Essex Walks
From Gaston Green, these walks make the most of the beautiful River Stort and the peaceful countryside that surrounds it.
Whether you head north through Thorley Wash Nature Reserve or south towards Sawbridgeworth with its café and train links, the walks offer waterside paths, open farmland and a wonderfully unhurried feel throughout.
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Walk information
This is a lovely circular walk that takes you north of Gaston Green on a long walk alongside the pretty River Stort, passing through the Thorley Wash Nature Reserve and through some open countryside as you go around.
Based on 14 user ratings
A very popular walk
Real feedback from people who have completed this walk using the Essex Walks app.
First-hand experiences
Jist perfect for a sunday morning
Did this route in February so very boggy in places, especially along the river path. Wellies a must! Nice coffee stop along the route and yes, that is somebody’s front garden you need to walk through!
We started this walk by the 3 horseshoes pub, which was an extra 5 minutes on the walk. There is a place along the river serving coffees etc, which has seating outside, but we didn’t stop off. Lovely walk along the river then the walk goes into fields then a forest area then back across fields. The river path is slighlty uneven and prone to flooding as there are logs along the way to bridge the little bit of water on the path. Other than this it was a very nice enjoyable walk.
Lovely walk. Bit boggy in parts after heavy rain. Slight detour to the Three Horseshoes in Spellbrook is recommended.
Lovely walk along a beautiful clear river
No benches anywhere on the route!
Little tip google maps takes you to the hop poles, however its no longer a pub just a house, so might be worth mentioning to park in the layby just by the pond!
We headed anticlockwise. Great varied walk with lovely riverside section. Small bit at the end of the walk was a bit muddy/overgrown. Otherwise perfect!
Lovely walk! Along the river, but towards the end there’s a small hill to the finish line!
Walk information
This alternative walk instead heads to the south out of Gaston Green and follows the River Stort until you reach Sawbridgeworth (where there is a train station that you can start the route from, and a nice cafe).
From there, it loops back to the start point of the walk through pretty open countryside and farmland. There is a short section of road walking on this route.
Train Station:
Sawbridgeworth
Based on 5 user ratings
A well-liked walk
Real feedback from people who have completed this walk using the Essex Walks app.
First-hand experiences
It was very muddy, very. I would probably re walk this in summer to give a better review. There was some walking on small country lanes so be careful.
An enjoyable, varied walk with fields, woodland and canal. One short section was very muddy/boggy but otherwise paths were good.
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