Hoxne

For this walk, we must say thanks to the caller to Radio Suffolk who recommended the Hoxne Swan and we are so very glad they did. Situated a few miles from the better-known medieval town of Eye, Hoxne is a truly wonderful English village. The picturesque main road sweeps up a gentle hill and is lined with ancient and well-proportioned country houses. Blessed to have a village shop, hall and pub, Hoxne immediately impresses the visitor that it has vibrancy and life. Moreover, in the fields and footpaths that surround the village it offers a historic country walk of impressive pedigree. Starting at the Swan pub, the footpath is signed across the road and leads out of the village where it crosses Goldbrook Bridge. The bridge affords passage across a small but fast flowing river and remarkably, this is the spot where legend has it that St Edmund hid, before being captured and martyred by the Danes. At the time of visiting, we were sadly ignorant of the historic land we were treading through, and it was the stillness of the woodland paths and the beauty of the bridge’s location that impressed at the time. The dogs also had lots of disrespectful fun, by jumping in, splashing about and shaking themselves dry back on the path numerous times. The footpaths continue on, twisting around the fields and are all well signed. Many of the homes dotted about have paddocks and horses grazing so at times it was safer all round if we slipped on the leads. Set in one of the fields is St Edmunds monument, which honours the martyr and his fabled death by many arrows. The monument marks the spot of the tree to which Edmund was tied, and when the tree fell, arrowheads were said to have been found in the trunk. Now set the middle of a modern sized parsley field access to the monument can be gained from road that links Cross Street to Hoxne. Taking this road as our route back to the pub occasioned another slip on of the leads but the road walk is still pleasant with a speed limit of 30 mph and a decent pavement. Coming back into the village, we remarked on the lack of dog poo bins and had to avail ourselves of the public rubbish bin. But for that exception, the fields around Hoxne make a great dog friendly walk with more of interest in its vicinity than many a country village for far around.

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