The view from this bench in a field in Upwick Green was bucolic until the roadworks started. A dumper truck kicks up dust in the middle distance and out of shot there’s a long scar across the countryside. The noise from this far off is not loud but it is persistent. The footpath route to Hadham Hall is cut and when it is restored walkers will have to negotiate an A road. But traffic flow to and from Bishop’s Stortford through Little Hadham will be much reduced.
Upwick Green is on relatively high land and comprises just a handful of former or working farm houses. An expanse to the north is still known as The Common but has long been arable fields, albeit still passable using footpaths.
Just down the lane and even nearer to the county boundary with Essex is Walnuttree Green – again just a few attractive old houses – and, yes, we found a walnut tree in a garden there with its distinctive bark. I wonder if walnut trees were a local speciality. Perhaps coincidence but there’s a place called Walnuttree Cottages a couple of miles to the east.
Walsworthblog 