Marks Hall and Bunsgate Woods Walk is a 7.2 mile loop trail located near Colchester, Essex, England that features a great forest setting and is good for all skill levels. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, and trail running.
This circular walk explores a part of Essex that is unusually densely wooded. It uses quiet country roads, tracks and footpaths to go though a mixture of farmland, mature oak and beech woods, coppice and parkland. There is one stretch around the perimeter of an airfield that is decidedly non-rural. The walk starts near Coggeshall, 9 miles west of Colchester and 5.5 miles east of Braintree. This is a pleasant walk if you are already in the area, perhaps visiting a local attraction. The walking is easy-going and on the flat. There is just one short section where tractors have badly rutted a track that clearly can get very wet, but there is an avoiding path through the adjacent coppice. There are no stiles or livestock on the route, so it is a good route for dogs, even for ones who love to crash excitedly about (go, springer spaniels!). 1.8 miles of the route is on quiet public lanes, while 500 metres is along an access road to an industrial estate (but it has wide verges). It should take about 3.5 hours.
The walk starts and ends in the free car park of the privately owned Marks Hall estate, CO6 1TG, accessed off the B1024. The car park is open from 10am to 6pm. If you wish to walk either side of these times, there is roadside parking available at the junction of Marks Hall Road and the lane signposted to The Old Rectory, 900 metres before the car park (this spot is on the walking route and the directions reference this alternative parking spot.) Coggeshall is served by the First bus route 70, between Chelmsford and Colchester. This stops on Colne Road, near to the junction between the A120 and the B1024. From here, it is a 0.8 miles walk to where you can pick this walk up.
A lovely circular walk around the estate boundary. plenty of wildlife to see, deer a plenty if you know where to look. one small gripe, the bit on section 4 when you take a track that goes down the edge of a small woodland, the footpath just disappeared, it said on the map to carry straight on, but that was directly across a ploughed field, we had to turn left and follow the field boundary and join back up on the opposite side, apart from that it is was a brilliant walk. nice and flat passing through all manner of varying habitats. Barely a soul about due to the current pandemic.
Nice walk in varying Essex countryside, yes it's not all built over! The muddy and deeply rutted track mentioned in the 'Tarmac Lane to Footpath' section appears to have been dealt with as at the time of taking this walk, May 2019, the track was very flat and well kept. In fact, some of the earlier tracks are more muddy and rutted although not so bad that you cannot pick a way through.