Spring walks

Around Somersham allotments

Now is a perfect time to park the car in Somersham and amble around the 2.5 miles of easy walking through open fields and allotments.

Good points of this circular route (click map to enlarge) are spring and autumn orchard blossom or fruit, summer crops, and the development of allotment plots.

You can end the walk in a typically English tea room with delicious cakes and value for money snacks by popping into Mary’s Tea Room in the High Street.

Start this walk at the free car park in centre of Somersham (where the yellow cross is on the map). Walk back up Church Street and turn left down Mortimer Row. Turn right into King Street, and almost immediately left into Rectory Lane. At the end turn into Chapel Field Lane and follow footpath signposts thereafter.

 

 

Bluebell and fungi extravaganza in Lady’s Wood

The wood is well worth a visit at any time of the year, with it’s quiet beauty and amazing fungi. But in spring you’ll be treated to one of the best but least known spectacles around, when millions of bluebells carpet the forest floor. And how about red kites over Upwood, or the mounds of yellow meadow ants? This is a favourite walk.

The best features of the 3 mile route are the open farmland in summer, Lady's Wood and Upwood Meadows, the peacefulness of sitting outside The Cross Keys pub in Upwood enjoying a drink and taking in the peacefulness of the village, and if you take children the village playground and the garden of The Cross Keys. Not so good is the walk across the field at the beginning of the route when it's muddy... see the alternative suggestion below.

There's an shorter walk described below if you take young children. For the full walk park in the High Street opposite The Cross Keys and walk north back up the High Street. Watch for the footpath sign on the left... since the path goes between gardens it's not very visible. Shortly afterwards you'll go diagonally across a field and you can see Lady's Wood to the west. If the ground is muddy don't take the footpath sign but continue to the top of the High Street, turn left into Longholme Road, then left again into Turf Fen Road. This avoids walking across a muddy field.

At the end of the field turn left down Turf Fen Road. This is a lovely part of the walk in summer, full of dragonflies & mayflies. Also of interest is the field to the right behind a hedge about 200 yards down the path, which is full of mushrooms during Autumn. The raised land in the distance at the end of the road is Woodwalton Fen, a fascinating place where you can see what the Fens were once like before drainage shrunk the surrounding land down to its current level.

After about 300 yards take the path off to the left heading towards Lady's Wood. Followed this for about 300 yards until you’re on the opposite side of Lady's Wood from where you started. You'll see a pole with a marker on it indicating the footpath towards the wood. Note this footpath isn't marked on some maps.

Walk up to the wood & veered right at the top to find the entrance almost concealed. Once in the wood you can take the first path to the right, the shortest route, the second to the right which goes past the observation hut (unfortunately out of use but near a pool that attracts wildlife), or continue on for the longest path around the perimeter. None of the routes are very long.

You could easily walk through Lady's Wood without any idea of the richness of the fungi present or the peace within the wood. If you've got time slow down, listen & observe. On the floor & tree trunks (particularly fallen ones) you'll find mushrooms & fungi (but don't touch unless you know what you're doing, some are highly poisonous!). Throughout the wood you'll hear birds going about their business and you may be lucky to see roe deer. On a quiet day you could almost believe you've stepped back in time.

Exit the wood, passing the National Trust board giving some details of the wood. Follow the footpath though various fields, styles & kissing gates back to the village. Exiting the last field is a bit strange since you find yourself between two houses. Just walk to the road & then keep bearing left until you find yourself back in the High Street, just having to walk left around the corner to be back at the pub.

For a shorter walk if you have children drive to the southern end of the High Street, turn right into Meadow Lane and drive to the end of that lane to park past Meadow Farm. It's just a short walk from there across Upwood Meadows to Lady's Wood. Return along the route of the full walk to take the kids to the great playground, marked with a flag on the map. And don't forget The Cross Keys pub garden, where they've got a big plastic tree trunk the children climb up inside to get to the slide.