Walks you can reach from Newmarket by train

Beginner-friendly: A straightforward walk along the River Cam with many lunch options in Granchester. Within Cambridge itself, feel free to wander about randomly rather than following the route — there’s plenty to appreciate.

King's College Chapel

Fitzwilliam Museum

Hobson's Conduit Monument, Cambridge

Cambridge

Time: 3h30–6h30

4 lunch spots: Grantchester (1h30–3h in) — the Orchard Tea Garden, Grantchester, the Red Lion, the Rupert Brooke, or the Blue Ball Inn

1 end-of-walk reward: the Panton Arms

Warnings: A quarter urban.

Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).

Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.

A short city and riverside walk linking Cambridge's two stations, taking in some of the best-known views of the ancient colleges, punting on the upper river, and riverside paths across the commons where college and town crews race their traditional 'bumps'.

Cambridge

Time: 3h

Warnings: Shared with cyclists along most of the route, so watch out for bikes.

Walk details: Mid Anglia Rail Passengers Association (PDF).

Flat walk through traditional villages and along the River Cam, finishing through Grantchester Meadows into Cambridge city centre.

Great Shelford: Traditional village with thatched cottages and a striking parish church.

Little Shelford: Village with period architecture.

Hauxton Mill: Historic watermill on the River Cam.

Trumpington Meadows: Open meadow nature reserve on the edge of Cambridge.

Byron's Pool: Wild-swimming spot on the Cam named after the poet Lord Byron.

The Old Vicarage (Rupert Brooke's House): Former home of poet Rupert Brooke, with sculptures in the grounds.

Grantchester Meadows: Open riverside meadows along the Cam between Cambridge and Grantchester.

King's College: World-famous University of Cambridge college with its renowned chapel.

The Orchard Tea Garden

Time: 3h30–7h30

2 lunch spots: the Red Lion, or the Orchard Tea Garden

Warnings: Busy A10 road crossing; shared cyclist path before the M11 bridge.

Walk details: Walking Post (tips, photos and local insights).

Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.

A long walk following the ancient Icknield Way Path through countryside dominated by the horse-racing industry, between manicured paddocks and across high ground with views over the Kennett valley towards Dalham Hall. Passes the medieval packhorse bridge at the picturesque village of Moulton.

Moulton Packhorse Bridge: a medieval flint packhorse bridge over the River Kennett in the picturesque village of Moulton.

Time: 7h

Walk details: Mid Anglia Rail Passengers Association (PDF).

A long and rewarding cross-country walk, presented in two stages with a break point at Barrow village for those who prefer shorter rambles. From high ground near Desning there are long views towards the Fens, the route threading fields and pastures past the earthworks of ancient Denham Castle; the second half traverses the National Trust's Ickworth estate, with its rotunda house and Capability Brown parkland.

Denham Castle: the surviving earthworks of a medieval motte-and-bailey castle.

Ickworth Estate: a National Trust estate of 1,800 acres with a striking rotunda house and parkland partly laid out by Capability Brown.

Bury St Edmunds

Time: 9h

Lunch: Shops and pubs at Barrow, roughly the half-way point (buses from Barrow are infrequent, so check times and stops).

Walk details: Mid Anglia Rail Passengers Association (PDF).

A walk of outstanding historical and architectural interest on field paths and quiet lanes, passing Rougham and Rushbrooke churches and following a road of Roman origin at Eastlow Hill, with a memorable approach to the historic town of Bury St Edmunds across No Man's Meadows.

Rougham Church: a lofty medieval church with East Anglian flint flushwork and a magnificent timber roof.

Rushbrooke Estate: the little church and parkland surviving from a Tudor mansion demolished in 1961.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral: its Millennium gothic tower, completed in 2005, dominates the approach across No Man's Meadows.

Bury St Edmunds

Time: 4h

Walk details: Mid Anglia Rail Passengers Association (PDF).

A varied walk through gentle Suffolk countryside with contrasting natural habitats. The longer route leads through Norton Wood, an ancient woodland, across marsh and rough grazing in the shallow Black Bourn valley and the Grove Farm nature reserve, then on via Pakenham's parish church and parkland.

Norton Wood: one of Suffolk's many ancient woodlands.

Grove Farm: a Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve of marsh and rough grazing.

Pakenham Church: an interesting medieval parish church set in verdant parkland.

Time: 4h30

Lunch: A welcoming pub in the centre of Norton village (on both routes).

Warnings: The marsh and rough grazing in the Black Bourn valley may be very wet underfoot in winter and spring. Can be muddy.

Walk details: Mid Anglia Rail Passengers Association (PDF).

Field and meadow paths from Stowmarket's Greens Meadow, passing a marshy wildlife reserve on the approach to the isolated settlement of Dagworth, then on by pleasant field paths to the attractive green at Haughley, once the site of a market and fair.

Time: 4h

Walk details: Mid Anglia Rail Passengers Association (PDF).

Spectacular views. A long, direct route mixing waymarked footpaths, pavements and quiet country roads with no pavement. Narrow and uneven in places, especially crossing fields, with around ten stiles, a flight of steps and gates and several footbridges concentrated on the Drinkstone-to-Rougham stretch. Best broken at Woolpit, roughly the mid-point, which has shops and amenities. Not suitable for cyclists (use National Cycle Route 51).

Time: 6h30–12h30

Lunch: Woolpit has a Co-op, two pubs, a fish and chip shop and a bakery; Rougham has a convenience store en route.

Warnings: There is a fair amount of road walking on minor roads which can have more traffic on weekdays; numerous stiles and uneven field paths make it unsuitable for those with reduced mobility.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A long, varied route following the River Gipping out of Needham Market towards Ipswich, then crossing farmland with woodland and several villages before reaching Woodbridge. There is a long section of road walking from Barham through Henley. Path surfaces range from grass and soil to gravel and concrete drives, with cambers, muddy sections and some faint field paths. Many kissing gates and stiles and footbridges. Follows the River Gipping through Needham Lakes. Buses serve Henley and Grundisburgh for intermediate access. Benches in several churchyards en route.

Time: 7h–14h

Lunch: A shop at Grundisburgh; refreshments at Baylham rare breeds farm.

Warnings: The plotted route comes onto the B1079 between blind bends near Woodbridge, a rat-run road best avoided via Hasketon. Some lanes have only intermittent verges with two cars a minute. Many kissing gates and stiles; some field paths are faint; one footbridge needs repair. The path crosses the railway via two stiles.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A walk through forest and farmland that turns difficult in the final third, with a road section on the A134, field paths that are hard to find, a dismantled railway with no crossing and a dual carriageway with no central-barrier gap.

Time: 6h30–13h

Warnings: The A134 near Ingham has no footpath for about 300m, forcing you to walk in the road. A field footpath is blocked by a dismantled railway with no way across, and you must cross a dual carriageway and clamber over its central barrier, which is not safe.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A very beautiful walk; Beautiful, open landscapes. A beautiful, varied walk: the Ipswich end is largely tarmac main roads alongside a loud A-road, after which an off-road path tracks the River Gipping through open fields, ponds and woodland and past old mill buildings. A gentle and pretty winding river path. Follows the River Gipping for much of its length, passing Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm. The not-keen stretch is the long walk down Norwich Road in Ipswich.

Time: 4h30–8h30

Warnings: A bridge over the Old River between Pipps Lock and Creeting Lock was closed/fenced off (now resolved with a new bridge per a later review); check its status. The route around Great Blakenham and south of Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm would benefit from minor adjustments.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Reverse direction: Mid Anglia Rail Passengers Association (PDF).