To Pulley and Rea Brook from Lyth Hill, and return

Just over a week before Christmas, we had a free weekend and decided to return to Shropshire to complete the section from Lyth Hill (which we had reached when we were here in September) to the centre of Shrewsbury. Today we wanted to walk from Lyth Hill to the outskirts of Shrewsbury somewhere; we weren't quite sure where we would get to. We'd made an early start and had an easy drive from Milton Keynes, reaching Dobbies Shrewsbury Garden Centre before 10am. We stopped here for coffee, in doing so meeting Father Christmas, two of his elfs and a large number of small children receiving presents in the cafe. This made it slightly difficult to find a table, but was otherwise amusing. The garden centre is in the same service area as the Travelodge we'd be heading to later, and just a short drive to the car park at Lyth Hill (SJ477073). The car park was quite busy, with lots of dog walkers out enjoying the sunny weather, and the rain of the past few days had left it muddy and there was an aromatic country smell from a pile of manure just the other side of the fence. However, we found a parking place without too much difficulty, and the views to the south were as stunning as they had been last time we were here; though the Sun was again in an unhelpful direction. I managed to get a few photos by taking advantage of the shade behind the sign that welcomes you to Lyth Hill. 

We set off walking soon after 10.30am, initially heading a short distance back down the access road, towards Bayston Hill. We took a path by a covered reservoir and emerged into a rather muddy turnip field, but there were now attractive views to the north-west. We picked our way through the mud and the turnips (though it was much more pleasant than that implies) to a track, and looped round towards Lythwoord Farm. I was cautious as we approached the farmyard, as I could see a dog running around, but it turned out that there was a man there doing something to a tractor, being helped by his teenage son; I'm much less worried about farm dogs when their owner is nearby to control them and on this occasion, by the time we walked past, the dog was nowhere to be seen.

From the map, we'd expected to be following the road that provides access to Lythwood Farm, which we'd thought would lead down the hill to and through the modern housing development of Bayston Hill. However, Richard spotted a Shropshire Way sign in the hedge which led to a path approximately paralle; to the road, through some allotments. It was pleasant enough, but at the time we thought it rather unnecessary, as the lane we'd left had been quiet. It was only when writing up today's walk that I realised that we'd actually emerged onto a different road, ironically a rather busier one, mostly because various people seemed to be coming and going to the Lythwood Sports Complex, just opposite the point where we emerged. 

We soon reached the houses of Bayston Hill and continued straight ahead, now on a pavement. After passing the pub, doctors' surgery, and some shops, we turned left onto Castle Lane. We walked down to a tall white house at the end of the road, which I wondered if might be in an old castle, but other than the name of the road. I can't find any indication of this, so I'm forced to conclude that it is modern. To pass this house, our route lay along a very narrow passageway leading to the field beyond, and there were two dog-walkers (father and daughter?) coming the other way. Fortunately they went back to the field, where they stood chatting over the fence  to a woman who was standing in the garden of the mystery house, who they seemed to know. They were all very friendly.

We walked across another field, now with a view to the attractive building that we later found to be Pulley Hall Barn(s), and beyond it, to the service area which includes the Dobbies Garden Centre that we'd visited earlier and the Travelodge that we'll return to later. Following the signs on the ground rather than the OS map, we walked round the edge of the next field rather than cutting off the corner, then took a path lane which led to a lane which we followed for a short distance, through the pretty little village of Pulley, before we turned off the lane again for a short walk across another field to another road. 

One option for today would have been to turn around in Pulley on the basis that we'd be able to get  back to there from the Travelodge, but we'd decided to go a little further, with the aim of getting to the crossing over Rea Brook, because there might be a way through to there from the housing development opposite the Meole Brace Retail Park (where Sainsburys is).  We'd been hearing traffic noise from the A5, which by-passes Shrewsbury to its south, and the road we'd turned onto took us across the A5. A path then took us along the edge of a field and then alongside a little stream, which led us to Rea Brook. We'd passed a couple of paths up into the housing development, but we knew there was no point going further because there weren't obvious alternative routes across the Rea Brook, so it was time to turn back.

We retraced our steps to Pulley, but from here, we decided to take a different route, just for variety. We turned left not right in the village and the lane twisted its way past Pulley Farm to Pulley Hall Barns (now two cottages but presumably once a barn associated with Pulley Hall). Opposite the Barns was a footpath that we initially thought might lead to the Travelodge, and set off to investigate, but gave up for now (as you've probably already read, things changed before we did our walk on the following day which, confusingly, is described as the previous leg of the Shropshire Way). For now, we sat on a concrete block to eat our lunch, then continued along the lane to the main A49, just before the junction for the road up through Bayston Hall to Lyth Hill car park, which we had driven up earlier and now followed on foot. It's a definite climb, but the only real problem was that we walking straight into the Sun. The lovely views across the muddy ground to our left provided partial compensation. 

After the walk, we drove out to Attingham Park where we had a walk in the grounds (complete with the "Tale Trail" (a series of Christmas trees, the decoration of each was inspired by a different fairy tale or story) then went to see the mansion decorated for Christmas. It was rather busy, but very good. Attingham has become known for its "illusion", with the historic trompe-l'oeil wall paintings  in the Entrance Hall having inspired the wonderful piece by pavement artist Julian Beever that we saw when we were here in September. Now, the Christmas theme was "all that glitters". and we particularly enjoyed the  modification to the usual illusion that is common in National Trust dining rooms,  with a table set for a formal dinner. Today, at the far end of the table, it appeared that all had gone wrong, with a chair and Christmas tree overturned, and a wine stain on the table! Click here to see our photographs taken at Attingham in September and  here to see those taken today.

Following leg of Shropshire Way (ant-clockwise direction)