I paid a visit to Hadleigh Castle this week as I have never been there before, even though I,ve lived within 10 miles of it for the 49 years I,ve been alive. I’m glad that I did eventually take a walk around these ruins as it truly is a beautiful place to spend some time. They view across the Thames estuary is amazing and you can see why this site was chosen to build a castle. The sun was shining as I explored and took my photos, I also did some filming and if this has turned out ok ill be putting it on my Youtube channel soon.
Late Sunday morning and I took the pooches for a nice 4.5 mile walk along the banks of the River Roach at Stambridge. Although sunny there was a chilly wind blowing which caught you unawares if you didn’t have some warm clothes on. From Stambridge we walked through to Barton Hall Creek and back again, having a nice sit down and relax along the way. Countless ducks and waders were spotted along the edge of the marshlands which I love to see. Its such a beautiful stretch of river to walk and I,ll be walking through to Paglesham again this year, just under 10 miles.
I also had 2 short walks at ‘The Secret Fields’ locally and although only a couple of miles each time it really is beautiful there. The blossom on the Blackthorn bushes is bursting with colour now as you walk along the track to the fields, it brightened up an otherwise dull, overcast day. This track is where I picked my Sloe Berries last year and judging by the amount of flowers I,m hoping for a bumper crop this year. I spotted the flash of a sparrow hawk as it darted through a small clump of trees in the corner of the first field but I couldn’t see if it was on the hunt . I also heard a woodpecker a couple of fields over and also heard and saw a buzzard high in the distance.
BLACKTHORN BLOSSOM 
THIS IS WHERE I PICK MY SLOE BERRIES
