Nottingham to Hardwick Hall

So, to begin at the beginning. Woolaton Park is probably the best place to start as there is very good car parking at the Wollaton Road end (SK529 396). This does involve a couple of kilometres of suburban road-side walking but it is not unpleasant.

Leave at the northern entrance on Woolaton Road. A left turn here takes you through Woolaton Village to reach the A609 Trowell Road. Go left again here. After crossing the railway bridge look out for Cockington Road on the right. Take that northwards until reaching the A6002 Bilborough Road. Cross here and follow the roadside path northwards.

The most southerly outcrop of the Permian Magnesian Limestone that isn’t covered by houses is at SK511409. It is on the A6002 about 1km south of Strelley. Conveniently, a road called Strelley Lane leaves the main road just 100m or so south of Bramhall Road at just this point. There is a substantial lay-by here with a number of trees. Just to get a flavour of what is to come, let’s have a look at what they are. I saw some ash, maple and sweet chestnut there.

Our route then continues by going northwards, through a farm gate along a lane with hedges both sides. These are made up of hawthorn, hazel and holly with blackthorn, ash, oak and a few snowberries. There was the sound of robins, jackdaw and blue-tits in the air and there were some red admiral butterflies, and a speckled wood eventually settled down to be identified. The lane becomes a footpath after passing a post that doesn’t have a sign on it. It is a well-walked path between the old hedges which was lined with docks and nettles, white dead-nettle, rosebay willow herb and red campion with some umbellifers and even hops straggling up a pole and a tree. And there was bindweed too. This all has the look of an old track-way.

Through the occasional gap in the hedge to the right, on the horizon (if it’s clear enough) you might well see Belvoir Castle. Nottingham is a stone’s throw away to the east.

Then, coming in from the left we meet another path. This is part of both Broxtowe Country Trail and Robin Hood Way. The high ground here is called Catstone Hill. There is a covered reservoir on the top, supplying water to Nottingham. Just have a quick look along there and you will see Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station chimney and in the distance, Charnwood Forest.

Carry on northward along the shady path and you will soon come across another sweet chestnut tree on the left. And I thought that these were rare. After a while there is a stand of four beech trees and an oak or two. Overhead a buzzard was soaring and you wouldn’t miss its mewing call.

By now the hedges have changed character a bit and are well-trimmed and although still mainly hawthorn there is holly and elder and there are some sycamores to add to the mix.

The path takes a turn to the right and comes out at a proper road where there is space to park a few cars. This is Motts Corner, named after the old moats that are close by. If you carried on ahead (along Main Street) this would lead you to the Broad Oak pub which could be another good place to start this walk. However we are going left up to Strelley village. There is a pavement on the right-hand side of the road with a low stone wall that has an iron railing on top. Behind that is some parkland with grazing cows. A sign appears telling us about the Stones of the Monks Way. “The stones contained within this footpath lie on an ancient route which may date back to the 14^th century. It is possible that the route linked monasteries and provided access to Nottingham and the River Trent.”

This confirms that we on an ancient track-way and as is the case with many such routes, it could be much older than medieval times. Though what about the stone in the wall at its side? It looks very similar to the rock that Nottingham Castle sits on and the Trip to Jerusalem is cut into. That is what we used to call Bunter Sandstone but that we are now told is Sherwood Sandstone. However, I’ve looked into this and it seems that it is in fact Bulwell Stone. That is a local, impure, coarse-grained and flaggy kind of Magnesian Limestone. There is still a quarry at Linby called Yellowsone Quarry, where this is worked and there is also a band of grey/blue dolostone (dolomitic limestone) called Linby Blue at the same place.

All Saints Church, Strelley, © John Sutton.

All Saint’s Church appears on the right where a magpie cackled in the background. There is a bench at the entrance but it’s a bit early for a sit down, after all we’ve only done about 3kms.

Another thing I was intending to do on the walk is to look round any churches that crop up. This one is quite unusual in that it is built mainly of Bulwell Stone, although the buttresses and some of the parapets seem to be of a better quality Magnesian Limestone. The windows have straight tops so are likely to be late Gothic. The east window though appears to be earlier. The origins of the church are in the 13^th century (the tower was begun at that time) and it was rebuilt from 1356. The clerestory was added in the 15^th century and there was Victorian restoration.

