Frustration I have a cold

Tuesday was a rest day,as I went through Wednesday I realised I had picked up a head cold. Not enough to stop me working but enough to prevent me feeling like running so I haven't since Monday.

This is my easy week in my training schedule having ramped up the miles in the previous 5 so geting a cold this week is probably ideal, if I am going to get one, however I am doing a 10k race on Sunday so I hope to be back for this at least.

Lawshall Suffolk

5pm 6.2 miles in 52 mins 1 secs

Week to date mileage 14 miles

Month to date mileage 117

Average weekly rate 29.5 miles

Average monthly rate 128

Year to date 631

Lifetime 10224

On the Bury to Sudbury road beyond Bradfield Combust along the roman road there is a turning for Lawshall. Initially you pass a number of greens including Lawshall, Hib's and Hanningfields before reaching the village of Lawshall. I parked up near the Swan Pub.

The weather was a mixture of sunshine and showers more April than late May and not warm. Lawshall has just held its annual scarecrow festival in aid of its village hall. This was the only 1 of the 19 or so scarecrows which were on display last weekend.

As per usual I didn't really have a plan of where I was going to run. I went through Harrow Green and past Our Lady Immaculate and St Joseph Church which sits not far from the gates to the western entrance to Coldham Hall.

There is a public right of way here that takes you up the hall and than on to Stanningfield where you can return to Lawshall along Donkey Lane. However I decided on this occasion to continue on along the road to Hawstead which was probably not the wisest choice. The road was lovely and windy and fairly hilly up and down. However it being rush hour there were a number of cars virtually all seemed to be Range Rovers.

I turned somewhere near Upper Dutmoss Wood and retraced my steps back to Lawshall. Entering the village this way All Saints Church looks more commanding.

The old Post Office is now a private residence but is still signed.

River Lark & Water Meadows Run Bury St Edmunds Suffolk

4.15pm 7.2 miles in 59 mins and 52 seconds

Year to date mileage 219

Month to date 73 miles

Average miles per month 151

Average weekly rate 34.8

Weather dry and dull.

Course:Head out through the water meadows and then turn left at Bury Rugby Club . Follow the path through No Mans Meadow which is at the back of the Abbey Gardens returning to Southgate Bridge and then returning over the meadows for a 2nd lap.Return home up Southgate Street past the Police Station and through the Abbey Gardens graveyard then through town centre, Risbygate street, Westley road and home.

My previous times over this course are as follows

8.27th Dec 1 hour 3 mins and 23 seconds
7.19th Sep 56 minutes 42 seconds
6.29th August 58 minutes and 7 seconds
5.2 july 1 hourand 53 seconds
4.26th june 1 hour and 9 seconds
3.28th May 58 minutes and 51 seconds
2.13th April 59 minutes and 25 seconds
1.11th March 1 hour and 31 seconds

My ninth running of this course was pretty average. Today the ground was sticky and difficult to negotiate, well that is my excuse. Todays photos are again of my run yesterday at Stanningfield.
Another picture of Coldham Hall. If you look carefully you can just see Claudia Schiffer waving from the top window on the left - yes really, well perhaps not!
St Nicholas Church at Stanningfield. On September the 7th 1880 two men who fell through the church roof. The men, Joseph Finch and Durrant were pulling down some lathe and plaster when two rafters gave way and they fell into the church, both men were seriously injured.

Hoggards Green/Stanningfield/Coldham Hall and Lawshall Suffolk

11.30am 12 miles in 1 hour 36 minutes 15 seconds.

Week to date mileage 37

Month to date mileage 66

Average weekly rate 34.4

Average Monthly rate 150

Weather: Steady rain.
Finally we have had some rain for what feels like the first time this year. It has been extremely dry and we could do with continuous rain for a month.

I parked the car at the Red House at Hoggards Green which is about 6 miles south of Bury St Edmunds towards Sudbury. The Red House is both a pub and a village shop.

I wasn't sure where I was going to run to as I set of in the rain. The first footpath I followed ended up at Yewtree Farm on the busy A134. As this was a deadend I retraced my

steps back to the Redhouse Pub. I set out on a B road hoping to pick up a footpath. I passed a very nice methordist church really in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields. This road took me back to the A134 so again I retraced my steps back to the Redhouse. It was a good thing I wasn't popping into the pub each time I passed, though I was sorely tempted.

I again set out from Hoggards Green and this time picked up a road which took me into Stanningfield. The name apparently derives from stony field .

I passed the church of St Nicholas and then picked up on part of the St Edmunds
Way. However I was somewhat uncertain as to whether I should carry on as there were many imposing signs saying private besides the right of way pathway signs. This is somewhat intimidating and you feel a bit like an intruder. The private signs made reference to two private halls Coldham Hall and Rookwood Hall.

I never saw a soul on this run and decided that I was in my rights to follow the path. I soon reached Coldham Hall and its large grounds. It has a very long driveway and lots of a breed of Cattle in the grounds that
might be Highlands?

At the end of the driveway I couldn't see a way out there were some locked gates and I began to wonder again if I should be here and whether I was trespassing.

So I again retraced my steps but instead of going back to Stanningfield I decided on a quick visit to Lawshall along the wonderfully named Donkey Lane. I then took a visit in the opposite direction along Old Lane to the Little Rockwood Farm.

Before finally returning back through Stanningfield and into Hoggards Green . It was only when I returned home and had a look at Coldham Hall that I found out more about a very interesting history. The manor of Stanningfield and Lawshall was in the hands of the Rookwood family since Edward the 1st. The Rookwoods were members of parliament and staunch Catholics. Ambrose Rookwood inherited Coldham Hall in 1600 and soon turned the hall into somewhat of a secret retreat for catholic priests to practice.

However Ambrose Rookwood didn't enjoy his inheritance for very long as he was executed in 1606 as one of the conspirators involved in the Gunpowder Plot. he was executed along with Guy Fawkes. Could it have been at Coldham Hall that the plot to restore catholicism to England by blowing up the Houses of Parliament were hatched?

The last heir to the Coldham Hall estates died during the 1st World war and it is now owned by the German supermodel Claudia Schiffer. In 2002 when she married nearby in Shimpling apparently the locals who had gathered at the church were disappointed when Claudia Schiffer arrived hidden in blankets and she was roundly booed. I can now undertand the security around Coldham Hall which is aptly named. She has been stalked in the past and I guess my run through the grounds was probably recorded and watched on CCTV!

Still it is not every day you take a training run in Claudia Schiffers back garden!