Around Thorndon Country Park

The 500-acre (200ha) Thorndon Country Park is one of Essex Wildlife Trust's most popular centres. It attracts huge numbers of woodland birds and a variety of butterflies, including some rare species. The park comprises ancient woodland and ponds and parkland landscaped by 'Capability' Brown in the 18th century. Traditional farming techniques have been restored on some of the land, which is grazed by rare breeds including English white cattle. Near the start of the walk is an ancient deer park dating from the 15th century which is now a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and one of the most important habitats in the park. The Countryside Centre is also of interest – it was constructed from trees blown over during the devastating storms of 1987.

Old and new halls

The site of Old Hall, the original mansion built in the grounds, dates from the Domesday Book of 1086, but a fire destroyed the house in the early 1700s. However, the magnificent portico, imported from Italy, was saved and assembled in the new mansion, Thorndon Hall, when it was built near by in the 1760s. The owner, Lord Petre, was a talented botanist and gardener whose hothouses were said to be the largest in the world.

Around 100 years later this second mansion also burned down, and it remained in ruins until 1976 when developers rebuilt it and sympathetically converted it into the luxury apartments we see today.

The walk passes both of these sites, and Old Hall is particularly beguiling, as the area where it lay has been transformed into a wildlife haven. Although excavations were carried out in the 1950s the results were disappointing and only the remains of broken wine bottles, pottery and fragments of Delft wall tiles were found.

With your back to the Countryside Centre, turn right along a path through woods signposted 'Woodland Trail' to pass red waymark 1. Turn right to pass waymark 2 and then turn left, go through a gate and across a car park to reach a track, and keep ahead.

Go through a gate, cross the track and take the path ahead. Keep ahead for about a mile (1.6km), and at the T-junction enter Menagerie Plantation through the gate ahead and follow the waymarked Wildside Walk. Look out for where you cross a boardwalk on the right and continue to the right of Old Hall Pond, turning right at the junction.

Bear left along the field-edge path. To the left are views towards the North Downs, and on your right is Ruin Wood, with the remains of Old Hall, and now a wildlife haven. Go through the gate and bear diagonally left to pass through a hedge gap and a kissing gate. In the corner of the next field turn left through a kissing gate, then bear right and head downhill to a waymarked post and a gate.

In front of the gate turn sharp right and follow the path, which soon reaches a field via a gate. Bear left across it to cross a plank footbridge. At a track turn left and almost immediately cross a stile on the right. Head diagonally across a field, cross another stile and turn right along a lane which becomes a track. After passing Childerditch Pond, go through a metal gate into a meadow. Follow the red waymarks along the lower right-hand edge of the meadow, and in the corner go through a gate and then cross a footbridge to a crossroads.

Continue uphill following the red waymarks through woodland. Turn left at the T-junction and follow the track as it curves right, and return to the start of the walk.