If you are lucky enough to see inside, you will see an elaborate screen (Pevsner calls it the best preserved rood screen in Notts) and tombs of members of the de Strelley family from about 1400.

You would never think it now, but Strelley was at the forefront of coal mining from Elizabethan and Stewart times. At the back of Broad Oak Farm on Main Street there is evidence of mine workings in the form of “shaft mounds” dating back to the 17^th century or before. The coal was extracted using “bell pits”. In 1604 a coal wagon-way from Strelley to Wollaton was built. Horse-drawn wagons were pulled along on wooden railway lines. This is one of the first of its kind anywhere. It only ran a couple of miles as far as Wollaton Lane End where the coal was taken by road to the River Trent and onward by barge.

In the 1960s there was extensive open-cast mining in the western part of the parish. This land has subsequently been restored and the M1 motorway now runs across it.

Beyond the church are what were the outbuildings of Strelley Hall, These are built from sandstone with bricks above. The buildings have been converted into shops and the Mulberry Tree café. Are you ready for a snack already?

Strelley Hall is a largely Georgian building but was originally built as a castle in about the year 1200. It was modified in the 18^th century and again in the 19^th century. There are many features of interest including the Castle Room, thought to be part of the original tower, and The Panelled Room dating back to Georgian times. It has now been converted into offices and is home to a number of different businesses. It is also used as a conference centre and wedding venue. The grounds are open to the public at times. .

Head for the northern entrance of the Hall grounds and continue northwards. A bridleway goes off opposite heading for Babbington and there is a bench next to it. A wall continues on the right with some willow and yew behind it and on the left was some laurel and Virginia creeper. Go past Strelley Lodge and Gardeners Cottage with sycamores on the left with some beech, holly and maple. The robins are always there if not always heard. Our route bears right at Home Farm Cottage where there are signs to say that we are still on both the Broxtowe Trail and Robin Hood Way. We then walk between a double hedge with hawthorn, sycamore, roses, elder and hazel and by now the M1 is making its presence heard. Holly Lodge is on the right just before we reach the bridge over six lanes of high speed traffic. We will see more by going our way. A sparrow-hawk flew across my path probably in pursuit of a smaller bird.

Once over the bridge go left and follow the road round to the right. From here it is just a bridleway along a field-side path. Ahead you will see a water tower and a phone mast. Now there was a kestrel hovering over the hedge and I passed the time of day with a crowd of cows and calves as a tortoiseshell butterfly settled on the grass.

We cross the access road to Bridal Path Farm and if we look back we will see Ratcliffe power station again and in a gap between the trees the last look at Charnwood Forest. We join a farm road that gives access to Windmill Farm although there is no sign of a windmill from here. A way-mark sign confirms again that we are still on both the Broxtowe Trail and Robin Hood Way. There are some fine looking horses in the fields on both sides of us as we approach Swingate.

Swingate is the name of a road and a hamlet. The first house we reach – number 106, seems to be built in a combination of what must be Bulwell Stone and brick but there is little else round here that tells you anything about what lies below. Our path takes us past the fingerpost footpath sign between number 104 and 120 Swingate. Here we leave Robin Hood Way for a while and go along the backs of houses in a dog-leg until we reach Babbington Lane.

Just off our route is The White Lion at Swingate. Food and drinks are available and in 2015 and 2016 it was the Nottingham CAMRA group’s pub of the year. It is though, open at lunchtimes only at the weekend.

On Babbington Lane there is the most dominant feature for many a mile. That is the water tower built for Nottingham Corporation Water Works. It has a reservoir attached and added communications equipment on the top. Turn left here go along to the end of the enclosure to where another path goes off to the right. Before going down there though, it’s worth going a bit further along the road past the last of the houses to the edge of the Permian escarpment for the view to the southwest. You are about 135m up here and can look out over the Erewash Valley to beyond Babbington and Ilkeston.

