My companion today has been the hedgerow. It led me across the undulating landscape, then down past the house hidden in the vale. The hedgerow and I switched sides before it momentarily left me to explore the village of Kersey on my own.
Distance: 9.20 miles
Ascent: 240 metres
Duration: 2 hours 42 minutes
Walk 24: Kersey and Lindsey Castle from Hadleigh
Kersey is one of those places best visited on foot. If you drive it's over in a flash of disappointment but the walker gets to see its real charm. It's a single street, punctuated half-way by a ford known as The Splash. I don't think there's a single building here less than two hundred years old. On the side of one house, an ageing round Automobile Association sign urges us to put Safety First.
The hedgerow and I were reunited at the top end of the village. Here an elderly lady was harvesting its fruits, popping one berry in her mouth for every five dropped in the plastic pot. She would be thwarted soon though - half a mile further on, a tractor was heading in her direction trimming the bushes back and releasing a sweet scent into the air.
And everywhere I went, partridges and pheasants darted in front of me startled that anyone else might come so close to their hedgerow home.
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