Walk to the church in the fields at Little Bromley

Wander through the fields at Little Bromley, in a figure-of-eight circuit. Walked by: Lotte Sherman

Start & park: Small car park near Little Bromley village sign. How to get there: A120 between Colchester & Harwich, turn off Pellens Corner (exit 33) to Little Bromley. Map: 184, grid ref 095 287. Length: 8km/5m or two rambles of 2.5km & 5.5km; park & start the longer one from the front of the church of St Mary and later you pass by the small car park in the village.

This journey is a figure-of-eight circuit, so suitable for two individual short walks for ramblers who prefer an hour or so at a time. I would also advise taking along an OS map along and even a small compass for extra navigational help.

The Tendring Peninsula, in the main, is an arable area and, except for the seaside developments, country walks can be muddy, depending on weather conditions.

You also have to accept some hard-top sections to link up with other footpaths, but these are mostly quieter minor roads. Allow time for looking inside the church of St Mary the Virgin; a few years ago, before alterations were done, it was closed; it is still under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, but now open to visitors again.

Coming out of the village car park turn right and shortly follow the fingerpost pointing to the right towards a drive, a narrow path and the open countryside.

The path runs across a field, first veering right and soon left, to end on a bend in Ardleigh Road. Proceed to the left, pass Jenning’s Farm and follow the fingerpost at the bend pointing left to a track leading to Little Bromley Hall.

Keep right, follow way markers around the eastern border of the centre in an anti-clockwise direction. At the top corner leave the track and turn off on to a field path running west for over one km towards Lilley’s Farm. First walking next to a deep ditch, then veer slightly left diagonally across a field and over a footbridge on to private drive at the end.

Locate the marker pointing left over a plank bridge and to a cross field path, ending in another footbridge on to Carringtons Road. Proceed to the left for some hard–top walking, past Blue Gate Farm and Carringtons Farm to the junction with Morebarn Road.

Follow this to the next road junction, walk left and shortly veer off on a pleasant footpath in a northerly direction. Keep aiming for the church tower on the horizon, pass under the pylons, through a gap in a hedge and across a field to the white signpost by the side of Spratts Lane ahead.

Make your way to the church and cemetery, either to pause a while or continue using the marked footpath along the eastern wall of the hall complex. Shortly leave the boundary path (the waymarks are hidden on the wall) and walk to the right between fields back to Little Bromley village.

The last field crossing, although waymarked, is not always re-instated; plod straight on to the gap and fingerpost in the hedge ahead. Be aware of traffic before emerging on the road. The car park is a short way to the left. (Route walked early 2018).