Swingate Water Tower © Garth Newton.

Return to the footpath next to the water works and head roughly northwards along the side of the enclosure, saying hello to the dog walkers and runners. Pass the football pitch (it was quiet when I was there) and go along the back of more houses until you reach Spring Hill. Turn right here and immediately left onto Little Lane. After a stroll down the road between the brick houses you will soon reach the road called Swingate, by some ash trees. Turn left here and cross the bridge over the busy A610. This carries traffic from the M1 towards Matlock and the Peak District and so is quite busy most of the time.

You are now on High Street, Kimberley. This is not as you might expect the main shopping street but “high” in terms of altitude, as it sits above the valley. It is a nice tree-lined road for a while before it swings right and becomes Greens Lane. We carry straight on past the “no entry” sign where High Street continues. However if you were to take Greens Lane you would come to a large Sainsbury’s supermarket (with a café and facilities) and there is a small shopping precinct nearby. Carrying on along High Street you’ll pass a number of side streets before you get to the top of Church Hill. On the left is the start of the Great Northern Railway Path. I don’t think that you will miss the gates and the lamp-post. Take the path down the hill onto the old railway track. There you will pass various bits of ironmongery and hardware from the railway days as you walk through a mixed bag of deciduous trees and shrubs. A set of buffers and a signal post mark the end of this section and you then take some railway sleeper steps downhill. At the bottom turn right and continue through the woods parallel to the A610. We are now back on Robin Hood Way. It turns away to the right along the back fence of a caravan centre until it emerges onto Eastwood Road where there is a pedestrian gate and a row of concrete blocks.

Turn right here and cross the road to the entrance to Hall Om Wong Open Space (yes, that’s right; it may mean “Mr. Hall’s home piece of land”). Here is a nature reserve, a “trim trail” (with various bits and pieces of outdoor keep-fit equipment) and the start of the Kimberley-Strelley circular walk. When I was there a wood carver was at work. I’m not sure what he was making but it was a very big piece of wood.

The path goes from the entrance diagonally to the left up the hill to the northwest corner. It carries on along the back of some houses to reach Mawes Lane where we turn right and leave Robin Hood Way again. Now we have a spell of road-side walking through the suburbs, the first bit of which is tree-lined and quite pleasant. After Hardy Street on the right the road becomes Cliff Boulevard and then where it bends to the right and becomes High Spania, a minor road leaves to the left. In the angle between the two is the start of another section of footpath although when I was there I didn’t see a signpost.

There wasn’t much to see at first, just docks, nettles and bindweed but before long there was a lot of comfrey and some fox &

cubs. There was an overgrown hedge on the left with maple, hawthorn, elder and holly. On the right was a fence and hedge. A stile leads you to a pasture field and there is a view south-eastwards towards distant hills, probably the Jurassic ridge near Belvoir Castle. The 140m contour is hereabouts.

We now have a succession of old pasture fields through open countryside with nice scenery - a place for singing blackbirds. There are some scrubby old hedges and some scattered ash and sycamore trees plus signs of cows. We come to an intersection of paths with a sign post and meet Robin Hood Way again. Head towards Moorgreen. I think I caught my first glimpse of Crich Stand from here. We pass a solitary beech tree and head for the eastern corner of Watnall Wood. It’s here that we drop off the Magnesian Limestone onto the Carboniferous rocks beneath for a mile or so.

After going through a kissing gate, cross the track and go into the wood. There are ash, sycamore, horse chestnut, oak and birch trees here with an understory of brambles, elder, hazel and bracken. It can be a bit muddy in places – a sign that there isn’t limestone under our feet. A way-mark has been thoughtfully placed on a tree stump but a fingerpost at the wood edge is pretty well hidden.

