Why choosing British grown flowers makes sense

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook. Sometimes it's not just where we go that needs tabs kept on it, but what we buy. For example 90 per cent of cut flowers used in the UK are flown into Britain from Holland, Kenya and other countries. This is surely a crazy practice for a nation of talented gardeners. Here's how one green-fingered Yorkshire woman, Fleur Butler, is hoping to change this with her new business Fleur's Garden. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Fleur Butler from Fleur’s Garden in north Yorkshire: “Everyone should have more confidence with flowers. If you buy my plants anyone can do flower arranging. For the whole of the summer you can have fresh flowers from your garden. The flowers are sustainably grown (and many will grow again next year) and benefit insects. Also there are no carbon miles and you’ve got flowers you can’t buy in the shops.”

The wonderful cherry blossom in Finghall, a little paradise in North Yorkshire, seems to be as much about the arrival of spring 2015 as the birth of a new business promoting British cut flowers, Fleur’s Garden. I've been a friend of Fleur Butler, who runs Fleur's Garden, since she was a teenager so it was a pleasure to take a train trip to north Yorkshire and find out more about why you should pick British-grown flowers for your displays - not just for cheering up the kitchen, but also for life's big events including weddings and funerals.

“I’ve just started Fleur’s Garden, but for 20 years my hobby has been gardening. I’ve been passionate about flowers and gardens all my life,” says Fleur Butler arranging a fabulous vase of her homegrown tulips.  To launch the new business Fleur, 47, is using the skills she’s learnt as a mum, working as a project manager and experience as the leader of Richmondshire District council.

“I’ve always cared about people and the environment so it is depressing that supermarkets stock a small range of chemically-fed flowers which have been flown in from 1,000s of miles around the world. We should be so proud of what we can produce at home in England.”

Fleur’s Garden sells local, sustainable, British-grown flowers for weddings, memorials and just to make your life light up. Here's the first stall she set up at the end of her drive.

That’s why she’s set up Fleur’s Garden – to sell local and sustainably-grown, British flowers for weddings, memorials and your home.

“I want to encourage other people to increase the range of flowers they can cut from their garden. People don’t realise that 90 per cent of flowers bought in Britain are grown abroad – so there are thousands of air miles in each bouquet,” says Fleur.

Flowers are more than a business for Fleur. 

“Gardening and flowers have been a lovely antidote to dealing with my four sons while working on community projects,” says Fleur modestly. Her c/v would tell you that she’s been an active councillor for eight years, stood as an MEP candidate for Yorkshire & Humber and monitored elections in Georgia and Croatia. But now her sons are bigger and she’s stepping back from politics because “over the past year I realised I wanted to work on something I felt totally driven about. And then I had an electric light bulb moment when I remember I was called Fleur – which means flower in French. I ought to be working with flower, for flowers and about flowers.”

Barrowloads of muck work as a weed suppressant and give a natural 

boost of growing power to the flowers in Fleur's Garden.

Six tips for cut flowers - tips from Fleur's Garden 

1 Flowers are less fussy and much easier to grow than vegetables.
2 A packet of flower seeds may cost £1.99, but you only need to sow a small amount. Then save and use again before the expiry date.
3 Choose seeds or potted on flowers that you can’t buy in a florist like cosmos or long-stemmed marigolds.
4 Plant a forget-me-not and let it self-sow. They are so pretty: how can anyone think of them as a weed?
5 Dahlias have fabulous strong colourful flowers, they look good in the garden and in displays, and will go on until the first frosts. I live and work in north Yorkshire but down south you don’t even need to dig them up if they are in a frost area during the winter.
6 If you are lucky enough to have a garden try growing long stemmed orange marigolds (annuals) in your vegetable patch, because they are good for the bees and look fabulous in a vase.

Right now Fleur is experimenting with more than 250 varieties of flowers and has plans to open her cutting garden for DIY picking for flower arrangers.

“For me choosing favourites is nearly impossible. This April and May I’ve been stunned by the different varieties of tulips – some are like large double dollops of ice cream and others are delicate with wrinkled edges or even have pink and green strips. And there’s nothing like the humble forget-me-not with its little blue stars balanced by the white blossom of early spirea – two plants you cannot buy in the shops.

