Knettishall Heath to Euston Hall return

A new challenge, an opportunity to visit Euston Hall on one of the two Sundays in the year that it is open to the public - and a lovely walk! I was just getting over a flu-type bug so didn't feel up to a long walk and this was ideal. Euston Hall was advertised as opening at 2.30pm, so we had an early lunch at home before driving to the car park right at the end/beginning of the Icknield Way Path on Knettishall Heath. We set off walking at about 1.30pm and it took us around 1 hour 20 minutes to get to Euston Hall. The route was only occasionally signposted 'Icknield Way Path' (the signposts for the link path from the Angles Way to Thetford were more common) but we didn't have any problems finding the route. It had been a sunny morning but there was rain forecast for the afternoon - thankfully it didn't come until we were back home in the evening.

We initially walked through woodland (very similar to that at the end of the Peddars Way, just the other side of the road) but soon emerged onto attractive heathland at the edge of Knettishall Heath. The path followed a narrow corridor through brambles, passing a stone 'Icknield Way' marker, then we went through more woodland (Thirty Acre Covert) to emerge on the minor road that links Rushford and Coney Weston/Barningham.

We crossed the road and skirted a muddy patch, then found ourselves on a track which went through woodland and then across farmland where they had recently been lifting potatoes. After going underneath power lines and passing a triangulation point, the map shows a choice of route, but the only one signposted on the ground was the permissive left-hand route (which was the one we had intended to follow in any case - the other one involves a substantial section of road walking). This took us along a broad tree-lined avenue called Duke's Ride for a mile or so, first crossing and then being joined by a carriage driving route. As we got closer to Euston we could hear the church bells ringing.