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April 25, 1999
HANNINGFIELD RESERVOIR includes a nature reserve managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. The reserve covers 100 acres, of which three quarters is presently accessible to visitors. A very helpful free leaflet shows the many footpaths that make up the nature trail and can lead to three bird hides, a must for bird watchers.
A selection of pictures from todays walk:

click on each picture for full size

PREVIOUS WALKS, selected from Norman Skinner's books:

1. Short Walks from Essex Pubs (ISBN 1-85306-410-6)
2. Pub Walks in Essex (ISBN 1-85306-235-9)
3. Pub Walks for the Family - Essex (ISBN 1-85306-286-3)
4. Pub Walks in West Essex (ISBN 1-85306-338-X)

Manningtree - Manningtree Station Buffet - 4 miles (walk 16, book 2)
From start to finish this walk was wonderful and different! You park in the station car park and wander along a track until you come to the River Stour, you follow this for a while and walk across an old weir towards Flatford Mill - this is Constable Country at its best - once you reach Flatford Mill you can rest your legs and take in the views once seen by Constable. You can also take the river track to Dedham from the Mill or retrace your steps back to the weir and continue the original walk, which we did. You continue up hill and if you look back you can see Dedham church in the distance. Further along you come to Lawford Park where Lawford Hall still stands from the days of the Armada and Lawford Church (14th century) is quite amazing. On the way back down towards the station you can see views across the River Stour. When you arrive back at the station car park you must go into the station and find the 'buffet room'! On entering the buffet room you are aware of the lack of space three tables and half a dozen bar stools, but do stop and have a very delicious 'homemade' steak and kidney pie with veg at an extremely 'value for money' price, and yes there is a bar with a good selection of ale, the friendly atmosphere is worth soaking up, the owners are delightful and so is the 'homemade' apple pie - but by this time you are so full you need to do the walk again! - feast first walk second (is our suggestion).

Purleigh - The Bell - 3.75 miles (walk 24, book 2)
It was another windy day but we decided to risk it. I think we wished we hadn't in the end, underfoot was terrible due to the paths being soft, muddy and well dug up by horses. Pleasant views across the Dengie peninsula made underfoot a little more acceptable. Towards the end of the walk we were looking forward to a visit to the Bell pub, we were certainly ready for something to eat. The Pub has plenty of history the building itself dates back to the 16th century. It is thought that Lawrence Washington (priest) g-g-grandfather of George lived in one of the buildings that now make the pub. Its definitely worth stopping for refreshments, a welcoming log fire a friendly pub dog made a warm welcome, the locals chatted and the atmosphere was worth soaking up.

Mill Green - The Cricketers - 3.5 miles (walk 18, book 2)
It was a little damp/drizzly but not enough to deter us from an absolutely delightful walk. Underfoot was excellent today, a real adventure when we found the walk led us to Fryerning church with it's 15th century brickwork tower. The Priest's door was also 15th century whilst the main door was Norman. The most exciting find was in the churchyard were there exists an enclosed monument in memory of members of the local Disney family who died in the 19th century, and yes Walt Disney was a descendant from this Essex family. Returning via Beggars Hill we arrived back at the Cricketers for a drink and a chance to reflect on a very pleasant mornings walk. I can certainly recommend the Red Rock cider and at last we had the chance to sample a good old Essex Huffer, or 'Huffa' as it was spelt here - and what an enjoyable lunch we had. For those of you who find a Burger King Whoppa a challenge, wait till you try one of these awsome looking triangular sandwiches. Ours were filled with fresh Ham, pineapple and salad and were truly a delight after the morning's exercise. I would thoroughly recommend anyone sampling this delightful walk and the refreshments afterwards (we'll be back).

Littley Green - The Compasses Inn - 5 miles (walk 15, book 2)
It was a fairly foggy day today so we did not get to appreciate the views of the Chelmer Valley, which the author claimed were very pleasant. Most of the going underfoot was reasonable and the peace and quiet of the rural countryside was most welcome. We passed through some very pleasant hamlets with some fine examples of old Essex buildings. We finally reached the compasses in approx 2.5 hours later to find that the car park was full and parking had overflowed onto the front road, not a good sign for having a pleasant pint and an essex 'Huffer' in what appeared to be a small hostelry. We abandoned such thoughts of refreshment and vowed to return another day to sample the Inn in a more peaceful atmosphere.

Fuller Street - The Square & Compasses Pub - 4.75 miles (walk 8, book 2)
We were looking forward to a lunch of HUFFERS (traditional Essex rolls, triangular shape filled with almost anything) - unfortunately new owners to the inn were not aware of these - we enjoyed instead sandwiches and can recommend a basket of chips - the food was excellent in taste/price/quality.

Woodham Walter - The Cats - 3.75 miles (walk 30, book 2)
It was another foggy day so we did not get to appreciate the rolling fields and the golfers on the golf course (better still they didn't see us). The going underfoot was very good (some fields are heavy going because of the clay - not today) and the peace and quiet was again most welcome. We reached the Cats Inn approx. 2 hours later to find a friendly welcome in the small 16th century inn, a real log fire to rid the damp and quite a few china cats on shelves within. We shall cycle later in the year to taste a ploughmans, food being served Thursday to Saturday lunchtimes only.

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