second information panel about the area's biodiversity. Turn left to stay inside the site, ignoring a path going back out to the bridleway.
3. Follow this perimeter path southwards for over 1 km, with Gypsy Lane behind the hedge on your right. About halfway along there is a viewing point over a lake created from the old gravel pits, but after this the water is mostly shielded by plantations of young trees.
4. In the site's south-western corner the path swings left to run along its southern boundary, parallel to Southill Road. In 300m, and just before reaching a gap in the hedge ahead (the other end of the eastern perimeter path), fork right to exit through a wooden side gate in its south-eastern corner.

3. Alternative route (2 km)

1. …
2. …
4. …

If you are doing Short Walk 2 (finishing at Arlesey), go to §H.

7. Jordans Mill to Biggleswade Station (2¼ km)
• Leave the mill site and turn right onto Southill Road. Immediately after crossing the main branch of the river turn right and take either the narrow riverside path or a parallel cycle / walkway on the other side of a tall hedge. In 800m fork right to go under the A1, with the same choice of paths ahead. At Ivel Mill cross the river on Mill Lane. Go straight across the B659, turn left into Hitchin Street and turn right into Market Square for a choice of refreshment places. Turn right at the far end to reach the station via Station Road.
  
1. Jordans is worth exploring even if you are not planning to visit its Riverside Café. From the main entrance the suggested route is to go past the right-hand side of the Visitor Centre to come to an information panel in front of the mill pond. The café's outdoor seating area is on your left, while continuing past the imposing Holme Mills? leads directly to the Mill Gardens.

   There are plenty of information panels about the cereal crops, fruit trees and flowers in these gardens. If you are not pressed for time the small wildflower meadow and patch of woodland across the mill pond are also worth a look.

2. Leave the mill site by the main entrance and bear right onto Southill Road. After going back across the main branch of the River Ivel on a narrow bridge veer right off the road onto the riverside path. You then have a choice of continuing alongside the river, or forking left onto a parallel cycle / walkway on the other side of a tall hedge.
   • The riverside path is more scenic but it has deteriorated in a few places, so you might be forced onto the cycleway at some point. There are several gaps in the hedge where you can switch between the two paths.
3. If you are on the cycleway you will need to fork right after 800m to pass under the road bridge carrying the A1. On the other side the two paths split again; the riverside path here is in better condition but once again you could fork left onto a parallel cycle / walkway.
4. In 350m the two paths are separated by a recreation area (Franklin Park) and from the riverside path you have the option of walking through it. On all routes turn right at the far end onto a broad track (Mill Lane), passing the converted Ivel Mill? on the right as you go back across the river.

The walk now retraces part of the main route in §C to Market Square.

5. Follow Mill Lane up to a road junction and go straight across onto its continuation, passing the Whistle and Flute pub on the right. At its T-junction with Hitchin Street the Pembroke Arms is just off to the right, but for the main places turn left. In 100m turn right into Market Square.
6. At a road junction go straight across the B659 onto the continuation of Mill Lane, passing the Whistle and Flute pub on the right. At its T-junction with Hitchin Street the Pembroke Arms is just off to the right, but for the main refreshment places turn left.
7. In 100m turn right into Market Square. The Crown Hotel is on the town's High Street, 50m away to the left. Rosso Lounge is on the right-hand side of Market Square, with Surfin Cafe the last place on the left. The White Hart pub is on the other side of Station Road at the far end.
8. To complete the walk go down Station Road for 200m (away from the High Street). The station is off to the left of this road, with access to all the platforms from a gap at the left-hand end of the station building. Trains to London normally leave from Platform 1, towards the far side of the footbridge over the tracks.
   
8. Jordans Mill to Langford Mill (2 • 2¼ km)
• Leave the mill site and turn left onto Southill Road. After crossing the river turn right onto a new permissive path and follow it all the way to Langford Mill.
  • If permission has been withdrawn continue along Southill Road and turn right onto the B659. Follow it all the way into Langford and turn right onto Mill Lane to reach the mill.
1. …
2. Leave the mill site by the main entrance and turn left onto Southill Road, parallel to the main branch of the River Ivel in a channel on your right. Follow the road round a left-hand bend and over a bridge carrying the millstream (with a nice view of Holme Mills, framed by trees). On the other side of the bridge there is a permissive path off to the right.

Unless it has been closed the permissive path is the preferred route for this section, although it can be muddy in winter and overgrown in high summer. An alternative route through Langford village (which is still the published route of the Kingfisher Way) is described in [?].

3. Main route (2 km)

1. Simply follow the narrow path all the way along the riverbank. Towards the end you go past a number of riverside properties with notices asking you to respect their owners' privacy. Eventually you go through a wooden gate and come out onto the end of Mill Lane, with the old mill pool on your right.