On leaving the wood turn left on the road that leads to Wood Villa. Follow that to the back of the property and go to the left of the shed or garage. There is a kissing gate to take you into another pasture field probably with cows. The path follows a hedge along the valley side. I thought that I might have seen some rig and furrow in this field. A board-walk takes you through the hedge where there is a way-marked post. There was a buzzard soaring over here. You come to a strip of woodland following Gilt Brook. A gated footbridge carries you over the stream to another board-walk, into yet another pasture field. Here were buttercups, clover, meadow cranesbill and dandelions. The path diverges from the hedge on the left until a dog-leg in the hedge brings it back. (Looking at the aerial photographs on Google Maps it looks as though there is the line of an old track-way or road cutting across here.) Just after that, cut through to the other side of the hedge that is mainly blackthorn. There were knapweed (hard-heads) and yarrow along here. After passing an oak tree you come to a kissing gate where there is a Robin Hood Trail way-mark. Cross the track here and continue along the pasture field towards the houses at Moorgreen.

For the last mile or so most of the hedges looked distinctly old but now it looks more likely that the hedges are from the days of the Enclosure Acts – probably 19^th century.

The next field is grassy with patches of thistles with signs of cows again. At the junction of paths don’t go through either gate ahead but turn right towards the church tower. Follow the hawthorn hedge through a gate into a field that was occupied by curious young heifers when I was there. At the far side is a kissing gate to take you through to the next field with an older mixed hedge on the left. Here we have more grass with clover and meadow cranesbill to give a bit of colour.

We have now arrived at Greasley Church - St. Mary’s.

A kissing gate takes you to the southwest corner of the churchyard that is surrounded by a brick wall. There is a footpath sign on the left but it is almost lost in the ivy. Here we are reminded that we are in D.H. Lawrence country. At the churchyard entrance there is a large information board that tells us that this is what Lawrence called “The Country of My Heart”. He once said that “some of my happiest days were spent haymaking in the fields opposite the south side of Greasley church”.

Greasley Church © David Hallam- Jones.

The Lawrence Birthplace Museum isn’t far away at Eastwood. (SE465 470). Lawrence was the author of such well-known books as Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Sons and Lovers, Women in Love and the Rainbow, that were set in this part of North Nottinghamshire. The house where Lawrence was brought up has displays that can give you an insight into his childhood and the community in which he grew up. It has been recreated in the style of a miner’s cottage. There are family personal items and a collection of his watercolours. Visits are by timed guided tours only between 10 and 4 from Tuesday to Saturday. A virtual tour is available on the internet.

A look round the outside of the church shows it to be built of Coal Measures sandstone that has some cross-bedding showing how it was formed. Pevsner says it has “a proud Notts. C15 tower, tall and broad and in a position to serve as a landmark for miles around”. The rest of the building is Victorian, having been rebuilt due to mining subsidence that damaged the nave and chancel. Sherwood Sandstone or Bulwell Stone seems to have been used in the chancel. Unusually there is no south porch. There is though an Ordnance Survey bench mark at the northwest corner. In the churchyard there is a good mix of trees including beech and yew.

The cemetery on the west side is remarkably large. This is because Greasley is one of the largest parishes in the county so has a substantial “catchment area”.

There are steps at the northeast corner of the cemetery that take you out onto Church Road (the B600) by a footpath sign next to the church hall. A right turn takes you to where a bench awaits at the side of the broad roadside path. There is also an exit from the churchyard at the northeast corner which leads out to a lay-by where there are more information boards including one on Greasley Castle and the “Lost Village of Greasley”.

Greasley Castle was a fortified manor house, and its remains have been incorporated into a range of farm buildings. It was founded by Hugh Fitz Ralph and in 1340 Nicholas Cantilupe was given a licence to crenulate. Its subsequent decline was completed when it is believed that it was largely destroyed in the Civil War. An 18^th century house was built on the site. It lies just to the east of the church. There are some humps and hollows and the remnants of medieval fish ponds behind the current farm buildings.

Leaving the church behind, head eastward along the roadside path until reaching the entrance to Castle Farm. It isn’t a busy road so it is no problem crossing here. Opposite is a kissing gate and a footpath sign. Go through here onto the farm track and head northward. There is a large oak tree on the left and arable fields on the right. Ash and sycamore trees shield a large building called Greasley House.

