Cavendish Walk

8/12/2019 Cavendish Walk

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16/07/2014 16:06Chocolate-box Cavendish - Walks - The AA

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Chocolate-box Cavendish

Fine views and thestory of a great humanitarian in the Stour Valley.

Distance6 miles (9.7km)

Minimum time2hrs 30min

Ascent/gradient311ft (95m)

Level of difficultyMedium

PathsField paths, bridleways, short stretches of road, 3 stiles

LandscapeRolling farmland of Stour Valley

Suggested mapaqua3 OS Explorers 196 Sudbury, Hadleigh & Dedham Vale; 210 Newmarket &Haverhil

Start/finishTL 805464 (on Explorer 196)

Dog friendlinessFarmland - dogs on leads

ParkingCavendish High Street, opposite Sue Ryder Museum

PublictoiletsAt Clare Castle Country Park

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AA Media Limited 2013. Crown Copyright Licence number 100021153

1Start at Cavendish village green. Take the path on the far side of the green past the Five Bells puband the school, then cross the stile by the cemetery to join the Stour Valley Path. Follow this around ameadow and through a hedge, then turn left along a field-edge path that crosses a plank bridge andswings round to the right between fields and hedgerows to meet a road.

2Turn left on to the road and walk uphill for about !mile (400m). After passing a solitary house, turnleft on to a path along the edge of a field path with sweeping views. The path descends, then bendsright and crosses a wooden bridge to emerge by a huge field. Turn right beside a hedge, then leftbetween fields, following the Stour Valley Path waymarks to Houghton Hall. Keep straight ahead andstay on this path as it turns left and then half right to drop to Hermitage Farm.

3Keep to the Stour Valley Path as it bends left, entering a belt of trees before reaching a lane andpassing a playing field on its way to the Clare to Cavendish road.

4Cross the road carefully, walk across the bridge and turn left on a narrow path beside a small

graveyard, signposted 'Clare Castle Country Park'. Enter the park and keep left, walking beside astream to reach an old railway bridge. Cross the bridge and immediately take a climbing path to your left


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to reach a housing estate. Turn right and cross the old bridge over the railway to Mill House and afootbridge by the old mill.

5Cross the bridge and walk diagonally left across a field, taking another footbridge over the River Stourto enter the county of Essex. Keep straight ahead across the field. Reaching a road, go left for 200yds(183m) before turning left on a wide bridleway leading back down to the river. At a T-junction of paths,turn right across the field. The track swings left, passes a poplar grove and enters a muddy section of

woodland as it meets the river once again.

6When you reach a lane, turn left walking past the half-timbered Bower Hall. Keep on the publicbridleway for about 1 mile (1.6km) as it crosses farmland towards Pentlow Hall.

7Turn left on to a road and cross the bridge to return to Suffolk. On the far side of the bridge, cross astile on the left-hand side to walk beside the river. Climb the bank on the right, cross another stile andwalk through the gardens to reach the main road by the side of the Sue Ryder Museum.

The village green at Cavendish, with its pink thatched cottages in the shadow of a medieval church, isone of those scenes that perfectly sum up the appeal of this corner of West Suffolk. Just around thecorner, in a 16th-century rectory by the duck pond, is the former home of a remarkable 20th-centuryfigure. Sue Ryder, Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (1923-2000) was born into a large landowning familyfrom Yorkshire and spent much of her childhood in Suffolk at their summer estate at Great Thurlow Hall.Her mother Mabel was a tireless campaigner for the rights of the poor and used to take young Suearound the slums of Leeds to teach her about the realities of poverty in Britain.

As a young woman, Sue Ryder joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and later served in Poland duringWorld War Two with the top-secret Special Operations Executive, set up by Winston Churchill toorganise resistance behind enemy lines. Her experience profoundly affected her and after the war she

began visiting Polish prisoners and survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. In 1952 she establishedthe Sue Ryder Foundation. A year later, using 1,000 of her own savings, she opened the first SueRyder home for victims of war in her mother's former house in Cavendish.

In 1959 she married Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, VC (1917-92), a World War Two bomber pilotwhose experience of the devastation caused by the atomic bomb at Nagasaki led him to establish hisown group of homes for disabled ex-servicemen. They lived together in two simple rooms above theCavendish home. Sue Ryder was famous for her frugal lifestyle - she never drew a salary and shedressed in clothes acquired from her own charity shops. By the time she died in October 2000, the SueRyder Foundation had a network of more than 60 homes for severely ill and disabled people in Britain

and around the world.

This walk follows the Stour Valley Path from Cavendish to Clare, briefly entering Clare Castle CountryPark and returning through Essex along the south bank of the river. For a complete look at Clare and itscountry park, take the longer Walk 44.

What to look for

The handle on the church door at Cavendish is the same one that Sir John Cavendish clung on to in1381 while pleading for sanctuary from his pursuers. Sir John was lord of the manor at Cavendish and

Lord Chief Justice of England, whose son, John Cavendish, had murdered Wat Tyler, leader of thePeasants' Revolt. Sir John escaped from Cavendish but the peasants eventually caught up with him,chopping off his head in the market place at Bury St Edmunds.


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While you're there

The Sue Ryder Museum features memorabilia from her childhood, including her christening robe and adress worn at the Thurlow Pageant, along with army uniforms, displays on the World War Twoconcentration camps and gifts from disabled residents in Sue Ryder homes in Poland and elsewhere. Itis open daily from 10am to 5:30pm.

Where to eat and drink

The Sue Ryder tea rooms are open throughout the day, offering good-value hot meals, sandwiches andcakes. The George Inn, across the road, has a varied pub menu specialising in fresh fish dishes.

User reviews

(1 user review)

Write a reviewand share your thoughts with other users.

Yet another very enjoyable walk with lots of pretty views. Sturdy walking boots highly recommended as itwas very muddy! Unfortunately the Sue Ryder museum is now closed but there is still plenty to see inCavendish, and there are three pubs if you're looking for refreshments. Would definitely walk this walkagain!

Reviewer: Cybele, Bury St. EdmundsVisited: 10 November 2013

40of 68people found this review helpful.Did you find it helpful? Yes|No

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