“Some shrubs and plants come back every year (perennials) to use as foliage. One thing it is very hard to find in florists is decent foliage, but foliage makes the bunch – if it is all flower and no green it’s rather like having a pudding of cream and no fruit.”

She has set up a website with online tips (see www.fleurbutler.co.uk) and at weekends has a garden gate stall with an honesty box. “I hope people will use the stall to increase the range of flowers they can cut from their garden so I’m selling young plants they can grow on at home.”

Jam jar lovelies from Fleur's Garden: If you have short-stemmed flowers try displaying in a jam jar
for a lovely splash of British grown colour and fragrance.

Make your own jam jar lovelies

Tips from Fleur’s Garden

• Everyone has a spare jam jar, you don’t even need to scrub the label off – just fill with your own homegrown cutting flowers.
•  Lots of shorter-stemmed flowers get thrown out by florists, but you can make lovely displays with shorter-stemmed flowers like primulas, marigolds, blue and pink liverwort with its white-spotted leaves and shorter tulips.
•  Forget-me-nots can last 10 days in a jam jar.
•  If the weather’s been bad and the garden is still too chilly to sit in, pick a handful of flowers, put them into a jam jar, and brighten up your kitchen.

Fleur loves the way her new business has been inspired by her family. During her political years she was often introduced as the grand-daughter of RAB Butler MP, who was famously dubbed “the best Prime Minister we never had”. Now she can talk about her memories of her grandmother’s Essex garden where the “Bumble bees were buzzing over the santalina and you could smell the heat and warmth of the soil and grass. I especially liked her miniature strawberries, so now Fleur’s Garden is growing mini-strawberries, a variety know as fraise du bois. I hope people will plant these and just as I did with my boys have fun seeing their children wandering into the garden and putting their heads into the flower beds to pick the strawberries.”

 A spot under the cherry blossom to sit and think at Fleur’s Garden, with views over Yorkshire.

“I’ve also been inspired by my third cousin, Georgie Newberry who runs Common Farm Flowers in Somerset,” adds Fleur. “It’s a business which grows flowers for weddings and is all about sustainability and working with nature – a way for beautiful brides to enjoy flowers which are grown benefitting insects, and birds too – and something I will be doing too.”

During winter 2014-15 Fleur’s Garden has already provided funeral wreaths. “I found that discussing with the bereaved family how special the flowers that we were using to the deceased was quite cathartic,” says Fleur. “I can make funeral wreaths from my flowers or use what’s in your own garden.”

Over to you
As the longer days approach and your garden wakes up now is a great time to plant a few more flowers. Get them growing well and you’ll be able to cut your own flowers to create your own lovely displays. Flowers can be comforting, dramatic or just cheer up a dreary room – so if you want help doing this, especially if you live close to the Yorkshire Dales (or can go on line) contact Fleur Butler at Fleur’s Garden. 

Another option is to have a look at all the wonderful flowers people are growing. One mum, Tania Pascoe, so enjoyed taking her child to look at gardens that she has written a book about possible trips, Wild Garden Weekends. National open garden days, botanical gardens or even Kew Gardens in London are also excellent ways of looking at what can grow. It's June, you've got time to start growing your own flowers this year, but you could also soak up inspiration via garden visits ready for the 2016 planting season.

• Fleur's Garden (Yorkshire & by post)
• Common Farm Flowers (Somerset & by post)
• Scilly Flowers (Scilly Isles & by post) - a huge family run flower farm specialising in early scented blooms (narcissi) and summer boquets. A great gift to help friends celebrate birthdays, parties and occasions like mother's day.
• Have fun looking at wild gardens with your family to inspire your own planting scheme. Have a look at Tania Pascoe's book Wild Garden Weekends.
• http://www.kew.org/
• Here's a list of some of the gardens around the UK that are occasionally open to the public. If you've missed the date you can always pop your head over the hedge/wall and see what's blooming. 

Celebrating in Indian style

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook. Here is a nice way to celebrate a university landmark with an Indian sweet. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Gulabjam to celebrate the completion of the first draft of Kapil's PhD. Good luck with the next stage.