Leave the track to the right at a red and white post. A mown grass track widens to tractor width as it follows a bank and hedge. Most of the hedges round here look old. On the left there is a memorial bench to Lew Pykett, founder of Broxtowe Ramblers. Away to the right Crow Hill Farm comes into view. There are a lot of nettles and rosebay willow herb on the left. The fields in this area are mostly arable with oilseed rape being a popular crop. This can present a problem for walkers at some times, but usually PRWs are kept clear these days.

On the track there was clover, plantain, speedwell and scentless mayweed. A younger hedge along here has new saplings of poplar, birch and maple. There were a lot of wood pigeons in gangs and an occasional pheasant seeking refuge hereabouts. The ridge on the left is topped by Magnesian Limestone and we get a hint that we are on the rocks below that from the muddy patches underfoot.

Three big ash trees appear on the left as we approach a way-mark at a footbridge. This takes us into an open arable field that, when I was there, had wheat on one side of the path and hay on the right. There was bird’s-foot trefoil underfoot. The upper reaches of Gilt Brook are on the right and hidden amongst a line of trees and scrub. The path converges on the stream and crosses it by footbridge next to a way-mark. You are then on a field-side path with strip of wood on the left with ash, hawthorn and hazel. I saw a family of partridges and a comma butterfly while I was walking along here.

There is a rough grass and weedy area next with elder, holly and some wild raspberries. Here we are climbing up onto the Magnesian Limestone again. At a way-marked post turn right and follow the field-edge path with a hawthorn and elder hedge on the right. This leads to the road where Narrow Lane becomes New Lane at the bend by Brookbreasting Farm. A footpath sign points back to where we have come from and says “Greasley Church, Moorgreen and Giltbrook”.

Turn left onto New Lane and follow the road for about 500m. There is no path or verge but there is very little traffic along here. There is mainly hazel on the left and hawthorn on the right. At the edge of a wood there is space for a few cars to park. Our path goes to the right along the south side of the trees. The wood is called Callis Hagg and is one compartment of an extensive wooded area.

Nearby is Beauvale Priory. (SE492490). This was founded in 1343 by Nicholas de Cantilupe. It was one of only nine priories in England dedicated to the Carthusians. This was an order of monks who lived a silent life and were here for 200 years. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the monks refused to acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the church and as a consequence one of their number, Prior Robert Lawrence was executed and was subsequently declared a saint.

Of the priory itself, little remains. Part of the north wall of the church still stands as well as what is called The Prior’s House. The gatehouse has now been converted to some excellent tea rooms. This is a very good opportunity to eat cake, from Wednesday to Sunday between 10 and 4.

Leave the road at the footpath sign and follow the hazel-lined footpath north-eastwards along the edge of Callis Hagg. Although there is nothing to see now, we cross the track of an old mineral railway that ran from Eastwood to Watnall and was operated by the Midland Railway. Most of this had gone by 1966. Hidden away in the woods is Robin Hood’s Well. This is believed to have supplied water to the priory and was said to have had healing properties.

By Callis Hagg © Richard Vince

We leave the wood following the edge of an arable field towards the growing sound of the traffic on the M1, but just before reaching it, our path goes left, while another leaves to the right to cross the motorway over a bridge towards Hucknall. There is a way-marked post giving you the options. We continue following the field edge with a wood on our right. This is bounded by an old tall hedge and is what remains of a wood that was bisected by the motorway, but it provides a good buffer from the traffic noise. The birds have to sing louder here though. There are hawthorn, sycamore, blackthorn and crab-apples along here and clover in the wide grassy path.

At another way-mark we go back into the wood that here is called Big Stainers. It’s a mixed wood with some very tall conifers. Hazel, ash, bracken, holly and brambles are growing beneath.

You will reach a forestry road where there is a two-way finger post. Turn right here onto the road. There are beech trees on the left and what look like Scots pines on the right with silver birch. The wood on the left is Morning Springs and that on the right is Park Springs. Then surprise, surprise, there were a lot of montbretia on the edge of the road. If this is a garden escape then it is much travelled.