4. Road route (2¼ km)

1. After crossing the millstream take the path on the left-hand side of Southill Road, which continues alongside Jordans' overflow car park.
   • For this option you could also take a path from Jordans Meadow directly to the overflow car park, then onto the roadside path.
2. You will be turning right at the T-junction ahead and it is safer to cross Southill Road at the designated cycle crossing, about 40m before reaching the main road. At the road junction turn right onto the pavement of the B659 (Langford Road), which you now have to walk along for 1½ km.
3. For most of the way there are just flat farm fields on both sides, giving an unimpeded view of Biggleswade Wind Farm? beyond the East Coast Main Line away to your left.
4. Eventually you pass Langford's Village Stores and The Plough pub on the left, and 250m later St Andrew's church on the right. Immediately after passing the churchyard turn right into Mill Lane.
   • If you detour through the churchyard to visit the church you would have to double back to the main road; there is no side exit onto Mill Lane.
5. In 200m you pass Mill Meadow on the right and the road bears left towards the converted mill buildings. As you reach the old mill pool there is a “Private Property” sign on a small wooden gate on the right, with a less conspicuous notice revealing that it is the other end of the permissive path.
9. Langford Mill to Henlow Millennium Meadow (2½ km)
• Take the path between the River Ivel and Henlow Common all the way to Langford Road, coming out opposite Cherry Hills Garden Centre. Turn right briefly onto the road, then turn left onto a footpath along the left-hand edge of two large fields. At the far end bear left into Henlow Millennium Meadow.
1. Go onto the gravel driveway curving round to the right in front of Langford Mill?, which is a right of way. Cross the River Ivel on a wide bridge and veer left through a gate onto a grassy track between hedges. Go through another gate and keep ahead on a low embankment alongside the river, avoiding a path here (and another one further along) into the water meadow on your right, Henlow Common?.
2. You now simply follow this riverside path, going through a few gates along the way. In 800m go past a footbridge over the river to continue along it, ignoring another footpath towards the meadow. You pass an information panel about Seal Bank and in 500m the riverside path comes out onto the B659 (Langford Road) by Boot Bridge.
3. Cross the road carefully and turn right, passing the entrance to Cherry Hill Garden Centre (which you could detour into for its bistro café, The Watering Can). Just past the road sign for Henlow, turn left onto a signposted footpath. Cross a ditch and go around two sides of a large field to the opposite corner.
4. Go through a gap and follow the footpath round to the left to continue along the left-hand edge of an even larger farm field. In the next corner follow the path briefly round to the right, then immediately veer left through a gap in the hedge onto a grassy path heading towards a footbridge 60m away. Go over this into Henlow Millennium Meadow?, passing a wooden owl and otter sculpture on your left.
10. Henlow Millennium Meadow to Arlesey Station (2½ km)
• Go through this small meadow, cross the River Ivel and continue past a fishing lake. Turn right onto a bridleway, then right again to recross the river. Turn left onto a footpath which goes past Henlow Grange (Champneys) and then along the western boundary of the Henlow Bridge Lakes campsite. Turn left onto a footpath along its southern boundary, then turn right onto a slip road going under the A507. Turn left in front of its car park to reach the station (with the Old Oak pub 150m beyond it, on Old Oak Close).
  
1. Unless you want to explore this small meadow, keep ahead across the grass to return to the River Ivel and bear right to walk alongside it for 100m. Cross the river on a wooden footbridge and follow the enclosed footpath as it makes its way through a wooded area, with glimpses of Poppy Hill Lakes (a fishery) through the trees on your left.
2. At the end of the path bear right onto a bridleway, a rough track running beside a farm field. At a T-junction turn right onto a track going back across the River Ivel, passing an isolated house. At the end turn left at a T-junction in front of some school grounds.
3. In 150m you pass the first of two large notices informing you that you will be passing Champneys, the fashionable health spa in the elegant mansion soon visible off to your left, Henlow Grange?. Unless you have pre-booked a pampering session, go past the driveway leading to its main entrance to continue on the footpath for a further 250m, negotiating a couple of side gates along the way.
4. After the second gate ignore a footpath off to the left to continue on the tree-lined avenue alongside the western boundary of Henlow Bridge Lakes, a large campsite well shielded by tall hedges. As you approach a main road (the A507) ignore an entrance into the site, but shortly afterwards turn left through a wooden gate onto a waymarked footpath.
5. Follow this path between hedges, parallel to the main road. Go straight across two more vehicle entrances into the site, then over a stream on a wooden footbridge. At the end of this long straight path turn right and go through a side gate by a weir onto a slip road off the A507.
6. Go under the elevated main road and turn left in front of the entrance to the station car park. After crossing the River Hiz? on a brick road bridge there is an information panel about the Hicca Way off to your right, by the entrance to Glebe Meadows.

