{"id":342,"date":"2011-03-05T01:02:39","date_gmt":"2011-03-05T01:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=342"},"modified":"2011-03-05T01:07:41","modified_gmt":"2011-03-05T01:07:41","slug":"ashdon-and-steventon-end-essex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=342","title":{"rendered":"Ashdon and Steventon End, Essex"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Is it really Essex?&#8217;<br \/>\nJane\u2019s amazement was easy to understand. Essex just isn\u2019t associated with scenes like this. Thatched, colourwashed, timber-framed houses line Ashdon\u2019s village street; the River Bourn courses dimpling under diminutive brick bridges; gentle farmlands rise all around.<br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">window.onload = setupZoom; function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; var walkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=700,width=800,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script>First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('Ashdon.gpx');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5212\/5465199853_8ce2bc5128.jpg\" title='Mournful wight with golden hair, All Saints, Church End'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5212\/5465199853_8ce2bc5128_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5014\/5465199621_8c5c6e8950.jpg\" title='Christopher and tree'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5014\/5465199621_8c5c6e8950_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5011\/5465199333_747cc67924.jpg\" title='Ashdon and its countryside'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5011\/5465199333_747cc67924_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5259\/5465199089_e9748b482f.jpg\" title='Winter aconite'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5259\/5465199089_e9748b482f_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5134\/5465198793_87e001558c.jpg\" title='4. Ashdon Place'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5134\/5465198793_87e001558c_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5059\/5465198451_35cc420314.jpg\" title='Waltons (l.) and Ashdon Place, Steventon End'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5059\/5465198451_35cc420314_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5139\/5465796208_a046aef4b6.jpg\" title='Ashdon windmill'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5139\/5465796208_a046aef4b6_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5019\/5465197993_494147da50.jpg\" title='Ashdon and River Bourn'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5019\/5465197993_494147da50_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=342\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\nA place that wears its \u2018Best Kept Village\u2019 trophies up on its walls, with pride, for all to admire. Go to the Thames Estuary shore of Essex to have your prejudices confirmed (or challenged &#8211; but that\u2019s for another walk); but come to the north-west corner of England\u2019s most maligned county to have them scattered to the four winds. Here are rolling green hills, catkin-laden copses and delectably-situated medieval hall houses enough to delight any country walker with all five senses alert.<\/p>\n<p>Children\u2019s shouts drifted from the village school playground as we climbed past beetfields with flapping scarecrows to the crest where Ashdon windmill raised its white sails. Crossing the ridge to walk the descending field path into Steventon End, we gazed ahead at what must be the most perfect juxtaposition of two houses in all Essex \u2013 the beautiful half-timbered Tudor house of Ashdon Place, pink-washed, sheltered under a wooded slope; and beyond it the mellow red brick Waltons, its ranks of windows flashing back the sun, every inch an early Georgian country house, but with an Elizabethan hall buried inside it.<\/p>\n<p>The way led through the Waltons parkland, where drifts of winter aconite with yellow hairdryer hoods and ruffs of green grew under the trees. Six chestnut foals watched us with wary curiosity from a paddock. Out among huge wheat and bean fields, their hedges white with old man\u2019s beard, we crossed the wide roof of the hill and came down by Bowsers End with its farmhouse standing quiet among willows.