Danbury Walk

Danbury is a picturesque village with its village green,duck pond and it is crammed with a delightful mixture of attractive properties,common land and woods. It is situated on a hill 367 feet above sea level and surrounded almost entirely by open countryside. It is divided by the main A414 from Chelmsford to Maldon and it has a immense appeal to the tourist. Τoday we decided to pick a walk in Essex not far from Chelmsford as I needed to get my hair cut first so we decided on the Danbury one.

Details of Walk

• Date of Walk: 22/03/2015

• Distance: 4.73 Miles

• History: Admiral McHardy Way, Danbury Palace,St Johns Baptist Church

• Car Park: National Trust car park (Free) CM3 4JJ

• Refreshments: Cricketers Pub

• Photos Taken on Walk

This walk gives you a brief idea of three different landscapes all on the borders, the first was a country park, then Lingford Common and finally Danbury Common. The walk started in the National Trust car park, we have been here quite a few times when we had our Springer Spaniel Bryn and then we just walked round the common, We left the car park and turned right and then left into Plumptre Lane. Where the houses finish at a T-junction we went left and then right and then right again at a fork.

We got to a footpath through a hedge on the right which we ignored and a bit further we bared left alongside a row of houses that brought us to a narrow path which we went down a little way but found it really muddy and decided to turn around and walked down the road which brought us out at the main road we then turned left until we reached the narrow path where we would have come out and crossed the road here to go into a car park.Crossing over the car park and taking the path to the left where we took the leads off the dogs, this path took us into the second car park of the country park. We then walked alongside the first of three lakes and keeping on this path until we reached the end of the lakes and the last one being more like a pond.

This path takes you up to the formal gardens that were part of the Danbury Palace then passing the lakes again on the opposite side this time, then turning left to bring you to a meadow where you can get a great view of the Danbury Palace but they were doing restoration work on the Palace so there was a lot of scaffolding around it. From here on the paths carried on in the country park but we had to keep the dogs on their leads, at the end of the country park we had to cross over the main A414 on to Riffhams Lane. We followed the road until we came to a stile in the left opposite Elm Green Lane where we climbed over into glorious meadows with Riffhams house built 1815 and set into the hill overlooking the park, we then went over another stile into woodland. Coming out of the woodland you have extensive views of Chelmsford and then it's just a little walk up to a lane where we had to turn right. Reaching the next junction we bared left and then immediately right on to Admiral McHardy Way which took us into Lingwood Common where we let the dogs off again and from here you could see Danbury Church in the distance.

About halfway along we stopped and sat down on a bench and took a short break and after our short break we headed up a slope to a cross-tracks where we took the narrow path downhill. We came to a fork in the path at a wooden fence and turned right on to a surfaced drive which at the end climbs very steeply up to the main road. Well after trying to get across the busy road we headed up to Danbury Church which has a lovely green out the front which you can not see from the main road. From here we took the path down the left hand side of the church which took us past the very large graveyard and after the climb it was all worth it as it brought us out on to a common with panoramic views towards Woodham Ferrers and we we thought we could see Hanningfield Reservoir as well. Now it was down across the common which brought us to a gate a few yards to the right is the Cricketers Arms but we crossed the road and went left on a wide verge. When we got to the next road junction we turned right and then immediately left into the wood until we came to a short blue waymarker sign we turned right and kept on the main path until we came out in the car park where we had started from.