Local Walk 7 - Thriplow

This walk starts from Hill Farm Road, Whittlesford and is easily accessed by foot from Duxford. We head southwest along The Drift, a track which crosses the M11 and goes directly to Thriplow; this is a lovely village with many fine houses along the sides of a road which circles meadow and farmland - it was originally a community of farms. One of the more well-known residents is Baroness Betty Boothroyd, who served from 1992 to 2000 as Speaker of the House of Commons - the only woman to do so.

We see the 13th century Parish Church of St George, noting the daffodils outside by a house. Thriplow is well known for its annual daffodil festival which started in 1961; it was cancelled last year and this year due to the pandemic. We walk past the primary school to the colourful village sign on edge of the village green; the Smithy next to it was given to the village in 1964 as a museum. Opposite is the village shop which is run by the Thriplow Village Shop Association; on a similar vein the local hostelry, The Green Man, is also owned by villagers and run as a community pub (it is really good). We walk up Lower Street and take Narrow Lane past Rectory Farm where horses are grazing; having taken The Baulk (aka Upper Gentleman's footpath) across Bacon's Meadow previously, we now walk past the moated manor and return via The View (aka Lower Gentleman's footpath) across more meadowland to Manor Farm. We turn right and pass KWS Ltd - part of a multi-national plant breeding company that develops a wide range of oilseed rape, maize, sugar beet and cereal varieties - and see more attractive properties before reaching the edge of the village.

Here, we exit on a track with good views of the church in the direction of Heathfield; this was originally a hamlet alongside the Imperial War Museum Duxford, but has seen a lot of development from the 2000s - it is now part of Thriplow parish. Before reaching Heathfield, we head north back to The Drift via Crow's Parlour footpath, passing a small and actively fished lake, and then return to Whittlesford / Duxford.Read more