Just been around to a friend's house in London and her lodger was in celebration mood. He's just finished the first draft of his PhD - a staggering 95,000 words, plus years of research.

To celebrate he warmed up some gulabjam for the three of us to eat with a cup of builders' tea. It was great - and yes, one of those super sweet treats is enough!

Gulabjam are very sweet - almost like condensed milk dumplings, and they taste gorgeous.

Gulabjam is also popular in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It's a proper party food - expect to see it at Diwali celebrations too.

Back in India his wife is celebrating this massive step forward - a first draft finished - by baking an English-style cake.

I like this confectionery mix-up!

Over to you
What food do you eat to celebrate rites of passage, triumphs or just the end of the week? My family now holds a pizza friday, every friday (thank you Italy) but we aren't quite so confident about what to choose when we want to celebrate something that doesn't fall on Friday!

7 fun skills to learn as you travel

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook. Here are seven skills to learn during your holidays - many your ancestors would know how to do, others are just fabulous fun. The bonus is you get to think Danish, French and Bulgarian along the way. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Reading Stations Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (a very good book)  in a very old tree at Norsey Woods, Essex.

1 Read in a tree
It's harder than it looks. First you need to find the perfect tree. Then you need to climb it. Then you must get comfy. Once you're comfy I find the atmosphere of tree, birdsong and green leaves immediately lulls me out of the book and into a meditative state. For instance: what was it like being Charles 1 hiding in an oak tree with the roundhead soldiers beneath you?

There are all sorts of tree adventures you can do in the UK:

• Go Ape exhilaration
• Learn how to climb a big tree using ropes in city parks. Have a look at the opportunities from the great big tree company.
• Try a zipline
• Learn tree ID. Try the Field Studies Centres (they also run art and natural history courses).
• Find out some more ideas from the people at Woodlands Adventure in Walsall.

Photo taken at 5.30am.

2 Learn to ID birds by tune & looks
The May dawn chorus is early, but if you can be in a woodland by 5am you should be rewarded with the wonderful sound of birds singing their territory. Chiff Chaffs are easy - they just shout chiff chaff. But can you distinguish between the tuneful blackbird or the melancholy robin?

Bird sanctuaries are amazing wildlife havens and often have fantastic education (and sometimes a tea room too). The RSPB bird charity has more than 100 sites around the UK, find them here.

3 Put the kettle on, then cook your own supper (a Danish skill)
Denmark is officially the world's happiest country - you can find some insights why this is in The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell. Obviously the Danes can block out misery with their genius for Lego, white interiors and tasty pastries, but they are also fine DIY cooks who have no problem grilling fish or boiling up a tea caddy in the great outdoors. These are not difficult skills, but for those of us who haven't honed them yet (and are not patient when it comes to making fires) they are close to impossible.

Great advice about firelighting, plus campsites that allow you to have a go from Cool Camping, here.

4 Explore another cuisine (Let's try Taiwanese)
Family cooking classes are popular - Jamie Oliver's chain runs all sorts of classes ranging from making perfect pasta to bread.

When you are on holiday you might find the place you are staying doesn't have the right equipment to make your own taglatelli, so maybe try building up your cooking repertoire while you are on a staycation in your own kitchen. I ask friends with a signature dish, like these tasty taiwanese noodles, to come over and explain how to cook it. It is flattering to the person invited to share their knowledge... and extremely tasty for the rest of us. Plus it's cheap.

5 Explore the local roads by bike (very French)
Benefits: you learn to read maps, you pare down your luggage, you notice wind direction and you enjoy having a rest.
Possible problem: but you don't have a bike, or enough bikes to fit your family...
Solution: hire a bike (check the local Tourist Information Centre for the nearest then ring up and talk to the cycle shop) or use a cycling company to pre-plan your route. There are some amazing French tours on offer billed as cycling for softies, but you can do something similar in the UK too. PIck an off road route using the national cycling organisation Sustrans' routes and their excellent book Traffic Free Cycle Rides, £15.99, which has 100+ cycle journeys.

My family don't like cycling at Tour de France speed, or burning up hills. They like easy to do rides that let them stop off to paddle at a river or visit a pub. Preferably both. They will go a bit further (15 miles, instead of 10) if I can be certain there is a tea shop open.

