Walk 2. Rivers Orchard.

  The idea of Nature Walks around Sawbridgeworth Parish is to make people aware of the wonderful wildlife resource we have locally and within walking distance. Each route is shown in a red line on an Ordnance Survey map. Theoretically, all start and finish at the Fair Green but you can of course drop in at any point. Rather then being told what to look for, I have just put pointers in along the route because I want people to look for themselves and make their own discoveries! This will mean much more to everyone! They are not intended as route marches so take your time and stop and look!   All the routes follow Footpaths but inevitably, there are places where the walks have to cross roads. Do please take extreme care and follow all the safety guidelines to avoid accidents. County Wildlife sites are marked CWS and a code number.

Walk 2. 2miles easy walking but can be muddy in Winter. Best times May for Rivers Orchard blossom, June/July for wildflower meadow.

• Start at the Fair Green. Exit by the route on the west side which will take you along the top of the cricket field. See how many different trees and hedging shrubs you can find in the thick hedge bordering the Town Council area, especially the tall Wellingtonia.
• Take great care exiting onto the main road and for preference cross over by the pedestrian crossing by the White Lion.
• Go into Hoestock Road. On your left you will see an old white or cinder brick wall which has plants living within the brickwork which would be more at home in the Mediterranean, but they have become naturalised in this country. Follow Hoestock Road into Gilders and then a right hand dead end. Take the first footpath on the left which will take you down to the Sawbridgeworth Brook. The site of a building or farm called Gilders was somewhere at this spot.   
• Follow the footpath which leads in a very direct route. First of all through grassland and secondly out onto open arable land. At the top end of this path, follow one of the paths through the scrub into the Rivers Orchard.
• Have a visit to the Orchard, according to the time of year and the time available.
• Leave the Orchard by the corner with the noticeboard, which will take you out onto an open field which in the summer, is a delightful wildflower meadow.
•  Follow the path along the south side of the Meadow which will take you into scrub on the left and the old Beech hedge on the right. Take a sharp left turn at the point where there is a long run of picturesque managed Beech hedging trees which was presumably some kind of screen or windbreak for the Nursery. 
• Follow this path through and it will take you through secondary woodland and eventually grassy scrub. Find the exit point between the garages in The Crest.
• Take a right turn towards the main road and at the point where it forms a T-junction, being very careful, take another right turn. Note the very old soft red brick wall of Brook Lane with its colonies of mosses and small rooted plants.
• Cross the main road at the pedestrian crossing and follow the footpath opposite along the side of the Sawbridgeworth Brook, which will eventually take you out to the footpath which leads to Pishiobury Park. The Brook appears to be in a relatively natural channel but notice how low down it is, which gives you an indication of how much the land has been made up to lessen the gradient up London Road in one direction and Bonks Hill in the other. Currently there is a problem with the footpath which has collapsed and the path has been temporarily closed at Lowfield until repairs can be made. Walk up Lowfield and turn left into Brook Road, taking another left to take you down to the Brook.
• Note the biodiversity potential of Bellmead allotments and the listed trees in the new Wallen Park development. Walk up the hill towards the cricket field, noting a small plantation of trees on the left at the top, including one evergreen oak. Continue up the footpath which locally used to be known as 'The Fields' noting the thick Myrobalan Plum hedge which screens the cricket field. 
• Finish the walk at the Fair Green.