Boxford,Groton and Edwardstone Suffolk

5.15pm 6 miles in 50 mins 26 mins
Week to date mileage 128miles
Month to date mileage 38
Average weekly rate 29.7 miles
Average monthly rate 129
Year to date 670
Lifetime 10263

If you ever heard of the expression kill 3 birds with one stone? No, I didn't think so I just made it up but it aptly describes what I did today on my run as I managed to visit 3 villages in Suffolk. I must do a little work soon to tally up just how many villages in Suffolk I have visited since I began blogging nearly 2 years ago.

On the A 134 just outside of Sudbury near Newton I took the Hadleigh road the A1071. This is a twisty road but immediately you are into some beautiful countryside. To my mind there is a whole corridor of less frequently visited countryside with many small villages and a few towns of no great size between the A134 and the A12/A14 . Take a look at the Ordnance Survey Map Explorer 196 for proof.

I took the first left into the village of Boxford, situated about six miles east of Sudbury. According to Eilert Ekwall the meaning of the village name is ford where box grow.The Domesday Book records the population of Boxford in 1086 to be 18. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,258.

I parked up next to St Mary's Church at Boxford. I don't think I have ever been here before. As I said previously this is a village in the ' Suffolk corridor' you actually have to make a conscious effort to visit it as you don't pass through on a journey from A to B.

What a beautiful village and I don't think I saw a quarter of what I wanted to look at. Unfortunately it being 5.30pm and with the roads and pavements narrow and quite a few cars there was little time to hang around. I decided to head straight out of the village to head for the unusually named village of Groton.

Named according to Ekwall after a sandy stream though I never saw one unless he meant the River Box in Boxford.


Groton is a very small village but has a claim to fame it being the birthplace of John Winthrop in 1588 who owned Groton Manor who emigrated to America in 1630 and then founded the city of Boston, and was the first governor of the colony of Massachusetts. The church of St Bartholomew's is prominent when you run up hill from Boxford as is the Suffolk pink painted pub the Fox and Hounds.

Just beyond the village sign in Groton there is a footpath which leads you to Groton Croft a fairly large area of footpaths and memorial flowers to local residents.

A very quiet and beautiful spot which appears more of a common with wildflowers.

With plenty of time I ventured on up to Mill Green and then into the village of Edwardstone. I will need to return to get a better impression as I spent all of 5 minutes there before needing to return by the same route back to Boxford.