The best family-friendly hikes and walks around Benefield

The Kings Head is currently closed. Don't turn up here expecting refreshments!

A pleasant stroll through the ancient woodland of Fermyn Woods.

This unfinished Elizabethan summer house is a magnificent Grade I listed building open to the public to explore. Feel free to roam the rest of the beautiful grounds whilst you're here, there is plenty to discover.

Parking at the back of the woods means free parking, and you avoid the more populated areas of the woods

King's Head pub also operates a tea room, with a good selection of coffee and cakes. You can also order from the breakfast and lunch pub menus. Beautiful garden right on the river, lovely stop on a bike ride.

Lyveden New Bield (sometimes called New Build) is an unfinished Elizabethan summer house in the parish of Aldwincle in North Northamptonshire, England, owned by the National Trust. It is a Grade I listed building, classing it as a 'building of exceptional interest.' It was constructed for Sir Thomas Tresham, the fervent Roman Catholic of Rushton Hall, and is thought to have been designed by Robert Stickells. The exact date is unknown but can be estimated to circa 1604–05, the year of Tresham's death. The New Bield was on the estate of Tresham's second home, Lyveden Manor House, also known as Lyveden Old Bield. Just as at Tresham's smaller folly Rushton Triangular Lodge, his principal estate, the New Bield has a religious design full of symbolism. Designed on a plan reminiscent of a Greek cross, the facades have a strict symmetry. The building has two floors above a raised basement, with mullioned and transomed windows. Each floor had three rooms with a staircase in the south projection of the cross. The exterior of the building is decorated by friezes of a religious nature. The metopes contain the emblems and motifs found also at the triangular lodge, such as the "IHS" christogram. The house was obviously meant for occupation, as it has a great hall and parlour on the first floor, kitchen and buttery in the basement, and a bedroom on the upper floor. However, it was probably never intended for full-time occupation. Too close to the main house for use as a hunting lodge, it may have been intended for use as a "Secret House"—keeping a secret house was a custom of the 16th century. Often within a mile of the main house, the secret house was a place where the head of the household would retire for a few days with a minimum of servants, while the principal house was thoroughly cleaned and, bearing in mind the sanitation of the time, fumigated. Similar examples of "secret houses" exist at Leconfield and Warkworth, where their use for this purpose has been well documented. Lyveden New Bield was never completed. It remains as it was when the builders left following Sir Thomas Tresham's death. Today, it is in the care of the National Trust

Sir Thomas Tresham planned ‘Lyveden House’ to be the starting place for Elizabethan visitors to experience the pleasure grounds and his garden lodge. The house is grade one listed and was owned by the Tresham family until 1649 when it was sequestered during the Civil War because of continued Catholic links. In 1660 Charles II granted Lyveden to the Earl of Sandwich and from then the house passed through various family members including the Earls of Ossory and Robert Vernon Smith, 1st Lord Lyveden who acquired the house in 1841. Sometimes referred to as ‘Lyveden Old Bield’ the house is in fact newer than the ‘New Bield’. This refers to the garden lodge at the top of the hill. It is believed that the manor house is built on the footprint of an older Elizabethan house, possibly built by Sir Thomas’ great grandfather around 1570. The manor itself was built by Lewis Tresham, Sir Thomas' second son, and completed around 1615. It has changed a lot since this date, including the removal of an extensive wing to the north of the current building, the modernisation of the historic interiors and the addition of modern extensions to house the kitchen and additional guest suites. The original oak staircase was removed from Lyveden House around 1920. It's believed this was in payment of a gambling debt to the Ford motor family. Henry Ford’s son Edsel Ford, built his country house around the staircase which still stands and can be seen in the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House in Michigan, USA. An exact replica of the original was re-built within the house at Lyveden in 2000. In 2013 the National Trust was successful in acquiring Lyveden House and 27 acres of grounds. The Lyveden Reconnected project is going to offer visitors the opportunity to experience the Elizabethan garden as Tresham once envisaged; beginning at the manor and journeying through his symbolic garden to the lodge at the top of the hill.

Fascinating Elizabethan Lodge that was never completed following the death of the builder, Sir Thomas Tresham, in 1605. It is operated by The National Trust so, unless you are a member, there is an admission charge to look round the grounds. You probably won't get bothered if you rest on the picnic benches in the car park, which you come to at the end of the outward leg of the ride and you can get a view of the building from a distance from there.