There is a junction of forestry roads ahead. Here you will have to look closely to find the footpath that takes you onwards. Turn left and then in a few yards the path goes off right into the beech trees. If you can’t find it go back to the road junction and take what would have been the right turn north-eastwards. I’ll catch up with you later.

It’s not far through the trees before you emerge on the north edge of the wood by a three-way finger post and here is a good place to admire the view. Ahead, you can very clearly see the scarp slope of the Permian escarpment towards junction 27 of the M1. Looking to the NW there is Underwood church spire, almost in line with Crich Stand. You are at about 150m above sea level here.

Crich Stand is a memorial to the Sherwood Foresters lost in both world wars. It is set on a hilltop about 300m above sea level near Crich village. It was built in 1923 in the form of a tower looking like a lighthouse. It has a viewing gallery at the top and it is said that you can see seven counties and as far as Lincoln Cathedral and the Humber Bridge. Beneath the hill is an old limestone quarry now containing the Tramway Museum.

Looking north from Morning Springs © Trevor Rickard.

Turn right onto the farm track with the wood on your right. There is a strip of birch, beech, sycamore and oak that hides the mature conifers behind. A bench has been placed at the side as a memorial to John Moss.

Further mixed woodland appears on the left as you drop down to rejoin the forestry road and approach the underpass beneath the M1. Of course an underpass would not be complete without some graffiti. I wonder where the “artists” come from. Still, there is space for some more yet. Look to the right and you will see that you are 7 miles north of the motorway services. That will be the ones at Trowell. That’s not far from where we started!

After leaving the underpass bear left and in a few metres turn left again away from the “private woodland” sign. You will now be on Kennel Lane. There is more deciduous woodland on the left and a strip of ash, oak and sycamore on the right soon runs out as we reach an arable field. This is shielded by a mixed hedge. Pine trees take over on the left with bits of sycamore and the occasional crab apple. The wood ends as we reach what I call a trough stile and an arable field. In the hedges either side there are oak, ash and some maple trees.

We then reach the first house for quite a while. It isn’t named on the map but I would guess that it is called The Kennels. It is actually built of good quality limestone and has a limestone garden wall. Some of the outbuildings appear to have been converted to dwellings as well, but these are brick. Just beyond these there are a number of crab apple trees with mint growing beneath. That’s an interesting combination.

We are now on a proper road and we come to Kennel Wood with sycamore and ash shielded by a hawthorn hedge with maple. Then on the left hand side another wood comes in. This is mixed, with some spruce and ash. As this wood ends, another takes over on the right. This is mainly oak but has an unusual yew hedge with some elder. Beneath the hawthorn hedge on the left I saw herb robert, buttercups and umbellifers. I disturbed six magpies that flew off looking for gold.

We now reach Weavers Lane and turn right. The wood continues for a while on the right after which the road bends to the left with hedges either side. On one side it is mainly hawthorn and on the other mainly blackthorn. There are herb robert, buttercups, vetch and umbellifers in the verge. Another group of buildings appears ahead. Beside a barn there is a lot of hogweed and nettles – good for butterflies - and curly-leaved dock is there too.

A high brick wall hides what looks like an old walled garden. The path follows this as the better road goes left by some farm buildings. Keep straight on to a trough stile and out to the side of the A608.

We are going to go left but not far to the right is Annesley old church and the remains of the old hall. It is worth making a brief detour to see them. There is a roadside path for the 500m along to there. On the way we pass Chaworth Lodge.

Annesley Old Church © Graham Hogg

The Chaworth family are an important family in the area and can trace their ancestry back to the Norman Conquest. In the early 19^th century Mary-Ann Chaworth who lived at Annesley Hall is said to have been Lord Byron’s first love.

Not far away is Newstead Abbey. (SE542538).This was originally built as an Augustinian priory in the 12^th century. It was rebuilt and extended in the 13^th century and had further extension in the 15^th. Some of this early structure survives. It was converted into a country house after the Dissolution of the Monasteries and became the home of the Byron family. The gardens were landscaped in the 17^th century. By the time of the infamous poet, the 6^th Baron (Lord) Byron, the estate had fallen on hard times and the house was leased to Baron Grey de Ruthyn. Byron is said to have lived here from 1808 – 1814 although probably there only 6 months as a permanent resident.

