Great Yeldham Footpath Walks,
8b: Scotney Lane, Cobbs Lakes and Poole Farm anti-clockwise

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Walk 8b Route map

2 hours. About 4¼ miles.
Start: Great Yeldham Village Green.

Go along Bridge Street, over the bridge, go left of the small triangular green to the High Street.

Just opposite to the Police Station cross the main road.

Go up the concrete steps just to the left of the Police Station, follow the path behind the houses. (To avoid the steps go to the top right side of Whitlock Drive, and go through the gap on the right).

At the end of the houses ignore the junction with an unofficial path along the old railway line on the left and go foreward along a narrow uncultivated strip across a field. This is Smiths Field, Great Yeldham Hall.

At the far side of the field ignore the junction with the path on the left which leads to the Sports Ground, go foreward with the hedge and ditch on your right.

This is Brickyard Field, Great Yeldham Hall.

Continue to the far side of the field ignoring a path joining from the right which leads to the landing strip.

At the far end of the field go right over a plank bridge.

Go left with the hedge and ditch to your left along the side of Kitley Wood Field.

At a gap in the hedge on the left, go left then go left again along a green lane which is Scotney Lane, and known at this end as Church Lane, Toppesfield.

Follow the lane past one house on the left. The surface can be very muddy in winter. At the end of the lane go right over a bridge and left into a field.

Follow the field boundary to the road with the hedge on your left. This hedge catches the afternoon sun. On August 13th 2009 there were several Gatekeepers, green veined whites, Large Whites, Painted Ladies, a Small Tortoiseshell, a few Peacocks a few Commas and some Common Blues.

Leave the field onto the Toppesfield Road, go left and shortly after go right into another green lane. Pass a house entrance on the right. Where most of the traffic goes left into a field, keep ahead to the right of the Millenium Walk way-marking sign.

At the next junction do not go left into the field but keep ahead to the fishing lake. Be careful not to disturb any fishermen. Keep right beside the end of the lake and go right along the path through a thicket of trees and shrubs. Cross the wooden footbridge and go ahead over a narrow piece marshy ground. After very heavy rain the ground can be covered with over a foot of water. Go ahead up the further bank through a gap beside a broken stile and a way-marking post.

Go ahead up the mown or trodden path up the meadow aiming for a gap in a hedge to your right, also with a way-marking post. Go left down Blooms Lane. In winter this can be made very muddy by horses.

Continue down Blooms Lane to the main road, cross over and go right a short way then go left over a bridge and along the drive to Poole Farm. Go right just before the first buildings. Look across the yard to your left to see the side of the brick barn with "Whitlock's Chaff Works" embossed in specially made tiles built into the wall. Keep ahead at the first junction by the buildings and go left round the far end, left again, and right to leave the yard going up hill along a hard farm road.

At the top of the slope go left along an unmade track which can be so muddy as to be almost impassable. At the next field entrance go right over a footbridge and left though a kissing gate. Continue along a wide grass track towards Yeldham with the hedge on your left. You will pass a small wood on your right. At the far corner of the wood keep ahead across a cultivated field, over a bridge in the gap at the bottom, and up another cultivated field. Both these fields may be left for some time after being ploughed or cultivated before the path is restored. They are a heavy clay soil and can be very muddy.

Go through the gap at the top of the field and go right (ignore the gate on the left which goes down Spayne's Hall drive), along a farm road with hedges on both sides into the next field.

Go ahead through into the next field. Continue with the hedge on your left as it turns right, left and right again, to the far side of the field. Go left across a footbridge and follow the path as it immediately goes through a gap on the right from the field side of the hedge to the inside of an overgrown green lane. Follow the path between the trees to Leather Lane. Go left down the road to the Village Green.

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5 Apr 2013