But if you enjoy pushing yourself then join a cycling challenge. In May you can pedal from the west to the east coast of the UK along the C2C; in June there's the 1040 mile Land's End to John O'Groats ride and in September a challenging 200mile coasts and castles ride.

The challenge rides are organised by Saddle skeddadle, which have masses of routes in the UK and Europe - a great way of having no idea where you are, but absolute certainty that you will make it home before last orders.

6 Talk to strangers (a peep into a Bulgarian forest)
Returning on the tube from a lovely Sunday walk along the River Thames a couple began to admire our dog. Our dog seemed rather enamoured by them, keenly sniffing their ankles. "We've been in the forest looking at bluebells," said the woman. Turned out that the pair are from Bulgaria and love the British woods. For starters we have bluebells and their forests don't. However Bulgarian forests do have wolves and bears, although she said she hadn't ever seen either while walking because "they don't like people". There's a move in the UK to re-introduce lynx (wild cats), if they promise to stay out of us walkers way then they're welcome.

Woods close to Roald Dahl's Museum in Great Missenden, Bucks.

7 Play in the woods

Now that so much of the country has internet coverage it's hard to escape the lure of your instagram feed. But spending time making your own entertainment is a real pleasure - the stuff of stories and family legend. A lot of my photos of time spent in the woods seem to be because we were hiding from the rain. But the one above is all about the joy of coming across a rope swing and then just spending the rest of the day in that spot often upside down.

Britain still has a lot of publicly accessible land - look for it on a map and then head to the woods for a picnic.  Some of my favourites are:

• Norsey Wood, Essex are famous for bluebells - nearest train station: Billericay, Essex
• Marked on OS maps. If you're cycling past stop to explore. If you are taking a walk pick a wood as a picnic stop.
• Woods along the Chiltern hills - you can reach these from stations like Tring, Herts and even the metropolitan tube line.

Over to you
What do you enjoy doing on your holidays?

This racehorse life from Newmarket to Qatar

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook. At the National Stud in Newmarket you can coo over this season's foals but also get a sense of the international pull of horseracing. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Foals at the National Stud. All racehorses are said to have their birthday on 1 January, so
February to March is the ideal time for a brood mare to foal.

To celebrate my mum's birthday the whole family decamped to Newmarket for a tour of the National Stud. Thoroughbred racehorses - thanks to a mix of the fleet Arab and sturdier English breeds - are some of the most expensive, fastest horses in the world. It's quite a passion: racing fans in the UK can enjoy an all-year round racing calendar thanks to the traditional summer Flat season (eg, the Derby run at Ascot) and a winter of National Hunt racing over fences (big jumps and ditches like the Grand National, or more flimsy hurdles). Now there are all weather tracks even frost doesn't stop race meetings.

A very pampered Dick Turpin ignores my family.

Although racing is popular in the USA (remember Man of War?), Australia (for the Melbourne Cup) and France (eg, Longchamp - half of all European race meetings are held in France) it is the Arab communities that seem to love horse racing with a passion. And so they go to Newmarket: a town built on the horse economy and very much bolstered by the money various Arab owners have poured into the sport of kings, such as Sheikh Fahad from Qatar. Judging by the Polish delis  - Eagle Polish Deli and the Polonia Club - and restaurants there are also plenty of east Europeans also involved in the racing industry. Racing isn't quite as stuffy as it first seems.

The statue outside the Jockey Club is of a world famous stallion Thoroughbred (TB, called Hyperion.

The Jockey Club has the best location in town, and as the Jockey Club Estates owns all the gallops (see photo right showing you which gallops are open). There are innumerable racing yards which means that up to 5,000 horses are stabled here. No place in the world is so centred on racing.

I'm told that in the mornings - when the strings of racehorses go out for exercise - the sight is quite magnificent. It's sobering to think that this Suffolk town has had separate horse and vehicle traffic lanes for years. If only the same could be done for cyclists in other towns.

Horses are wonderful and clever, except when it comes to traffic, seeming to be more terrified of a random crisp packet than being struck by a vehicle. So those designated racehorse lanes are essential.