   This is the start of the Arlesey to Letchworth Garden City walk (#233).

7. A short ramp leads onto the northbound platform, so for trains to London you have to cross the station footbridge to Platform 1.
   • The only convenient place for refreshment before the journey home is the Old Oak; from the exit by the small ticket office you can see its pub sign at the far end of Old Oak Close, 150m away. The Vicar's Inn (200m beyond the Old Oak on Church Lane, opposite St Peter's church) is permanently closed.
     

Walk Notes

1. The third son of Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, Captain Sir William Peel was a naval officer who was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the Crimean War. He had a home in Sandy and several plaques were erected to commemorate the 150^th anniversary of his early death in 1858, aged just 33. There is a marble statue of him in the parish church, with copies in Greenwich and Calcutta.
2. The hill fort on Galley Hill is believed to have been built in the early Iron Age (c.500 BC), probably as a defensive structure. There are two other (less well-preserved) hill forts nearby: Sandy Lodge (by the mansion) and Caesar's Camp (across the B1042).
3. The Lodge was built in 1870 by Arthur Wellesley Peel, the younger brother of Sir William? and Speaker of the House of Commons from 1884-1895. The mansion was acquired by the RSPB in 1961 and has been their UK headquarters ever since.
4. The disused railway was originally a short branch line from Sandy to Potton, built in 1857 at the instigation of Sir William Peel?. Five years later it became part of the Varsity Line from Oxford to Cambridge. This section closed in 1967.
5. The Kingfisher Way runs for 34 km along the course of the River Ivel, from its source near Baldock to the River Great Ouse at Tempsford. However, the waymarked route made use of some permissive paths (eg. between Biggleswade Common and Sandy) which are no longer open.
6. The 1902 Ivel Agricultural Motor was invented by Dan Albone, a Biggleswade inventor of early bicycles and motor cars. It was the first farm machine which was light enough to plough fields directly, although stationary engines had started to be used in the late 19^thC. A few of the Ivel firm's 500 tractors still exist, including one in London's Science Museum.
7. A plaque in Crown Yard records that the Great Fire of Biggleswade started here on 16 June 1785, reportedly destroying half the town's buildings.
8. Ivel Mill (or Franklin's Mill) closed after a fire in 1945, but it was partially restored and used as a warehouse before being converted into flats in 1982. A History Society plaque records that there had been a watermill on the site for over 1,000 years.
9. The Meccano Bridge was hastily erected at the outbreak of World War Ⅱ to take some of the traffic from a stone road bridge which had become unsafe (Shortmead Road was the A1 before the town was bypassed). The main bridge was replaced with a similar Meccano-style bridge in 1948, then this concrete bridge in 2001.
10. Broom East Wildlife Conservation Site is the eastern part of a former sand and gravel quarry which was restored as a wildlife site after mineral extraction ceased in 2017. The central wetland area is closed off for conservation but there is a permissive path all the way around the perimeter.
11. Holme Mills has been the base of the Jordan family's milling business since 1855. After a fire in 1894 it was modernised, with the traditional millstones being replaced with roller mills. Over time the company switched to manufacturing breakfast cereals and cereal bars, and the flour mill ceased production in 2005. It was renovated in 2013 to enable the Jordans Mill site to open as a working museum.
12. The Biggleswade Wind Farm began operating in 2013. There are 10 turbines with a nominal total capacity of 20 MW.
13. Langford Mill operated as a paper mill from 1740 to 1861, then as a flour mill. It was converted into flats in the 1970s.
14. Henlow Common consists of 45 acres of riverside flood meadows. It is a Local Nature Reserve which is open to the public, but the paths across its northern half are not well-defined and the area can be boggy.
15. Henlow Millennium Meadow is a small Community Nature Reserve, owned by the Parish Council.
16. The earliest parts of Henlow Grange date from 1680, but this Grade Ⅱ* building is mostly 18^thC. Its last private owner was Alan Lennox-Boyd, MP for Mid-Bedfordshire who was Colonial Secretary in the 1950s. After he moved out the house fell into disrepair, but it was extensively refurbished by a new owner in 1961 and converted into a health farm. In 1981 it became the first of a chain of health spas branded as Champneys.
17. The River Hiz (properly pronounced Hitch) is a short tributary of the River Ivel, flowing into it in the grounds behind Henlow Grange.

» Last updated: May 22, 2026

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