<\/p>\n<p>Back in Ashdon\u2019s little sub-hamlet of Church End we found the lumps and bumps of a former village abandoned at the time of the Black Death, its remnants a couple of old cottages and a crooked, timber-framed old Guildhall. Here stands All Saints, one of those rural Essex churches cobbled together over the centuries out of bricks, flints, timber chunks, blocks of limestone. A splendid mishmash with round porthole windows on high, the whole building a bit skew-whiff and out of kilter. And in one of the south windows a few fragments of delicate, ancient glass \u2013 leaves and flowers, angels\u2019 faces, wings, hands, and a wight with mournful countenance and golden, curly hair.<\/p>\n<p><U>Start &amp; finish<\/U>: Rose &amp; Crown, Ashdon, Saffron Walden CB10 2HB (OS ref TL 587421)<br \/>\n<U>Getting there<\/U>: Bus: Four Counties Buses (01799-516878;<br \/>\n<FONT COLOR=\"#0000ff\"><U><A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk\/\">www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk<\/A><\/U><\/FONT>) Service 59 (Haverhill-Clavering)<br \/>\nRoad: Bartlow, then Ashdon, signed from A1307 Cambridge-Haverhill at Linton<\/p>\n<p><U>Walk<\/U><br \/>\n(5\u00bd miles, easy grade, OS Explorer 209): From Rose &amp; Crown take<br \/>\nroad opposite (\u2018Radwinter\u2019). In 200m, left up Kates Lane. In<br \/>\n100m, left (fingerpost); at top of bank bear right past bench<br \/>\n(589421; yellow arrow\/YA) and follow YAs (Harcamlow Way on map). At<br \/>\nnext bench don\u2019t turn right; keep ahead to Ashdon Windmill<br \/>\n(595425). Left along road. Don\u2019t take first 2 paths on right (black<br \/>\nfingerposts); keep on round bend and turn right on path (concrete<br \/>\nfingerpost) diagonally across field, aiming to left of buildings<br \/>\nbelow. Cross road in Steventon End (593429); up drive (fingerpost),<br \/>\npast Waltons house and on. Through shank of woodland; at its end,<br \/>\nsharp left (591434; no waymark) on bridleway along its north edge.<br \/>\nCross road (584432; <I>NB blind bend! take care!<\/I>). Down lane<br \/>\nopposite; follow it for \u00bd mile. Opposite Aulnoye, left (580437,<br \/>\n\u2018bridleway\u2019) up wood edge and on for nearly a mile to Bowsers<br \/>\nEnd. Sharp left here (568431, fingerpost) along broad footpath. In \u2154<br \/>\nmile pass woodland; through gate; in another 150m, left over<br \/>\nfootbridge (577424, YA). Cross stile; aim half left for bottom left<br \/>\ncorner of wood; cross stile with waymark here (579423). Up steps to<br \/>\nlane; right; at top of hill, right (581422; fingerpost) past cottage<br \/>\nand along farm track. In 50m, left through hedge (YA); right along<br \/>\nfield edge past Hall Farm to road (580417). Cross; down lane to All<br \/>\nSaints Church (581415). On far side of church pass to left of<br \/>\nGuildhall; bear left past gate. In 20m, left at crossing of paths;<br \/>\nfollow fence past east end of church and on to gap in hedge (582415).<br \/>\nDiagonally left across big field to far bottom corner (585418). Left<br \/>\nto road by village museum; right to Rose &amp; Crown.<\/p>\n<p>NB \u2013 Online map, more walks: <FONT COLOR=\"#0000ff\"><U><A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/\">www.christophersomerville.co.uk<\/A><\/U><\/FONT><\/p>\n<p><U>Lunch<\/U>:<br \/>\nRose &amp; Crown, Ashdon (01799-584337); Ashdon village museum (tea and WI cakes!)<br \/>\n<U>Ashdon village museum<\/U> (01799-584253): Open 2-5; Sun, Wed, BH Mon, Easter to end Sept; Sep-Christmas, Sun only.<\/p>\n<p><U>More info<\/U>: Saffron Walden TIC (01799-524002); <FONT COLOR=\"#0000ff\"><U><A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.visitesex.com\/\">www.visitessex.com<\/A><\/U><\/FONT><br \/>\n<FONT COLOR=\"#0000ff\"><U><A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.ramblers.org.uk\/\">www.ramblers.org.uk<\/A><\/U><\/FONT>;<br \/>\n<FONT COLOR=\"#0000ff\"><U><A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.satmap.com\/\">www.satmap.com<\/A><\/U><\/FONT><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A place that wears its &#8216;Best Kept Village&#8217; trophies up on its walls, with pride, for all to admire. Go to the Thames Estuary shore of Essex to have your prejudices confirmed (or challenged &#8211; but that&#8217;s for another walk)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}