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Duxford and Local Walks

June 2020 - March 2021
A 298-day adventure by Andrew's Travels Read more
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  • TravelerDuxford and Local Walks
    11

    Duxford Village 1

    July 3, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We have lived in Duxford, a village in Cambridgeshire about 10 miles south of Cambridge, for over 30 years now. Duxford is well known for its airfield (now owned by the Imperial War Museum, IWM) and its air shows; the airfield was used as a sector station during the Battle of Britain.

    The village was originally formed on the banks of the River Cam and there is an old Water Mill; this is now a private property, but opens on local garden days.  There are two Grade I listed medieval parish churches, St Peter's Church (with the war memorial outside it) and St John's Church (now redundant, but open for visitors as it contains a variety of interesting wall decorations ranging from medieval wall paintings to graffiti - some of this dates from the Second World War). There is a lovely village green and we have two pubs – The John Barleycorn and The Plough. There is a new village community centre opening shortly; overall, it is a great place to live.    Read more

  • TravelerDuxford and Local Walks

    Duxford Village 2 - Lost Pubs

    July 19, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    There is an excellent website that details the decline of the Englsih Pub - The Lost Pubs Project (https://www.closedpubs.co.uk/). I thought it would be a good idea to look into this for Duxford - time for a walk round the village and up to Whittlesfod Parkway station to see what is listed below....

    After consulting the website and then that for the Duxford Parish Council, it appears that in 1900 there were eight places that supplied alcohol to the village of Duxford.
    There were:

    - four public houses: The Red Lion, The King’s Head, The Three Horseshoes and The Plough
    The Red Lion is now The Red Lion Hotel, but has been part of Whittlesford Parish since 2010 due to a boundary change
    The King's Head and The Three Horseshoes are now privately owned residences
    The Plough is still active as a Public House (for picture, see "Duxford - Village" FindPenguins entry)

    - four beer houses: The Wheatsheaf, The Flowerpot, The Butcher’s Arms and The John Barleycorn (beer houses were set up from earlier in the 19th century to provide beer, regarded as healthy and nutritious at the time, to the working population)
    The Wheatsheaf is now closed and trading as Graystones Cafe Deli & Bistro, since Spring 2018
    The Flowerpot and The Butcher's Arms are now privately owned residences
    The John Barleycorn is still active - as a Public House now (for picture, see "Duxford - Village" FindPenguins entry)    Read more

  • TravelerDuxford and Local Walks

    Duxford Village 3

    January 11, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    Duxford Community Centre has been several years in the planning and finally opened in Summer 2020 - during the middle of the Covid pandemic!  It is located next to the Duxford United FC football pich and close to the Bowls Club (of which I am a member), the Tennis Courts (now with floodlighting), the childrens play area and the Duxford School.  It will be a wonderful facility when open properly and the pandemic is over.

    Strolling past this up Hunt's Road, we reach the modern village signpost on the corner opposite Brewery Field - this is a small park and green space that will be developed as a wildlife haven and recreation area.

    Proceeding down St. John's Street and via Green Street, we reach Chapel Street and pass the amusingly named Fluck Hall - this is where the original Village Hall was sited and has now been developed as a private residence by the son of Peter Fluck.  Peter was one half of the partnership known as Luck and Flaw (with Roger Law) - creators of the popular satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image - and used to live in Duxford in the house next door to the Village Hall.

    Finally, we reach The Biggen; this is a hidden site next to St Peter’s Church beside the river and scheduled as an ancient monument to protect it when the bungalows of the Biggen were being built - it was originally the site of an old manor house.    Read more

  • TravelerDuxford and Local Walks

    Local walk 1 - Hinxton

    January 12, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    Helen and I both enjoy walking and we have a "default" route from the house; this circular walk goes via the nearby villages of Hinxton and Ickleton (Duxford, Hinxton and Ickleton form the combined parish of Hinkledux). The walk is approx. 4 miles long in total and this post covers the Hinxton section.

    From St Peter's Church we walk around the back Duxford, cross the railway line (Cambridge to Liverpool Street) and carry on to Hinxton Ford; this is where the principal tributary of the River Cam** crosses the road between Duxford and Hinxton villages - cars and even lorries have been known to get stuck here!
    There is a path along the river bank which passes by Hinxton Mill; this opens for visitors several times a year and is now owned by Cambridge Past, Present and Future. There is a bridge over the water further along and we have a look at Hinxton; there are many old houses, the medieval St Mary and St John Church and a fine pub (the Red Lion).

