The Great Blighty Ale Trail
If exploring real ale pubs, country footpaths and historic towns sounds to you like a great way to spend a day, you should check out the downloadable walks booklet I’ve compiled for UKTV’s Blighty channel as part of this summer’s Great Ale Trail promotion, featuring walks around Bury St Edmunds. See http://uktv.co.uk/blighty/homepage/sid/8361/homepageID/3926/.
At the beginning of June I spent several demanding but enjoyable days walking a total of around 100km to research walking routes linking 20 pubs, all of them serving cask beer, in Bury and its surrounding villages. The pubs had already been chosen by UKTV so inevitably there are some places where finding good off-road routes proved too much of a challenge. Consequently there’s a little more road walking than I’d normally like, but there are some fantastic routes too, through rich and green but generally flat and easy countryside.
I’m especially pleased with the linear route that starts at Sicklesmere and runs north along the river Lark through country parks and water meadowns into Bury, where there are two alternative routes either through the mediaeval streets or the abbey gardens, continuing along the valley to the Fornhams. The routes east of Pakenham and Ixworth are also particularly delightful, including old mills, woodlands, former Roman vineyards and marshes.
Dog and Partridge, Bury St Edmunds
Inevitably many of the pubs are Greene King houses but there are some classic free houses too, offering a range of East Anglian beers. I didn’t manage to get inside all of them and the need to drive prevented me from sampling the beer offer in some of ones I did visit, but I had a particular welcome in the 15th century White Horse at Badwell Ash and the Blue Boar at Walsham Le Willows.
Sadly the most unmissable pubs I found in Bury weren’t included in the list I was sent, so I’ll recommend them now. The Old Cannon brewpub in Cannon Street has some fine own-brewed ales, locally craft-brewed lager, good food and a tasteful choice of British and imported bottled beers in a clean and modern but relaxing ambience. The essential Greene King house is the Rose and Crown, on the corner of Whiting Street and Westgate Street, a genuine retro local that serves GK and guest ales, including hard to find XX Mild, in flawless condition. I also took the chance to visit Greene King’s brewery: more here.
For those who prefer a slightly faster mode of travel, Bury and several of the villages lie along National Cycle Network route 51, and there’s even a chance to win Millets vouchers before 23 August.
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