Snape

For a great Christmas dog walk in Suffolk there can be no better place than Snape. We were alerted to the potential of this pretty village whilst listening to "5 Live" radio on a regular drive home from work. The owners of the Red House Barn , just outside the village of Snape, were on the radio telling how they had won the prestigious honour of providing the 2010 Christmas tree for 10 Downing Street. The champion tree growers had not had it all easy though as some local sheep had fatally nibbled their tree shortly before the judging began and a mad rush ensued to find a replacement tree. It all came good in the end though and they scooped the prize. Snape village is just half a mile north of the famous Snape Maltings . The transformation of the Maltings forty years ago into a world-class concert hall brought new life to the area and made the Suffolk Coast a destination venue for lovers of British classical music the world over. The village, in contrast, is itself remarkably unchanged and is blessed with two excellent dog-friendly Adnams pubs. The layout of the village and its proximity to the river remind the visitor of when the area was an agricultural community, working the low-lying land and coastal mudflats for its daily bread. It is fair to say that in Snape things definitely seem to come in two’s. In addition to the two pubs, we took advantage of the multiple nature reserves that abound in the area to take our dogs on a super snowy ramble. We started from the main village crossroads, through the village to a footpath on the right, leading south and away from the village into the marshland. The Suffolk Wildlife Trust recently established the Snape Marshes reserve following a gift of land by local residents, and the footpaths throughout are excellent for dog walking, being broad, well made and well bounded. About of a third of the way round the path enters woodland and further on again the path enters Snape Warren, another reserve, this time run by the RSPB. Coming out of the woods the path runs along the north side of the river Alde and offers awesome views across the marshes. Coming back to Snape Bridge the path gives way to the B1069. This is reasonably busy road so the leads were put back on, but it is still good for dog walking as the road has a 30 mile speed limit and has a pavement all the way back to the village. Having roamed through the marshes and made the inevitable couple of plunges into the icy river, our dogs thought all their Christmases’ had come at once as we ended our walk in the cosy warmth of the Crown Inn, where dogs and owners alike could draw breath and raise a glass of Christmas cheer.

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