    At the end of the village is access to Hinxton Hall and its estate; the grounds and hall itself have been occupied by the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus since 1992 and walkers are allowed use of a path that skirts part of the perimeter on a route to Ickleton. It is possible to see Hinxton Hall along this path, but you have to try hard.

    From here you can double back along the river - where there are lovely views of Hinxton village itself - and return to Duxford or carry on to Ickleton.

    ** This tributary (sometimes known as the Granta) has its source at Debden and winds its way up through Newport and Audley End, our local villages (Great Chesterford, Ickleton, Hinxton, Duxford, Whittlesford), joins the River Cam at Hauxton and then flows via Granchester Meadows to Cambridge and along the picturesque Backs; the Cam has its confluence with the Great Ouse just south of Ely. The Great Ouse itself flows into The Wash at Kings Lynn.    Read more

  • TravelerDuxford and Local Walks

    Local walk 2 - Ickleton

    January 12, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    After leaving the permissive footpath of the Hinxton Hall grounds, we cross back over the railway line (Cambridge to Liverpool Street) and enter Ickleton.
    We walk up Mill Lane past the Social Centre and on to the large St Mary Magdalene Church which is opposite a small village green with a war memorial; the church has a Tudor Sanctus bell near the top of the spire . There are several attractive old manor houses in the village, for example Brays (now Norman Hall) and Hovells, as well as a nice pub (the Ickleton Lion); there is also a lovely view across a paddock.

    At the junction with Butcher's Hill - just next to Caldree's Manor (a Grade II listed building with fine gardens) - we walk up the hill and turn on the footpath back to Duxford through more paddocks, enjoy a good view of the church from behind and pass its Cemetery Chapel. We see the former Ickleton tower mill, converted to a private house in 1925, and cross the fields back to Duxford.    Read more

  • TravelerDuxford and Local Walks

    Local walk 3 - Whittlesford

    January 19, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Another well walked route is that to Whittlesford Parkway railway station on the other side of the A505 to Duxford.  Adjacent to the station is the Red Lion Hotel (see Lost Pubs of Duxford) and next to this is Duxford Chapel; this is now part of Whittlesford Parish due to the boundary change in 2010.  Built in the 14th century, the chapel was once part of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist and is a Grade II listed building, a scheduled ancient monument and under the guardianship of English Heritage.

    On this occasion, we walk up the Duxford Road to Whittlesford village and pass the play park and Whittlesford Lawns before proceeding down Church Lane to the attractive St Mary and St Andrew's Church.  Doubling back we pass the Guildhall, now a private residence, and see The Tickell Arms which has an interesting past; named after the Tickell family, formerly lords of the manor, the proprietor when I first visited the pub in the mid 1980s was Squire Kim Tickell who famously banned all “loony lefties, collarless shirt wearers, and women playing with candle wax” from there.  I have tried to visit at that time with people who were not allowed entry!  Things have changed now and the pub has become part of the Cambscuisine Group;  the beer and food are still good (we ate there during the Summer).  We walk down the High Street and down part of West End to Vicarage Lane and then cross fields, before diverting to see the other pub in the village, The Bees in the Wall; this is a free house that changed its name after a colony of bees took up residence in the wall.  Another good pub - I used to go to folk music sessions there back in the day.  We double back and walk past the allotments and take the footpath around Middle Moor; we pass close to the M11 and enjoy the view of an unpaved aircraft landing strip at Westside Farm, where there is also a shooting school and fishery, before returning into Whittlesford.

    We proceed back up the other part of West End and then turn left to take the path back to Duxford; the fields are heavily furrowed where the farmer has harvested sugar beet, leaving them in piles to dry.  We cross back over the A505 and are rewarded with a lovely view of Duxford before walking back through the village and home.    Read more

  • TravelerDuxford and Local Walks

    Local Walk 4 - Sawston

    January 25, 2021 in England ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C

    It is convenient for us to start at Whittlesford Lawns and from here we proceed down Church Lane to the Church (see Local Walk 2); we take the footpath to Sawston from here this time.  Along the way we can see the site of the old Spicers Paper Mill; paper / printing has been one of Sawston's two major industries over the last 200 years (the other is Leather, see later) and what we see is topical as Chinese IT giant Huawei has now acquired this site and has plans for a new £1 billion research and development centre here....  

