Manningtree Circular Walk

Did this walk today, late Feb but in the middle of a warm snap so felt more like March/April; blustery showers and glorious to get some of the first warm sun of the year. A really lovely walk and surprisingly varied -- woods and hills and paddocks and water meadows, and the churches and villages en route are beautiful. Thoroughly recommended, and already looking forward to doing it again.

No major problems with the directions; as another commenter has said, many of the gates/stiles/bridges/etc don't exist anymore (not even in trace form), and I can see that this could be confusing for those walkers who like very specific instructions, but it was always clear what was meant and mostly on very clear paths. So if in doubt I recommend following the spirit of the instructions and heading in the right direction rather than looking for each waypoint.

I had my boots in my bag, but even after recent heavy rainfall and a wet winter I just about got away with doing this whole walk in trainers. Not necessarily recommending doing that (it was a bit slow and slithery), and also got lucky in that the water meadows hadn't actually flooded... but if people are looking for a winter walk that isn't shin-deep in mud, this might be one to try.

I led a group of 35 on this walk last weekend and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a warm day and everyone was grateful for the stops at Dedham and Flatford. I was mindful to warn the group in advance about crossing the live railway line and also the road walking. When I did the recce the first path (number 3) was very overgrown but the week after it had been cleared which made it much easier to get through. I have done this walk a few times now and find it easier to walk around the right hand side of the field at number 9. It probably doesn't make too much difference. For those interested in a pub lunch, the Swan pub at Stratford St Marys has now reopened and is open Wed to Sun.

This is a lovely walk and I can highly recommend it.

I did this walk on 2 August. I have done it several times previously and have always enjoyed it as I did on this occasion. It is a gentle walk through or close to some lovely villages; Dedham, in particular is one of may favourites and there are plenty of places to stop and eat there. It was a very warm day. Fortunately I managed to pick up a slight breeze on most of the exposed parts but the section from Flatford to Manningtree is very exposed and there was very little wind at that time. I have always found the guidance very easy to follow - thank you. The section at para 9 seems to have caused some confusion but whenever I have done the walk I have always had to take the path on the left hand side of the field, turning right at the end just before the pylons and that was the case when I did the walk on 2 August, as it had been ploughed ready for a crop to be planted (there have been sheep in it previously - but they were fenced off). I agree with what is said below about the condition of the path at para 3; it was hazardous to fight one's way through the nettles and brambles - as it was also on parts of the path between paras 54 and 55. I also encountered a herd of cattle in the field at para 45; I was a little concerned because as I walked through the field the cattle moved to come very close to the path just as I was passing. However the bull chose that moment to engage in an act of procreation and ignored me, having better things on his mind. The principal issue with the walk is the short road walk on the B1209 at para 53. This is quite busy, there is in parts no verge to walk on, there are a few corners where you are hidden from the oncoming traffic and the vehicles travel quickly along it, especially those who have just left the A12. It has never put me off doing the main walk but something to watch out for and exercise care. I have eaten in the Essex Rose tearoom (an outpost of the Tiptree empire) and have had some very good food and service. This time I ate at the cafe in the arts & craft centre and had an enjoyable snack - simpler than the Essex Rose but a quicker stop.

Beautiful countryside and I did eventually have a lovely walk albeit not following the instructions, which stumped me at #3 : there is a gate aligning roughly with a wooden sign for Dedham (& another village) but don’t go through the gate! Instead do go straight uphill (which it does also say tbf). I lost half an hour here going back and forth (the other side of the gate) going nowhere. When I did figure out the correct path, it was completely overrun by stinging nettles for the first 200m or so.

The instructions after St Mary’s Lawford Church (point 7) made no sense to me but a friendly passer-by helped me find the Essex Way path and from then on I just used a map, and found a lovely route: there are lots of paths and quiet lanes marked on the OS map I’d printed out so you really can make up your own à la carte walk!

Must admit cannot key into Marc’s issues (below) re. Para 7. We managed to negotiate those instructions fine and continued without any problems there. So don’t be deterred.

HOWEVER, not a walk to do just after any hefty, prolonged cloud burst or flooding. We got to para 38, crossed the weir, but were stopped in our tracks going down to the kissing gate. Stour had overflowed during last week’s Storm Babet and routes along the river were completely impassable. No go. But we walked along the nearby road back into Manningtree so all was not lost.

I did this walk on the 14th October 2023. This is, as always, an absolutely glorious walk. No problem with any of the directions and the notifications (in the directions) of the spots where Constable painted a few of his painting is just priceless.

One thing that is worth mentioning is that, if you arrive on time at Flatford Mill (for us, before 15.30), there is the possibility to rent a rowing boat and to row up (then down to return the boat) the gorgeous river Stour for an hour. This is just fantastic, one of the coolest addition that you can have at any of the SWC walks

I'm afraid I found the instructions useless and had to abandon the route in favour of an official footpath.