The house and the gardens are open to the public.

Also nearby is Felley Priory. (SE483512). The priory was founded in 1156 for 12 Augustinian canons. It was largely destroyed at the Dissolution of the Monasteries but some remains were incorporated into a Tudor house. There were further building developments in the 17^th and 19^th centuries. The garden here was created by Major Chaworth-Musters and his wife in the 1970s. In Spring there is a wonderful display of daffodils, some rare ones, as well as tulips, snakes-head fritillarys, magnolias, hellebores and peonies. In Summer there are roses, vines, hostas and digitalis. Hydrangeas are showing in Autumn along with the reds and yellows of the trees. All year round you can see the magnificent topiary with swans, peacocks and castles depicted. Then in late Winter there are 60 varieties of snowdrops to delight you. Then back to Spring, when the bluebells carpet the wood.

There is also a plant nursery and tea rooms.

The priory is open from Tuesday to Friday from 9 to 4 and on some Sundays.

After looking at the old church return to Chaworth Lodge and carry on westwards following the busy A608 up towards the roundabout for Sherwood Business Park. (There is a Holiday Inn there somewhere). There is provision for crossing here but it is better to go beyond the roundabout for the safest place, on the dual carriageway. Continue westwards to a field entrance at the start of a lay-by. Turn right into field where there is a footpath finger-post. The path continues on the west side of a mixed old hedge (hawthorn, blackthorn and elder with oak, maple and hazel). After five trees and a bench, turn right at a gap in the hedge, towards the north. There is a grass strip on the left side of the hedge. Ahead you will see a church spire that turns out to be on Castle Hill at Kirkby-in-Ashfield. You will reach a wall which is all that is left of Grange Farm. There is a way-mark here where you go right. A kissing gate gives access to a narrow pasture field and beyond that is a bench by a very stout kissing gate leading into another pasture field. Here we turn left before crossing the field diagonally to the northwest corner of a wood. There is a signpost and a kissing gate at the end of the field.

On the way down the slope you will see ponds on the left and there is a hint of rig and furrow in this field. I met the local landowner here who told me about the history of the place. He called it “The Hidden Valley” and said that the ponds were probably monastic fish ponds. He had recently restored them. He then chugged off on his quad bike after telling me that both Lawrence and Byron are believed to have walked these hills although not together of course, and Lawrence had set his book “The White Peacock” in this area.

You then pass by the end of the ponds to another stile and footpath sign. The path goes diagonally across what at the time of writing was a hay field. There is another kissing gate to take you through to the next field where you should bear left to follow the eastern side of the hedge. A way-mark directs you to the right and across the field towards a wood where there is another way-mark. This wood is a screen, planted to cut out the view of the Sherwood Business Park and it is very effective. There is a mix of deciduous trees behind an old hawthorn and blackthorn hedge, while to the left there is a view westwards towards Selston and Crich. The path comes to a double hedge which takes you up to Salmon Lane. Here we are at about 175m.

I met a bit of a problem at this point. Although this road has a 30 mph limit it seems that some drivers have difficulty keeping below that. What’s more it is a bit twisty, so you can’t see very far. There is a footpath away to the left that would have taken me in the right direction but it wasn’t obvious. So, for safety’s sake I decided that it’s best to turn right and stay on the right-hand side of the road for a while. We are now in Annesley Woodhouse.

There is no roadside path for quite a way but visibility is better going forward. It is quite a pleasant stroll with a nice mixture of houses and trees. After a while there is a roadside path after which you will see Skegby Road on the left.

The Forest Tavern © J Thomas

Take this northward and you will pass a Co-op shop and the Forest Tavern on your right. On the left is the parish church of St. John the Evangelist built in 1906. After Bentinck Street, Skegby Road is tree-lined with a terrace of houses on the right. Main Street comes in from the right (but it doesn’t live up to its name). In about 80m a footpath appears on the right with a finger-post. This has a tarmac surface and runs between fences and houses and leads down to Main Road near its junction with Mill Lane.

