The walk explores the village of Turvey, once famous for its lace-making, and takes a detour into the surrounding countryside, from which its favoured position, surrounded by parkland in the lush valley of the Ouse, can best be appreciated.
You start in the village square by the War Memorial, the Three Cranes pub, and All Saints' Church. You enter the churchyard and pass through a lychgate set in billowing yew hedges. Huge black oak doors embellished with some splendid 13th-century ironwork — probably by John of Leighton, who also worked on Westminster Abbey — lead into the interior that was restored by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1852. Saxon work can still be seen in the rounded arches high on the south wall of the nave and in the tower, and there is a 13th-century wall painting of the Crucifixion in the Lady Chapel. There are also four interesting 16th-century monuments to members of the Mordaunt family, the lords of the manor from the 13th to the 18th century.
Leaving Turvey, you follow the Ouse Valley Way and pass Chantry Farm, with its ecclesiastical buildings and thick yew hedges, then follow the boundary of the late Georgian Turvey House, which is set in lovely parkland dotted with mature trees. The climb gives good views back into the village as you head east along a bridleway across fields. To the north is St Mary's, the parish church of Carlton, though it stands outside the village.
You descend along a bridleway through fields to a main road, then cross into woods and meadowland. On this stretch of countryside walking you pass the buildings of the Emmaus Village Carlton charity. Afterwards, as you return to Turvey, you pass a Jacobean manor house known as Turvey Abbey. The house took its name from the Benedictine Abbey of Bec, in Normandy, which once owned the land, but it was not used by a religious order until recently. It is now the Priory of Our Lady of Peace and houses Benedictine nuns.
Beyond Turvey Abbey, down the main road, is a lovely square of 17th-century workers' houses, but our route goes through meadows and woodland to the River Great Ouse, where two statues known locally as Jonah and his wife stand in the millpond, in front of the massive bulk of the renovated mill. Jonah once stood outside Ashridge House and was brought here in 1844. The head and body of his wife were found at the mill and assembled to join Jonah in the pond in 1953.
Nearby are Turvey's 11-arched 13th-century bridge and the 17th-century Ye Three Fishes Inn. One of Guy Fawkes' co-conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot (1605) was arrested here. The pub has paid a price for its picturesque setting; several flood gauges set in the wall testify to periodic inundations.
Walking back along the main road, you reach the Central Stores. The building, whose structure was altered in 1840, was once a coaching inn called the Tinker of Turvey, which dated back to 1150. The interior, featuring the Tinker, old Nell his wife, and their dog, is now in Luton Museum. Inside the stores, there are iron rings on the walls where prisoners destined for Bedford Gaol were shackled while waiting to change coaches.