    We cross the railway line and A1301 before walking along the roads of the north part of Sawston; there has been substantial development in Sawston since the end of the Second World War and, more recently, a number of large housing estates have been constructed. We pass Sawston Village College; this was the first ever village college to be built in the UK and was an idea conceived by Henry Morris in 1930 as a regional centre combining school, adult education and social/cultural needs (our daughter was a pupil here). Next to it is the Marven Centre, used by various local organisations and as Sawston Cinema, and Sawston Community Hub.

    We walk down the High Street to a road junction with War Memorial with the 15 foot tall Sawston Giraffe behind it; this was carved from an old tree by a local tree surgeon. Nearby is the Mary Challis House and Garden; part of the Challis Trust, it was left to the people of Sawston for them enjoy and is manned by volunteers - the Victorian Gardens there are beautiful and well worth a visit when open. We walk up Church Lane to see Saint Mary's Church and the iron gates of Sawston Hall, a privately owned Grade 1 listed Tudor manor house whose whole estate is screened off by trees; I have never seen it at all in all my years in the area! 

    We head further up the High Street to Tannery Road, named from Sawston's former second major industry (Leather); from here you can see the outsides of the Hutchings & Hardings Tannery - the company is now a leading chamois manufacturer.  The whole site is now Grade 2 listed, but many of the buildings are in a perilous state; English Heritage and  the Industrial Buildings Preservation Trust have both declined interest and the local district council is now considering the use of this part of the green belt for housing.....

    We double back to the footpath opposite Prince William Way and take this to reach the A1301 again; we cross this and the railway line before heading back to Whittlesford via Whittlesford Mill - this is now the Hamilton Kerr Institute, a department of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.    Read more

  • TravelerDuxford and Local Walks

    Local Walk 5 - Babraham to Stapleford

    March 8, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Another walk we both enjoy is the Babraham, Stapleford, Magog Down and Wandlebury loop, necessitating a short drive to the village of Babraham. This post covers the Babraham and Stapleford section; you can return to Babraham as part of a shorter circular route or continue to Wandlebury for the "long version" of the walk.

    In Babraham there is a statue of Jonas Webb, a Victorian era Babraham based English farmer and stock breeder who was responsible for developing the Southdown breed of sheep into its modern form. From here we walk past the Jacobean style Babraham Hall; the hall and its estate are now part of the Babraham Institute, which undertakes research into cell and molecular biology and is itself now called the Babraham Research Campus. A little further on is the attractive St Peter's Church.

    We cut across the fields to Stapleford and have an excellent view of the Magog Down, part of the Gog Magog low chalk hills; land was purchased from a local farmer and returned to chalk grassland for the public to enjoy. Reaching Stapleford we walk past the Granary; this is a music, art and education centre set in a converted granary - they have many excellent acts performing there. It is a bit of a hike up the the Haverhill Road to Magog Down and before reaching it we stop off to see Stapleford Parish Pit, where clunch building stone was once quarried - it is now a nature reserve and part of the Magog Down.    Read more

  • TravelerDuxford and Local Walks

    Local Walk 6 - Magog Down and Wandlebury

    March 12, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    We arrive at Magog Down; this and Wandlebury are part of a range of low chalk hills in the area southeast of Cambridge (the Gog Magog).

    In the case of the Magog Down, land was purchased from a local farmer and returned to chalk grassland for the public to enjoy; it is a popular walking site and has a car park - one can see the chalk base in parts and there are views of both Addenbrooke's Hospital and King's College Chapel from here.

    Over the busy A1307 to Wandlebury Hill and the Wandlebury Country Park; this is managed by Cambridge Past, Present & Future - it is a beautiful countryside estate with miles of walks through woodland and meadows grazed by Highland Cattle. Wandlebury was originally the site of an Iron Age Hillfort; only the outer ditch ramparts are there now (the Ring Ditch) and it is within this that subsequent building took place. This included Lord Godolphin's 18th century estate of Wandlebury House, but only the stable block (with its characteristic cupola) remains now. Nearby is The Tadlow Granary; this was originally built locally in the 15th century, moved here in the 18th and its restoration completed in the 20th (1981).

    We follow nature trails, look at the Highland Cattle, stop at the view point for Ely Cathedral (visible only on a clear day, as it is 17 miles away) and see part of the old Roman Road that passed close to here (the Via Devana) before returning to Magog Down. A very pleasant way to spend the morning.    Read more

  • TravelerDuxford and Local Walks

    Local Walk 7 - Thriplow

    March 19, 2021 in England ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    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

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