Plane Spotting With Some Great Views (from East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

An unusual walk which mixes beautiful green pathways with the close-up sight of planes landing and taking off at Stansted.

Don't be put off. In many parts of Essex you can be disturbed by the hum of motorways or the more intrusive aircraft noise associated with Stansted Airport on this occasion you at least get a spectacle for your discomfort as about a mile of the walk follows the flight path of the aircraft which are just above you as they come in to land.

But it's not all noisy technology. We start off from Elsenham Church: a beautiful old building dating mainly from the twelfth century with a delightful Tudor addition in the form of a brick porch. En route along some fine wide tracks we pass through the isolated hamlet of Tye Green and have time to loiter around some handsome country houses. Children will love this walk.

1. Start Walk down to the road from the church and turn left. After nearly mile, the road turns a sharp left but you go right on a byway and, after 40 metres, in front of a double metal gate, turn left to walk along a field edge with a hedge on your right.

(Ahead you can see the observation tower of Stansted Airport and probably the tails of aircraft preparing for takeoff). At the end of the hedge you do a quick right and left to continue in your previous direction up the hill. At the top, go left and then right to go up a sunken track bordering the next field. Keep ahead, ignoring a track to the left, to eventually swing right passing thatched houses to reach a small pond on the left. (This is Tye Green it must have been an idyllic spot before the arrival of the airport).

2. 0.8 miles/1.3km Turn left at the pond to cross the green, to pass between a corrugated shed on the right and a finely pargetted house on the left.

After an initial hedged section you emerge on a field edge here seek out the path to the right of the ditch (not the field edge) which doesn't seem too inviting at first but quickly develops into an attractive sunken covered path. Keep forward to emerge on a field edge (there was a derelict caravan here on my last visit).

3. 1 mile/1.6km Turn left on a permissive path. (The term permissive' means that the landlord has kindly agreed that the route may be used. He can decide to withdraw this permission at any time and therefore the path is not a right of way' and will not appear on your Ordnance Survey map).

This track meanders along the edge of the narrow arable field following the course of the stream on your left. (For nearly mile you will now be walking parallel to and not far from the main airport runway giving superb opportunities to watch aircraft landing and taking off). At the end of this field keep forward, still with the ditch on the left, to walk along a very pleasant green path only 15 metres away from the Stansted perimeter fence. You will cross a footbridge into a lane and turn right. After a few metres turn left at a T-junction to join another wide green track which will take you to a road.

4. 1.7 miles/2.7km Turn left. After about mile you will come to a delightful white-painted house with lots of flower pots on your right (Loppingdale), immediately past this and before a short terrace of thatched houses, turn right along a wide fenced path which soon swings right... Later you will join woodland on your right with the bonus of waymarkers. At a junction of paths at the end of the wood go left.

5. 2.6 miles/4.2km Keep to this glorious wide green track, ignoring a path going off to a bridge on the right, to eventually enter a narrow field. Keep to the right-hand edge. At the end of this field you enter a golf course. Ahead is a hedge, walk forward to the right of this and continue with the hedge on your left. (This path is to the right of the ditch not to the left as shown on the O.S. map) Just before reaching a concrete road go left to reach it on the other side of the hedge.

6. 3.7 miles/5.9km Walk straight across the concrete road to join a path between wooden fences. Enter a field and follow a track across the middle of it. On the far side descend through a patch of woodland and then swing left along another track across a floodplain which takes you to a road. Turn left and, after a few metres, left again to return to the church.

More Information: Elsenham Parish Council has produced an excellent leaflet setting out all the paths in the area. It would be especially useful if you wanted to plan further walks in the area (phone 01279 812463) West Essex Ramblers: memberships and free programme of walks with leaders: 020 8524 2737 (Redbridge Group: 01708 456 771 and Lea Valley Friends who specialise in walks of 3 to 4 miles: 020 8529 7328).

Starting Point/Parking: Elsenham is to the north east of Stanstead Mountfitchet on the B1051.

The church in front of which you will park is in a cul de sac off the lane which runs south of the Crown pub.

If you park there on a Sunday, do so at an angle so that parishioners have room for their cars.

Terrain: most of the paths are excellent wide green tracks but some of the field edge paths, especially at the start of the walk can become very muddy in wet weather. Very gentle inclines.

Public Transport: There is a half-hourly rail service from Bishops Stortford and Newport.

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