Gregorian is a gorgeous iron grey 16.1hh stallion standing at the National Stud (2015). His blood lines include the amazing Northern Dancer, and Mill Reef.

Spring is the time the foals are born, and a lovely place to learn about bloodlines and admire the new babies is the National Stud. You can book a trip here. It's serious stuff - for a stallion to cover your mare expect to pay £4,000+. If the stallion is proven and producing colts and fillies (half sisters and brothers) winning at two or three years you might be able to sell your yearling for £70,000. However much I oohed and ahhed over the foals I was also aware that racing is good for your maths and geography. It's quite good for talking about sexual reproduction too, very earthy!

Having a go in race riding position at the racehorse stimulator at the National Horseracing Museum - it's hard on the legs. You have to keep your back flat and your heels down.

While in Newmarket we did a whirlwind tour of the National Horseracing Museum. It's a manageable collection of art, trophies, stuffed TBs, triumphs and documentary - due to go to a new Newmarket home in 2016 when it will be opened as the National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art. The new five acre site will include stables and paddocks, allowing visitors to meet real racehorses.

Newmarket is  approximately a 20 minute train ride from Cambridge. Definitely spend as much time as you can there, maybe even see the racing or watch the horse sales at Tattersalls (in July & October). Newmarket has so much history - it was gambling-fan Charles II's bolthole - but it also gives you endless opportunities to enjoy watching the most beautiful, and possibly most expensive, horses in the world. How strange to be in the 21st century and still in a town where the horse is king.

• National Stud (10min taxi ride outside Newmarket). Book tours in advance.
• National Horseracing Museum, family ticket lasting one year is £15. Address: 99 High Street, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 8JH.
• Book a tour of Newmarket via www.discovernewmarket.co.uk, or call 07437 188350.

Cherry blossom season: London, Japan, Washington

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook. Here's a way to enjoy a taste of the cherry blossom of Japan, or the Washington cherry festival, just by taking a little walk around your local area. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

I love the way tree flowers are so showy, and yet most of would disagree that trees have flowers - because we think of it as blossom. 

Every year - after that long winter - the blossom seems sensational, as you can see from this gorgeous cherry tree flowering in a nearby London street.

2015 is proving an amazing one for cherry blossom thanks to the brilliant blue skies offering perfect backdrops, and cold, windless nights allowing the blossom to cling on for just one more marvellous, frothy day.

Of course Japan is famous for its cherry spectacles - known as sakura. You can see a map of where the biggest blossoms are here. Only today I learnt that Washington offers a National Cherry Blossom festival, with peak bloom between mid March and mid April, see here.

Unsung splendours
Knowing how important blossom is to the Japanese, and people in Washington, it is rather wonderful to take a walk through your hometown and pass a street tree or a generous planting on a council estate and see these fabulous pink and white blossoms blanketing a tree.

In the UK, once the cherry is out, watch for pear, apple and then my absolute favourite, hawthorn (or May) blossom. Spring is earlier in the south, so if you miss it just try heading north for an extra burst of springtime joy.

Here's an interview I wrote recently with a London tree champion who has been involved in counting the capital's trees, read it here. It seems amazing that 7 million trees thrive in such a built up place. But back to cherry trees. If you love anime as well, springtime is your chance to dress up and get searching for blossom backgrounds for your selfies. If you don't want to walk, then just sit down with instagram.

Lots more info about trees, blossom and gardening from the Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley, near Woking, Surrey.

Over to you
What's your favourite tree blossom?

Cakes and bikes : these are a few of my favourite things (Herts via Austria)

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook. So when I discovered the weather would be cycling-friendly for the Easter weekend instead of driving to Hertfordshire the family took the train and our bikes, and along the way channelled the Austrian family in The Sound of Music who lived close to Salzburg. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Pete and Lola fully kitted up for country lane cycling.

Not long ago politician Ed Balls said he'd gone on a Sound of Music cycle trip around Salzburg in Austria. Most of the interview was about politics, but this sounded like a fun family activity - regardless of age. Yes a bit schmultzy, but it would be an effortless way to get to know some of the musical/film's famous sights. Plus it's fun to sing when you cycle! Inspired I thought about going to Salzburg, and we may, but before we leave the country I figured I could organise a family cycle adventure that passed "a few of my favourite things" close to where I grew up around the green, gently undulating agricultural landscape of east Hertfordshire.

