Gentle Paces

Town and countryside walks, rides and trails for all to enjoy.

Walks in and Around Halesworth

Enjoyable town and country walks couldn’t be easier than in and around Halesworth. The towns Wayfinding System with its colourful information boards, maps and historical tales provides a walk in itself. The Millennium Green’s easy-going, all-weather track just a few minutes’ stroll from the shops. The Blyth Valley’s gently rolling countryside, dotted with round-towered churches and wartime tales, is just a little lane or footpath away. There’s so much to explore. During the summer months, Halesworth’s U3A History Group also offer Guided Walks around the town – visit the events calendar to see when these are on.

Simply download the maps and directed walks – discover and enjoy!

Millennium Green footpath walk

About the Walks

Fancy a wander? A wander back through time? A Suffolk station-to-station hike? Or maybe just a spot of walkies with a four-legged friend?

Whatever type of walk you’re looking for and whoever you have in your party, Halesworth has a gentle (or slightly more strenuous) something to suit.

Check out our digital app-based walks, leaflet downloads and maps to plan your next little adventure.

Having OS Explorer Map 231 to hand is advisable for longer countryside walks.

Heritage town trail walk Halesworth Suffolk

Town Centre Heritage Walks & Digital Trails

From tales of medieval lords to forgotten maltings and mills, the historic streets of Halesworth are brimful of secrets just waiting to be shared.

1.7 Miles / 2.8 Kms Town Heritage Walk (The Pocket Guide to Halesworth)
1.9 Miles / 3 Kms Around Halesworth Digital Town Trail – App required.
1.3 Miles / 2 Kms Step-free Halesworth Digital Town Trail – App required.

Heritage walk Digital Trails

The Malt Trail  (Halesworth)

Follow the Malt Heritage Trail around 9 Halesworth town centre and town park sites. Join the dots to discover how the malting and brewing industry fed by local barley brought wealth, waterways and the railway to Halesworth.

Don’t miss the Malt Experience free exhibition in The Cut Arts Centre – for more fascinating insights (and a refreshing cuppa!).

Approx. 1.5 Miles / 2.4  Kms

Malt Trail Malt Experience
Malt Experience Halesworth Suffolk
Hooker floral history trail looking at trail information boards in Halesworth Suffolk

The Hooker Trail  (Halesworth)

Celebrating the lives and loves of William and Joseph Hooker – Halesworth’s great Victorian botantists.

Learn about their Halesworth places and the plants they discovered on their travels dotted about the Halesworth in Bloom borders around the town.

Pick up The Hooker Trail booklet at the main Visitor Information Points in Halesworth. 

Approx. 0.8-1.2 Miles / 1.2-1.9 Kms

Visitor Info Points About the Botanists
Waterside walk in town park Halesworth Suffolk

Halesworth River & Greens Heritage Walk

Discover Halesworth’s lost quayside, locks, channels and waterways, and track down parts of the forgotten little railway to the coast.

A gentle, green and pleasant stroll full of secrets, this is a great extension to the Pocket Guide’s Town Heritage Walk to complete the Halesworth story.

1 Mile / 1.6 Kms

Directions

Halesworth Town Park Nature Hunt

From wild flowers to waterlilies, keep your eyes peeled for colourful natural encounters close to the play areas and spots to sit a while in Halesworth town park.

Digital Trail – App required.

0.6 Miles / 1 Km

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Himalayan balm on nature trail walk in Town Park Halesworth Suffolk
Halesworth fishing lakes walk Suffolk

Halesworth Circular Walks West

Take your pick from a selection of historic walks through Halesworth’s gentle rural countryside and the villages of Chediston and Wissett.

Choice of routes include: Halesworth Old Town & Fishing Lakes (2 miles / 3 kms); Chediston Circular (6 miles / 10 kms); Wissett Circular (5 miles /8.5 kms)

2-6 Miles / 3-10 Kms

Download Villages Info

Halesworth Circular Walks East

Take your pick from a selection of beautiful river and historic old railway walks through Halesworth’s Millennium Green and gentle rural countryside.

Millennium Green Circular (2 miles /3 kms); The Old Railway & Bird’s Folly Circular (4 miles / 6.5 kms); The River Blyth Circular (5 miles / 8 kms)

2-5 Miles / 3-8 Kms

Download Villages Info
Walking under a Millennium Green railway arch in Halesworth Suffolk
Halesworth Thoroughfare memorial to diverted bomber pilot and crew Suffolk

Halesworth’s Flying Legend

Truly a walk to remember, straight out of the centre of Halesworth. Follow the true story of heroic WWII pilot, Flying Officer D. W. Field, who single-handedly steered his failing, yet still fully loaded, Lancaster Bomber away from the town, to crash in the countryside near Chediston.

Remarkably, the brave pilot survived,  stumbling away from the wreckage to find help from villagers in Wissett…

 6 Miles / 10 Kms

Directions Villages Info

Wissett Treacle Mines Walk

Could there be any truth in the sweet tales of Wissett’s Treacle Mines which have stuck for centuries?

Halesworth was once renowned for its linen trade. Locally grown hemp was ‘bleached’ in ponds, leaving black, sticky residue…

Walk along ancient drovers’ ways and parsons’ paths to discover the old hemp-processing farmsteads of Spexhall beyond Wissett.

6.5 Miles / 10.5 Kms

Directions Villages Info
St Andrew's Church Wissett Suffolk
Walk by the Dragon House in Westhall Suffolk

Propellers & Dragons

A fascinating, fully waymarked, station-to-station walk which is also known as The Wolf Pack Walk. You’ll find it dotted with quirky mysteries including Westhall’s ‘dragon house’, plus farming and WWII histories.

Stroll through Halesworth’s former dairylands, where oats, beans, barley (and Christmas trees!) grow today and edge the old aerodrome-home of the brave pilots of ‘Zemke’s Wolf Pack’, where Glenn Miller once entertained the troops.

From Halesworth, north to Brampton Railway Station

5 Miles / 8 Kms

Directions Route Updates Villages Info WWII Airfield

Yox Man & Mighty Towers

Also known as the Yox & Blyth Valley Walk, this station-to-station walk weaves from the Yoxford home of impressive Cockfield Hall and Lawrence Edwards’ mighty Yox Man sculpture via the crinkle-crankle walls and standalone church tower of Bramfield to Halesworth’s Millennium Green.

From Darsham Station, north to Halesworth

9 Miles / 14.5 Kms

Directions Route Updates Villages Info
Meet the Yox Man sculpture on a Blyth and Yox river walk to Halesworth
countryside code badge - respect , protect, enjoy

Countryside Code

Halesworth and its villages welcome responsible walkers. 

Halesworth’s country footpaths, town park and vast Millennium Green are yours to share and enjoy, whether you’re out for a stroll or a right old ramble.

Please respect, protect and enjoy them safely.

Thank you for respecting the countryside code.

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Halesworth Town & Countryside Walks & Trails

Discover hidden urban or village treasures and whimsical built heritage. Enjoy easy-going paths between verdant pastures, just the shortest walk from Halesworth’s independent shops, cafés and amenities.  Track down forgotten railway line treasures or follow in famous footsteps. What will you choose?

Download all the directions and maps here.