Free Bank Holiday Hike: the Amazing Stour Valley

King Edmund & The Bures Dragon via the River Stour and some forgotten byways of medieval Suffolk. An amazing hike through quintessential English countryside

HIGHLIGHTS

Pass the famous English painter Gainsborough's House

The Medieval chapel where King Edmund of East Anglia was crowned

Spectacular views across the Stour Valley

Pass through quaint villages, hamlets and idyllic water mills & streams

Start time: 11.20 am

Finish time: 17.20 pm

Hike starts at: Protected content

Finishes at BURES Station approx 17.20.

Distance: 13 miles Protected content

Terrain: Undulating / hilly

Pace: Brisk

TRAIN

Train from Protected content

DESCRIPTION

We head through the quaint market town of Sudbury, past Gainsboroughs House, (the famous 18th Century artist Thomas Gainsborough was born here) to the picturesque Mill pond and Water Meadows.

After a steady climb we discover the little hamlet of Alphamstone. Here we can unpack our sandwiches and rest on some old benches out the back of St Barnabas church. This settlement has been here since the Bronze Age.

Stop to admire the old water mill and then press on to a cute medieval chapel perched on a hill, where King Edmund of East Anglia was crowned in 856AD.

We can stop for a drink on our return to Bures before catching the hourly train back to London (17.33) or Sudbury (17.13)

Hike leader: Robin Protected content