Butley River

[Troublesome Reach]

I still have the objective of getting to the Froize by boat/ canoe. Last year I got to within 400 yards and before I chickened out. I subsequently took a look at the river from land, and still think it may be possible to get a small boat up to Butley Mills and then take a stroll to the Froize.
Other than the narrow overgrown mill stream you have to paddle up, the other thing to catch the unwary is the bronze man lying in the mud, which still spooks me each time I go up there (this sculpture has been previously discussed on this forum)

(My first time at posting photos on here so I hope they come out okay. Not sure if it’s my aged iPad or the forum software that has made the process extremely frustrating!)

 

[greylag]

Ho ha indeed!
Seashoreman, perhaps if you actually read what I wrote you'd realise I didn't say my visit was 25 years ago so much of your post is superfluous to say the least.
It sounds as though my visit was during the cinema era, perhaps towards the end. The reason for a lack of feedback was all too apparent.
But I did say things change so perhaps it's better now. (come to think about it it must be...)

As for the Froize, it has an excellent reputation but its website invites you to explore the food but then tells you absolutely nothing whatsoever about it, no menu, no prices, nothing, and then stipulates tables can be booked for between 1200 and 1230...Gosh! Not there for the customers' convenience, are they?

Website designed like that to keep people like you from going.

 

[Slowboat35]

So clever, so incicive, so witty.
So utterly childish...

 

[Yorkshire Exile]

I still have the objective of getting to the Froize by boat/ canoe. Last year I got to within 400 yards and before I chickened out. I subsequently took a look at the river from land, and still think it may be possible to get a small boat up to Butley Mills and then take a stroll to the Froize.
Other than the narrow overgrown mill stream you have to paddle up, the other thing to catch the unwary is the bronze man lying in the mud, which still spooks me each time I go up there (this sculpture has been previously discussed on this forum)

Great photographs and a noble aim! I wonder if you have managed to anchor / dry out above the ferry and moorings. Others have suggested it's a no-go area because of oyster beds. There is also a sizeable jetty about half way up from the ferry point with a viable footpath to Chillesden - do you know anything about that?

 

[Malish]

where is the bronze sculpture? on the western end of the first bend where the river widens and then flows south?

 

[Leighb]

Is it marked on the chart? ? Could run aground on it if it covers at HW!

 

[Troublesome Reach]

Great photographs and a noble aim! I wonder if you have managed to anchor / dry out above the ferry and moorings. Others have suggested it's a no-go area because of oyster beds. There is also a sizeable jetty about half way up from the ferry point with a viable footpath to Chillesden - do you know anything about that?

I have not taken my yacht above the ferry crossing point. I once had the pleasure of watching Shoal Waters and Charles Stock ghost past me one evening as I was anchored near Boyton Dock, and then come back down on the ebb the following morning.

The quay to which you refer must be this place, which in my mind is most beautiful spot for a summer house


I have always assumed that this was part of Gedgrave Estate, but don’t know for sure. I hadn’t noticed the public footpath behind the quay, it certainly would make a nice walk to Chillesford from there. I will go take a walk there when the holidays are over.

 

[Troublesome Reach]

where is the bronze sculpture? on the western end of the first bend where the river widens and then flows south?

The sculpture is right up the top near Butley Mills. I have put a X on my starva map where I think it is!
As many people have said before, it’s a lovely trip in a dinghy (especially if you can row to avoid the outboard noise) to explore the Butley River beyond the ferry crossing

 

[Malish]

The sculpture is right up the top near Butley Mills. I have put a X on my starva map where I think it is!
As many people have said before, it’s a lovely trip in a dinghy (especially if you can row to avoid the outboard noise) to explore the Butley River beyond the ferry crossing
View attachment 141334

Thanks, it is (just) visible on Google's satellite view

 

[Aquaboy]

bloody sculpture is a hazard to shipping......

Sailed up there a few years back, never knew anything about it.........

 

[Jan Harber]

Rumour has it that the ‘summer house’ was originally the tack room at Chillesford Lodge, where, between the Wars, there was a polo ground and stables full of polo ponies. At some time after the polo playing finished the building was transported to its present site on the saltings for use as a bathing hut. Chillesford Lodge was once part of the much larger Sudbourne Estate but that was broken up in the 1920s; another portion forms the Gedgrave Estate.
On the east bank there are no public rights of way, and hence no legal landing places. On the lower reaches of the west bank a footpath runs from Shingle Street along the sea wall, passing Boyton Dock and leaving the river wall at the Ferry crossing, above which there are no public rights of way. However, as has been suggested, if you land at the ferry crossing, you can follow the Suffolk Coast Path inland. The path runs up and over Burrow Hill, where there are wonderful views to be had, and continues via Butley Low Corner to Mill Lane near Butley Mills. Then if you carry on to the main road in Chillesford, and turn right you will soon reach The Froize. Probably about a three to four mile walk.
It is a slightly shorter walk to Orford and its hostelries if you land on the east side of the ferry crossing point.
Sadly, the local landowners continue to do a good job in keeping the public away from the Butley River shoreline whether it is approached by water or by land.
The sculptor responsible for the sunken bronze man has also created another, much larger, bronze man that stands in the grounds of Cockfield Hall, just off the A12 in Yoxford… you can’t miss it.