Best walks to or from Elmswell

Elmswell Station to Thurston Station

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.

13km. 4h30.

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

Highlights: Norton Wood (one of Suffolk's many ancient woodlands), Grove Farm (a Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve of marsh and rough grazing), and Pakenham Church (an interesting medieval parish church set in verdant parkland).

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

Documented by Mid Anglia Rail Passengers Association.

Stowmarket Station to Elmswell Station

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.

13km. 4h.

Documented by Mid Anglia Rail Passengers Association.