A wet cycle ride to Stanningfield Suffolk

The forecast for today wasn't good and in hindsight I chose the worst time to get out and do my Junethon Cycle ride. At about 1pm the rain started as a steady drizzle and progressed into a steady rain. I wore two tops and a pair of shorts as despite the rain it wasn't cold.

At Great Whelnethum I passed an old 2nd world war pill box

However by the time I reached Stanningfield I was soaked through. Feeling damp I decided that the  Red House Pub at Stanningfield would be my half way point.  I was begining to struggle to see through my glasses and every so often this led me to stop and try and dry the lenses. Rather than find a different way home I took the easy decision of just repeating the same route home.

The ox eye daises in Cullum Rd are slightly going over now.So a wet start to Juneathon and 13.4 miles on the board. Roll on tomorrow hopefully the weather can only be better!

Long Run Sunday from Bury St Edmunds to Sicklesmere, Gt Whelnethum and Stanningfield and back

This morning was misty, overnight there had been a thin covering of snow but nothing to really affect my footing and I didn't find it too slippery. I decided to repeat the same long run distance as last week and do 12 miles. I am very much still getting used to the distance again after such a long period when my long run was 7 miles. My weakest point is climbing hills I am very skow climbing these.

However hill training is something I am not going to work on until after my half marathon training has been completed at the end of March. By then if I remain injury free I wil have had 3 months of good training and this will provide a base to start adding a quality session such as hill training.

My route today was all along pavements initially heading out of Bury St Edmunds to Sicklesmere. At Sicklesmere you pass a round house which is a reminder of the days of coach and horses. One of the coaching routes ran between Norwich and London 4 times a day and used to run through Sicklesmere. The toll house was built by a Turnpike Trust in the 19th century as a lodge house. To use the road you would have had to pay a toll.

After Sicklesmere I headed slighlty up hill for a mile or so through Gt Whelnethum a village which ajoins Sicklesmere.

At about this point I removed a layer of clothes and my hat and gloves. I had been feeling slightly hot and bothered but felt much better after this.

The Jelly Belly Super Sours were also a welcome treat on this long run.

It was a snowy,frosty murky world when I entered the village of Stanningfield. Very few cars or people to be seen today.


I turned at 6 miles and returned home feeling a lot better in the middle of the run without the hat and gloves.

My mile splits were 8.50,8.56,9,8.50,9.22,8.41,8.37,8.12,8.41,8.50,9,8.56 this was an average of 8.50 per mile.

My total time was 1hr 46 mins and this compares well with my last 12 miles a week ago when I ran 1.49.16.

I am now half way through my 12 week Runners World SMART Coach Training schedule. So far so good no injuries.

George Parrott, known affectionately as "Coach George" on the Dead  Runners Society, presented this idea a couple of years ago.  He suggests  that a runner can run no faster in the Marathon than he runs his fastest 26.2 miles in a week during training.

At the end of week 6 my Parrott Predictator shows a time of 3.47.37 this compares well with last week 3.49.11 and week 1 of my training which showed 3.53.07.

Hawstead Suffolk

5pm 6 miles in 50 mins 16 mins
Week to date mileage 6 miles
Month to date mileage 62
Average weekly rate 29.8 miles
Average monthly rate 129
Year to date 693
Lifetime 10286

Hawstead the place of shelter for cattle according to Ekwall. This was my starting point for today. Hawstead is a small village about 3 miles south of Bury. Instead of the hurley burley of the A 134 Bury to Sudbury road give this road a go but allow extra time. If you follow the road out by Nowton Park you can pass through Hawstead, Lawshall and Shimpling and join up on the A134 around Alpheton - makes a pleasant change.

I parked at the totally deserted Hawstead Green next to the playground. An entertaining game of football could be held here in the long grass. It looks as if the village has achieved its target for raising funds for a village hall not sure when or where this will be built.

I decided to head out on the Lawshall Road past the fine pub the Metcalfe Arms.

Along the Lawshall Road near the Newhall Farm there is a marking on the OS Map Explorer 211 which simply says Oak! I must admit I didn't particularly notice which oak this might be but why even mention unless there is some historical reason. I managed to find out that traveling clergymen used to stop at the Gospel Oak to say a prayer perhaps when on a trip to the monastery at Bury St Edmunds. I did see a very old tree which was much the worse for wear but didn't take a photo so know I will have to revisit.

The road here is windy and undulating and can be a little busy. So I turned off at the first footpath that I could which was just beyond the Gospel Oak. Here the footpath was along a car track which had obviously been wet but had now dried to form ridges. Running along here was challenging either balancing on the top of ridges or sinking in the centre of the tyre tracks. However the first section was under tress offering some shade from the warm sunshine. I manged to startle some deer but didn't have time to catch them on camera.

I was soon running through the middle of a wheat field taking me downhill before passing a spring and then heading sharply up hill and emerging at Old Lane Stanningfield Little Rookwood Farm. This area was a Catholic stronghold and the home of Ambrose Rookwood who was one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. He was hung drawn and quartered.

I returned back to Hawstead by the same paths. In Hawstead I did a few laps of the wonderful village green. Once again I had the entire run to myself and never saw another person on the run.

Sicklesmere, Gt Whelnethum and Stanningfield Suffolk

8am 9.2 miles in 1 hr 15 mins 49 secs

Week to date mileage 20 miles

Month to date mileage 15

Average weekly rate 28.4 miles

Average monthly rate 124

Year to date 252

Lifetime 9845

I drove out from Bury St Edmunds on the A134 road to Sudbury. I stopped at the Rushbrooke Arms at Sicklesmere and parked in their car park.

Behind the Rushbrooke Arms is a path leading to Hawkers Lane and a run over to Rushbrooke however that wasn't my objective to do and I headed back into the village. The Toll House is apparently so named from the 19th century. In the 1830's the stage coach was the key means of transport. There was a 4 times daily coach between London and Norwich via Sudbury which traveled along the Bury Road which is now the A134.


Literally on the other side of the road there is a sign announcing that you are in Gt Whelnetham as Sicklesmere is really a very small hamlet. By contrast Gt Whelnetham is a fairly large village with a concentration of housing and a school. There is also the ruin of a windmill to be seen from the road.


I stopped by the St Thomas a Becket Church in Gt Whelnetham.


Continuing on towards Stanningfield on the right hand side there is the Mill Lane track which leads on to Coldham Hall. Mill Lane was so named as there was a post mill sited here. This was the Stanningfield Post Mill but I could see no evidence of it now though I have read that it was in use up to the 1950's for grinding corn into animal feed.

Arriving in Stanningfield I am always struck by the very attractive multi coloured cottages in Fox Row. There used to be Fox Inn situated here and beer was brewed here.
Continuing into the village of Stanningfield the central point is known as Hoggards Green. Here there is the Red House Pub.


I will post many other photos of these villages on my flickr site in time. I returned home by the same road. I had time to run around Sicklesmere and to venture up Hawkers Lane before returning to the Rushbrooke Arms Car park and home.

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!