Para. 7 says:

"In 30 metres go through a gap in the hedge and in another 15 metres go through a gap where there used to be a wooden swing gate with an Essex Way sign. Follow the path round to the right then left and after 100 metres go through a wooden kissing gate with a metal fieldgate on its left-hand side. Ahead is a gravelled lane where you turn left, with a hedgerow on your right, your direction 255°."

There is no gap in the hedge. Once you go through the "gap where there used to be a wooden swing gate with an Essex Way sign", you have to turn either sharp left or right, but whichever way you go you can't "follow the path round to the right", as it leads straight on in both directions. There is no "wooden kissing gate with a metal fieldgate on its left-hand side" and no "gravelled lane where you turn left".

At this point I had to abandon the walk and pick up the Essex Trail instead. Luckily I had a map with me so the day wasn't a total write-off.

Someone needs to walk this route again and ensure the directions are valid.

We last did this walk nearly 30 years ago, and it's no less enjoyable now. We used the shortcut, so nothing to report from Stratford St Mary. The good news is that the missing footbridge mentioned below has been replaced by a chunky wooden structure, hopefully good for 100 years.

There are an unusually high number of gates on this walk which are broken, don't close, or are simply missing.

We weren't especially attracted by the Sun Inn (high prices, and colonised by the county set), but the Marlborough Head Inn was excellent. The half-timbered Gents toilet was a notable feature... Manningtree Station buffet is an excellent resource; larger on the inside than out.

Hi,

I did this walk yesterday. Beautiful surroundings and good to follow. One important change to the route. I wanted to do the shortcut, along the river. The mentioned footbridge is no longer there.

So the 1st option of the shortcut is unfortunately not possible. Instead of following the 2nd option, which I felt would be quite a bit longer (and in the heatwave, I did not feel like adding more km to my trip!), I took another route recommended to me by some local men. I'll note down my recommended shortcut as an alternative to the footbridge.

*Follow the path, and when you reach the path junction just after a bridge, continue straight, following the signpost for 'Flatford'. This path turns right and left and then up the hill. On the top of the hill, cross the road and go right on the footpath parallel to the road. At the end of the footpath, continue in the same direction along that road. You reach the car park of the National Trust site Flatford. Go right and keep to the left of the car park, passing the entire car park. At the end on the left is a small National Trust shed. There might be people queueing here to pay for parking, but as a pedestrian you pass the shed and continue on the footpath. At the next junction go left, down some steps and you pass the toilets on your left on the way to the Bridge Cottage Tea room. From there pick up the route from point 72.

Did this walk yesterday off the updated route on the website.

No major changes / obstructions to report although at point 54, the path is a little on the overgrown side. Nothing impassable as of yet.

As to lunch options, had a lovely lunch at The Sun in Dedham despite arriving early and cooling my heels. Stratford St Mary offers only one option right now - the Anchor. The Black Horse looks closed up and the Swan is definitely closed up. There is some construction but it looks to be in early stages and so it will likely be a while yet until it reopens, I suspect.

A lovely walk as ever.

We did walk end of June 2020 so didn’t get to stop off at any pubs as they were all closed (COVID) but thankfully got drinks and snacks at Dedham Co-Operative grocery store on the Main Street. Other comments on instructions:

7. No wooden swing way - just follow the path round to the right and then round to the left - it is a footpath not a grassy way

9. It is a Concrete and wooden ‘public footpath’ sign. When a crop is in and there is no middle / diagonal path across the field Follow the left edge of the wheat field and at the far side keep following it around to the right (keeping to the left edge of the wheat field). When the path curves left you will see an exit path from the field. There are no yellow signs/arrows - just wooden posts. But take this path. 35. No wooden kissing gate - follow the gravel / dirt track path 49. No style - go left at t- junction then left again 76. No kissing gate. 3-way foot path sign is fixed

Lovely walk - we did this in the last weekend of December 2019 - the works were still going on at Manningtree station. As we drove, we had a pint in Dedham and then went to Harwich for dinner, which was delightful. Walk was fine and as predicted in the intstructions.

A couple of notes based on the current (Oct 19) pdf version:

1. There's car park development work at Manningtree station which obstructs the start of the walk. At the start, bear left out of the station entrance, through the lower level of the car park and turn right on the track. This will bring you to point 3. Scheduled end date for the work is Nov 19, which is about as likely as an early completion of Crossrail.

2. The path in sections 55 and 56 has been relocated a few metres south. It's all fenced in, which the council notices tell me is for my own safety. Quite how stringing barbed wire next to a slippery path makes me safer is not clear to me, but next time I gash my hand I'll be sure to write a letter of thanks to the HSE.

This turned out to be a lovely early January walk. We did the shortcut version, and have to agree, it must have been one of the better parts of the walk. No problems with Step 9.

This is a lovely walk. We had no issues with passing through the field at step 9, the farmer has cleared all nettles (as at end of June 2018) and the path was clear across the field. The lunch stops in Dedham are only about 6km into the walk so there is no point getting a train earlier than 9.30. Really nice lunch options.

Directions updated March 2018.

