Mildenhall Woods - Warreners' Walk

There's something quite distinctive about the typical Brecks landscape. I think it's the combination of the profile of the spare shape of the pine trees in rows against the sky with the sandy heathland. We picked up a new Brecks Visitor Guide leaflet at West Stow on Saturday. (You can download it, and a bunch of others about the area, from the web here). So for our Sunday morning walk, I thought we would go somewhere we'd never been to before. We chose number 50, the Warreners' Walk in Mildenhall Woods. But watch out, the map is a bit vague and number 50 is used for both the picnic site and the Warreners' Walk....

I consulted the OS Landranger map 143 (Ely and Wisbech). We took the A1101 towards Mildenhall and, at the Barton Mills roundabout at the junction with the A11 turned onto the A1065. There, about 100m up the road on the right was the picnic area. Found it. That was easy. There was a tantalising smell of cooking onions coming from the cafe, where a posse of motorcyclists were happily munching some brunch. We parked and went for a little walk. This did not look right. There is supposed to be a 3km trail. Nevertheless we followed the path and had a wander along the Cut Off Channel (a top Zander Venue, I've discovered, in retrospect) to the next bridge up.

It was all pretty close to the road. "That was a rubbish walk", I opined when we got back. Little W agreed, but Little Miss thought it was all right.

We got back in the car and decided we would do a little explore along the road that crossed the Channel (if all else failed we would keep going and I would take them for a run up Thetford Castle hill). We went past the waste recycling centre, (which made me wonder how the now mega-famous 21st Century Mummy is getting on with her Rubbish Diet - she's on Woman's Hour all week this week, you know). And just 1/2 a mile down the road we found it - here.

"I don't want to go on another walk", came the protest. But then they saw the first of the "Earth Signs".

There is indeed a circular walk (which has a sign that says 2 miles not 3 km). Along the way there are these story panels telling the tale of people who used to live, work or poach on the warren over the centuries. You will also find the old warreners' lodge - now a ruin.

Watch out too for the site of the rare Breckland Mugwort in a pit beside the path. The path is good and it is an easy walk with some decent views over the Breckland landscape. Little Miss and I enjoyed it. But, "It's not as good as West Stow", declared Little W at the end. Something to do with there not being a play park, perhaps?