Witham - Fairstead - Essex Way - Terling - Witham

Sid Marks

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This walk was originally submitted by Brian & Anne Sandland. Walkingworld is very grateful for Sid Marks taking over the walk, May 2021. Walk titles and route directions may have changed since the walk was first published.

Start at the railway station in Witham and soon cross fields to reach the Old Rectory and use Faulkbourne Road, passing the hall and church, then use a bridleway to arrive at Peg Millar's Lane and turn north-west to Fairstead. Here join the Essex Way and continue south to Terling, an ancient and picturesque village. The return leg is on farmland tracks, then via the twists and turns of Dancing Dick's Lane to arrive back in Witham and return to the station.

A surprising amount of the route is on hard tracks, country lanes and paths, but despite this we met little traffic once out of Witham, even though we prepared the walk on a weekday.

England - East England - Essex - Countryside

Features

Birds, Butterflies, Church, Flowers, Food Shop, Great Views, Mostly Flat, Play Area, Pub, Public Transport, Tea Shop, Toilets, Wildlife
5/16/2021 - Paula Abbott

Not a bad walk, but some of the instructions need changing. It got confusing in places.

10/7/2020 - Sid Marks

Re-walked after a year,the only update is at waymark 8.There is now a brand new Signpost beyond Brunt's Farm on the left.Again the walk came in at 10.3 miles

9/25/2019 - Sid Marks

There is quite a lot of road walking along this route,busy at times,so not suitable for children or dogs.This walk is longer than stated coming in at 10.3 miles.Quite a few updates,which are,the pub at the start of the walk has changed names to The Railway.At waymark 1,the route to Warren farm has changed.The path signposted 129-141,is now only for access to the back gardens for the houses on the left.So walk to the right of this path and turn left on a path with a hedge on your left.At a fork,go straight on through a wooded area to arrive at a small metal gate.Go through onto a broad grass track to arrive at Warren farm.At waymark 4,the cottage is now called Troy's cottage.At waymark 5,there are just 2 footbridges to cross and no stiles to reach the woodland.At waymark 8,the signpost for Dancing Dick's Lane has now gone.At waymark 9 the path after Blunt's Hall farm on the left has no markerpost.

3/30/2013 - Sally Parsonage

I did this walk one day before BST started - and had blizzards, biting wind - and just a few welcome glimpses of sun! I echo the comments of previous walkers, especially the one about the track to Witham Spring. And at times it would have been useful to know if expressions like 'just past Blunt's Farm.... ' meant 100 yds on, or nearly a mile!

1/2/2013 - Shelley and Paul Rowland

Completed this walk on Sunday 30th December 2012. Considering all the wet weather we have been having we thought it would be super muddy but to honest it wasn't bad at all. I have to agree with Sid that there are no active stiles along the way but this doesn't make the instructions difficult to manage. Also, I would say that the beginning of this walk takes place along a road (which on this particular day was very busy). We are not road walking lovers, but there is a verge along most of it so there are plenty of spaces to step up when traffic approaching. All in all if you can get the road bit out of the way at the beginning it becomes a lovely quiet walking experience. One last point my walking sat nav did give the reading of just under 10 miles not that that was a problem for us. If you do this walk - enjoy!

5/20/2012 - Sid Marks

A lovely walk. None of the stiles on this walk are in use, a couple of them are in the undergrowth, and the others are to the side of the path and not needed. At waymark 2 after you bear left with the path,within 50 metres there is a fork in the path. Take the right one to reach Warren Farm. If you park in the station car park you need to turn right out of it, then turn right onto Chipping Hill.

11/15/2011 - Bernard Chalk

I enjoyed this walk but I did find it wasn't particularly dog friendly as the walk along the Faulkbourne Road (Stage 3) and in places along Dancing Dick Lane (Stage 9) was difficult and with children it would have been impossible. As a starting point I found parking in Brain Rd (CM8 1LB) was better than Saxon Drive which has a parking restriction (11.30am - 12.30am) On Stage 8, it says "After a right-hand bend, bear left off the tarmac path (signpost)..", but I didn't see one there although the grassy path leading to Witham Spring was easy to see although maybe not so in the snow!