Besides, all of us wanted to go to Hertfordshire to stay with my brother/aunt/the cousins. Not everyone was so keen on the long cycling option so in the end Nell, 14, cycled there, and Lola, 16, cycled back. I'm sure Maria would have agreed to the compromise.

London is chock full of cafes, most selling two or three gluten options. Not so Hertfordshire! At Hopleys Cafe in the High Street of the gorgeous village of Much Hadham the cakes were heartily old-fashioned sizes and filled with flour and sugar. Perfect for cyclists - and there is the Bull Inn next door.

After six or so miles on the bikes we were happy to treat ourselves at Hopleys Cafe and garden centre in Much Hadham High Street. Opposite Hopleys is the house poet Walter de la Mare rented. Further up the high street is a museum where the blacksmith Mr Page lived and worked. He used to shoe my pony, but I remember him talking about the time he had shod horses heading to Channel ports and on to World War One.

Much Hadham is a really special village - it's full of grand houses, including a palace once used by the Bishops of London. Unfortunately when they decamped here in 1665 they also brought the black plague which killed many locals. On our cycle ride we went through the bluebell woods which I was told from childhood had been used for plague pits.

Not everything in and around idyllic Much Hadham is grand. On the road to the Henry Moore sculpture garden you might find the junk shop at Green Tye open. Defintely worth looking in here for treasure to wrap as brown paper parcels.

Much Hadham is still a commuter village, though how the residents must regret Beeching closing the train line back in the 1950s as they struggle to get a parking spot at suitable stations - Ware, Sawbridgeworth, Bishop's Stortford.

The weekend turned into a bit of a work camp for the adults, while the kids spent most of it on the trampoline. My brother left a list of instructions (I pegged it to the cherry tree) so that when he returned to work I could stay outside.

As a child I day dreamed I'd run a family business of field cleaner-uppers - I'm not sure such a job ever existed - picking up horse poo; pulling ragwort, docks and nettles; raking and turning hay; mending fences... It is not very aspirational, but funny to have ended up with my day dream granted now I have my own family. Not surprisingly it was only me who really enjoyed the graft, and that was partly because it meant I went to bed and slept soundly.

Nell and Pete on top of the pill box built during World War Two when this part of flat Hertfordshire, just west of Bishop's Stortford, was used as a military runway.

If you try and do a similar bike journey with your family, remember when buying train tickets that if your children (or friends) are under and over 16 that the tickets and discount cards are different. I managed to muddle this up, but was lucky to meet an extremely sympathetic Abellio ticket seller at Bishop's Stortford - "we're not all bad you know" who wrote a personal note for the inspectors at Liverpool Street which allowed our group of three to pass through on the tickets I had already purchased.

Anyone can use the cycle pump and cycle tools at this bike spa outside Euston station.

As we cycled along our last homestretch, through London streets - panniers stuffed with chocolate easter eggs - I heard Lola humming away and could see that Pete was really looking at the architecture (possibly thinking Salzburg??). Cycling is like that - it's an easy way to transport body and heart (assuming the bikes don't break) and as you get into the cycling rhythm you have the pleasure of starting to notice the world around you a bit more. I want to do this sort of trip again, but will have to be sure I'm selling it as an adventure, as my teens and husband are very suspicious of route marches, even when they come with pub and cake stops.

Our route: 
Stage 1: Sawbridgeworth station - Much Hadham (via Allan's Green, Green Tye)
Stage 2: Much Hadham - Bishop's Stortford station (via Little Hadham, Bury Green)
Tip: take an OS map - these back roads are not always clearly signposted, in a couple of places near Allan's Green the sign was facing in the wrong direction.

Much Hadham Forge Museum
Hopleys Cafe, Much Hadham
The Junk Shop, Green Tye, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire SG10 6JP.. Check times: 01279 842322
The Bull, Much Hadham
Henry Moore, Perry Green From 1 May -25 October, wednesdays to Sundays, 11am-5pm.

Over to you
Where do you recommend cycling? How do you get the bikes there? What essential kit do you take?