Please don't be put off by Comment 12. For most of the year, the field at para 9. is easily negotiable.

This walk has some superb wild swimmimg opportunities in the river Stour. The first is just by Dedham Mill, a lovely calm pool with easy access from the bank opposite the mill. Then you can swim along most of the Stour between there and Flitford Mill, if you take the short cut. Glorious!

A warning about Step 9 in the online walk (the 400 metres of "path" along the left-hand side of a field, until you pass under a line of pylons):

We found this section impossible to navigate today (the 27th May), as the path was completely overgrown and had lots of nettles, some growing up to chest height. We spent about ten minutes on the first 100 metres, trying to get through the wild growth without getting stung, and then gave up because it was taking too much time. Also our trousers were soaking wet (it had rained earlier). The only alternative would have been to walk through the field itself, but there are crops being grown there at this time of year, so that wasn't an option. One of us was wearing knee-length shorts, the other long trousers, but in either case the path was very challenging to navigate.

In fact, having walked so many Saturday walks over the years, this was probably one of the worst paths I ever encountered!

So we walked back to the tarmac road, turned left on it (marked as Dedham Road and then Mill Hill on the OS 1:25,000 map) and followed it through the railway tunnel and past Stour House all the way up to Step 16, where we rejoined the walk. Take care walking on this road as the cars drive quite fast in this rural outpost and there isn't always much room left on the side of the road to let them past.

Another alternative (if we had known in advance this path was so bad) would have been to stay on the Essex Way by going right (instead of left) on the tarmac road in Step 8 and then taking a left turn off Mill Hill after about 400 metres (as shown on the OS 1:25,000 map) to stay on the Essex Way instead of walking down the hill to the railway tunnel.

You have been warned! :-)

I imagine in early spring and from late autumn, this path will be much easier to navigate, but from late spring to early autumn it is a nightmare. Unless someone maintains it and keeps the path clear.

Other trickier - but more doable - sections (again, because of the nettles) were the 25 metres in Step 2, right after coming out of Manningtree station, and the section described in Step 75. With a stick, you can clear the path from protruding nettles and avoid being stung.

A lovely walk with a good lunch at the Sun Inn. A little too much time spent on the road, but the walk along the river is worth it.

From steps 10 - 33 you can put the directions away and follow the signs for the Essex Way.

We followed the directions on this website, and used the GPS as a supportive tool. On the website, it says correctly:

"9. In 150 metres turn right into a field and follow the path along its left edge."

One indeed has to follow the path along its left edge, along the orchards of Charity Farm, as the official footpath, which actually diagonally crosses the field instead of following the path on its left edge, has disappeared. A farmer has simply ploughed it over. (The original footpath is well visible on both the GPS and the OS map

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I thoroughly recommend the shortcut on this walk, particularly if you keep to the Stour all the way to Flatford Mill. This is a very beautiful section of the river and easily the most scenic bit of the whole walk.

In Dedham the Sun Inn does nice food - quite original and quirky - but is not cheap. Another time I might explore the various cafes and tea rooms in the village.

The bar on Manningtree station is a real survivor from the days when many stations had such places. It is open all evening until 11pm. We found it a bit less attractive inside than it looked from the outside, however: the TV was noisy, the temperature high due to no ventilation, and the seating basic. But the outside tables at least enable you to sit with your drink until the very moment the London-bound train pulls up.

3/8/2013 - Excellent walk. The guide downloaded from the website is very accurate. WE had maps but certainly did not need them - a compass just to orient ourselves was fine. One point: on Point 9 on the guide, the wooden post with arrows is almost totally obscured by vegetation and we missed the turn. A tip: pace yourself from turning right a the field corner and 150-160 steps and you will be at the left turn. Check the guide to see what I mean. That was the only (very small) issue though - a well worked out walk.

Just done the Manningtree walk - Sunday service at the moment means no trains from Liverpool Street so it was tube to Newbury Park, bus to Inglestone and then train to Manningtree - took 2 hours rather than 61 mins. Good walk, although the noise from the A12 figures a little too much in some places. On a positive note we had a wonderful bell ringing and up the tower experience at Dedham Church (only on a Sunday perhaps, you'll need to check that out) and it costs £3 each. Sunday lunch in the Sun was the best! Oh and I think the unpleasant dog mentioned in the book must have died......

I just noticed that on the pdf, point 26 says "In 20 metres you pass the timber-framed Old House. In a further 30 MINUTES fork right and go through a wooden swing gate ..."

The book says 30 METERS, which I think is probably correct. This could potentially lose people, so I wanted to let you know

I absolutely LOVE the Sun hotel for lunch - michelin quality food in a very tasteful setting. They are very friendly to everyone.

This is the best food you will get on any Time Out walk - yes it's that good. But be warned its very popular and this week I tried to book for sunday lunch and it was fully booked - and I called four days in advance.

Peter C's comments have been incorporated into the revised version.

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The recommended lunchtime Vegetarian restaurant serves simple meals along the lines of soups, sandwiches, jacket potatoes and quiches.