Hadfield Broad Oak Walk

This was our first walk of the year and this one came from the book Essex Dog Walkers Guide. The weather that morning did not look to promising so we took our fold up rain macs just in case and just as well we did because just after walking about 10 minutes the rain came down really heavy and there was no cover.

Details of Walk

• Date of Walk: 27/03/2016

• Distance: 4.33 Miles

• Starting Point Postcode: CM3 1DF

• Car Park: At the end of a dead end road off Cage End Rd

• Refreshments: The Cock & The Dukes Head

• Photos Taken on Walk

The walk started from a parking area by a kissing gate and we descended slightly to the right down a hill to a bridge which we crossed and then turned right along a hedged path. From here we had to have the dogs on their leads as this part of the walk runs along a conservation area with Princey Brook to the right of us. After about 1/2 a mile we crossed over a concrete bridge and carried on with the brook alongside us but now we were on a right field edge and in the next field we kept to the field edge until we came to a bridge which we crossed and turned right.

From here we could let the dogs off their leads through two more meadows till we came to a six-bar gate metal gate to a lane. here we turned right on to a lane and followed it to a junction where we turned right. Soon we came to a long shed whee we turned immediately left and followed the field edge ignoring a gap to the left. When got to the boundary of the field we went left at a concrete post and through a small copse then we turned right at a second post to follow a the field edge with the hedge on our right. Soon we came to a earth bridge on our right which we crossed into another field which we went straight across to a finger post beside a lane.

We turned left onto the lane then at the next junction turned right which took us through a tiny community of Taverners Green. We walked past Bennington's which has a really great black boarded barn and then when the road went to the right through a hedge and across a planked bridge.  We then carried on walking along the right edge of the field and at the next boundary we kept going forward through a gap. We went to the right of the hedge along a broad grassy path till we could see a finger post by the a road where we crossed a planked bridge on to the road alongside a thatched cottage.  We turned left to follow the road down into Hatfield Broad Oak passing by the Duke's Head where we stopped to have a drink but as we and the dogs were so muddy we decided not to and from here it was just a short walk to the parking area where we had started from.