This short, circular, flat, 4-mile route goes mostly through ancient woodland, starting in the medieval hunting grounds of Writtle Forest. There are plenty of opportunities for wildlife spotting along the way; we saw deer, rabbits, squirrels, birds, and a rat. For the most part it was easy to navigate but as always, having a map never hurts. If you do this walk after lockdown, there’s a pub at the end.
This short coastal walk benefits from dramatic cliffs, ocean and estuary views, plus access to 4 spotless beaches in addition to the popular Bantham Beach. The inland route back offers a brief change of scene and two pubs. The whole area is in the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the coastal erosion, coves and beaches are wonderful. The steep climb into Thurlestone warrants some consideration before attempting it, but means a pint at The Village Inn is much deserved!
The quiet, flat 12 mile route offers both farmland and coastal terrain. At roughly halfway you reach the main points of interest; Bradwell Shell Bank and Chapel of St. Peter on the Wall. There are other elements preventing this route feeling like too much a trek; three pubs, Church of St. Nicholas, Bradwell Waterside Marina, Bradwell Power Station, and of course, the coastal views. The seawall section is easy to follow, but over-zealous sowing and poor signage makes some of the inland route hard to follow, even with a map.
This well-trodden route offers plenty of coastal views and wildlife to enjoy while being easily accessible by rail and therefore never too far from civilisation. The bustling Thames Estuary is home to marine wildlife, fishing fleets and container ships. As is to be expected then, the walk has numerous examples of urban and wild coexisting. The walking route is busy and suffers from graffiti and litter in places but there’s an abundance of wildlife to make up for it; we were lucky enough to spot an adder!
Yet another great walking route we found on essexwalks.com, which we followed to the letter. The possibility of finishing at The Three Hills pub tempted us to start the route in Bartlow. However, the highlight of this walk for most will be Barlow Hills, ancient roman burial mounds, so we’d advise not crossing that off right at the start. There’s quite a lot of farmland mileage between Ashdon and Bartlow and it’s best to have this at the start of the walk, rather than the end.
This popular route, an OS premium route and also mapped by essexwalks.com, underwhelmed us. While the ample water en-route makes for plenty of wildlife, the route is still a little urban for our liking – it passes a huge tesco! The main problem is that the highlight of the walk is at the start, or the end if you prefer. Or both, as we did.
This is one of many walks around Dedham and Flatford, and away from the two villages themselves, this is an incredibly quiet and peaceful walk. We’ve never been to Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) before, but at 90 square km, we will definitely be returning soon. We adapted our route, which has already had a few positive ratings!, from this suggestion by Dedham Vale AONB & Stour Valley Project, who have links to numerous pdf maps on their website. John Constable and other renowned landscape painters have famously immortalised this area.