Charsfield – 'Akenfield' then and now

In 1969, the poet Ronald Blythe produced a book that has come to be seen as a classic account of English village life. In it he recorded the memories of a generation of farm workers and painted an affectionate portrait of a way of life that was disappearing fast. The book was called Akenfield and it was based on the village of Charsfield.

Country Life

Blythe claimed never to have heard of oral history, but that is what Akenfield is. The book comes alive with the voices of the villagers, from the wheelwright and the saddler, to the gravedigger and the district nurse. Farmers, schoolteachers, horsemen and thatchers all gave him interviews and the result is a fascinating collection of tales. We hear from the doctor, the priest and the union leader and the Chairman of the Women's Institute, the magistrate, the vet and the survivors of World War I.

A Typical Suffolk Village

In many ways Charsfield was, and still is, a typical Suffolk village. It is not particularly pretty - in fact, says Blythe, if it was ever threatened by Ipswich overspill it is doubtful whether any preservation society would bother to save it. It has a mix of old cottages and modern council housing. And yet, according to Blythe, with 'its tall church on the hillside, a pub selling local brew, a pretty stream, a football pitch, a school with jars of tadpoles in the window, three shops with doorbells…it is the kind of place in which an Englishman has always felt it is his right and duty to live'. Even as Blythe wrote the book, Charsfield was changing. Mechanisation meant that the blackcurrants no longer had to be picked by hand. Incoming professionals were building new bungalows on the hillsides. Many of the older residents had never left the village except to fight in the war, and a trip to Ipswich or even Wickham Market was once a major event. Now there were people who travelled each day to Ipswich to work, and there was even one businessman who commuted to London. As you walk around the village today on a quiet weekday afternoon, you can be sure that the number has increased. The shops have gone and the fields are mostly empty of workers, though at least the pub and the school have survived. Akenfield is a hymn to the Suffolk countryside and to a way of life that has been lost. Blythe does not romanticise rural poverty. We meet Davie, born in 1887, who cannot read and write and has lived alone in the same house since his parents died when he was ten years old. You would be unlikely to meet anyone like Davie in Charsfield today.

Walk along The Street from the village hall, passing the Three Horseshoes pub. When you reach the Baptist chapel, turn left and walk up Chapel Lane. The road bends left and climbs to a summit. Your uphill walk is rewarded with good views over the village and the tower of St Peter's Church.

Turn right at the end of the lane. After 100yds (91m), turn left on to Magpie Street and stay on this lane for about 0.75 miles (1.2km) passing apple orchards on the left. Just after Pear Tree Farm, go left through the hedge on to an orchard-edge path. Keep to the left-hand side of the field and turn right on a grassy track that runs along the bottom of the field. Keep straight ahead on a paved track that passes between apple, pear, plum trees and blackcurrant bushes before descending to The Hall.

Turn left along the road. For a short cut, you could stay on this road to reach Point 5. For a longer walk, turn right in 150yds (137m) on to a cross-field path. At the far side of the field, keep straight ahead on a grassy track to climb towards a distant line of poplar trees, then continue ahead along the side of the next field.

Turn left past an old barn and fork left by a pond to walk past Moat Hall Barn and along Martins Lane. After 600yds (549m), turn left across a meadow that runs behind a white house. The path turns right, bears left around a field, then turns sharply right as it approaches a line of trees. At the trees, go through the wide gap into the field to your right, follow the left-hand side 20yds to the corner and ease yourself through whichever is the largest gap to reach a field with a huge oak tree at its centre. Turn right here along the edge of the field. In the corner of the field, take the exceedingly overgrown path through the hedge. Turn left and walk to the end of the field. In the hedge at the end there is, to your left, a small gap leading to a footbridge. Head for the right-hand corner of this next field - this is a seldom-used path and in summer you may have to forge a way through the crops - and go through another gate to reach a road.

Turn right along the road, signposted 'Charsfield Street'. After 400yds (366m), turn left on to a wide track that climbs between fields. Turn right on to a surfaced track and stay on this across the fields, passing the small primary school before reaching St Peter's Church. Turn right and walk downhill, taking the first left to return to the start of the walk.