Turn left onto Mill Lane and follow the road-side path as far as it goes. With open countryside ahead, the speed limit ends but it is not a busy road and is reasonably wide. As long as you stay on the right-hand side visibility is all right.

After houses end on the left, trees begin on the right. At the end of these just beyond a narrow field you will see a steep grassy bank. After about 180m there is a footpath sign to the right. This takes you up to the bank which gives you a few yards of Magnesian Limestone grassland to investigate - at close quarters. There were scabious, vetch and harebells there in September but there is probably much more, earlier in the year.

At the top you reach an arable field and the path follows the east side of a hedge. After going beneath a pylon line the path bends to the left and continues northward to join a track. The most conspicuous object up here is a new white “distribution centre”, about 3km to the northwest. This is quite close to the Designer Outlet on the A38 near South Normanton. A little off to the left the church spire of St. Wilfred’s stands out on the top of Castle Hill. I met another couple of walkers up here who filled me in with some local detail.

There are footpath signs all along this section. Turn right, eastwards, onto the track but where it kinks, the path leaves it north-eastwards diagonally across the field. You will probably hear dogs barking at the nearby kennels letting us know that they would rather be at home. You will drop down the hill to Portland Park almost next to the Visitor Centre. Perhaps it’s time for a cup of tea at the café there.

Portland Park is part of the Kirkby Grives SSSI. In covers 15.2 hectares, 10 of which are woodland. Part of the area was quarried but these were filled in and have become meadows. There is a network of footpaths and a local nature reserve.

It sits on Permian rocks with Coal Measures in the lowest parts. The Edlington Formation of the Magnesian Limestone overlies the Cadeby Formation. There is a limestone exposure at the back of the Visitor Centre.

Visitor Centre © Chris Morgan

The area of neutral grassland is rich in wildflowers including devil’s-bit scabious, betony, great burnet, salad burnet and lady’s bedstraw as well as dog violet, lady’s mantle, water avens, twayblade, common spotted orchid and yellow rattle. On the calcareous grassland you can find tor grass, quaking grass, narrow-leaved meadow grass, meadow oat-grass, greater knapweed, bee orchids, and burnet-saxifrage.

There is woodland with ash, oak and sycamore that have dog’s mercury, bluebells and wood anemone in the Spring. There is oak woodland with bramble and bracken. Wet woodland has crack willow, sallow and alder with birch that has wavy bitter-cress and creeping buttercup. There are also beech, hornbeam, field maple, rowan and elm in places. Hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn, guilder rose, spindle and holly grow below the trees and woodland ground flora include hairy brome, false brome, wood melick, bearded couch, greater stitchwort. In damper areas there are wood sedge, male fern, broad-buckler fern and tufted hair-grass. There are some ponds and wetlands where you can see branched bur-weed, water-cress and fool’s water-cress. Frogs and toads abound.

Portland Park © Trevor Rickard

Birds recorded here include the great spotted woodpecker, tawny owl, buzzard, wren, robin, long-tailed tit, blue tit, great tit, nuthatch, goldfinch, chaffinch and tree-creeper and even woodcock. In the Summer, pied flycatcher, blackcap, chiffchaff and willow warbler visit and the bullfinch and yellowhammer have been seen.

Badgers, grey squirrels, wood mice and voles live here and you can find marbled white, speckled wood and orange tip butterflies.

(This information is from the park’s management plan available at www.ashfield.gov.uk).

A number of trails lead from here including the Three Centres Path that would take you east to Mansfield or north to Pleasley.

Leave the Visitor Centre and follow the tarmac path westwards between Grives Wood and Long Meadow until reaching the edge of the park. Beyond that is a railway level crossing, so stop look and listen before crossing over. This is a freight route from the Robin Hood Line at Kirkby-in-Ashfield to Pye Bridge.

Cross the pasture field towards a pylon to the left of the church spire. There were a couple of ponies to pass the time of day with on the way. At the bottom of the hill there is a gated footbridge beneath a large ash tree. This takes you over a small stream. This is in fact the River Erewash not far from its source in Portland Park. We have now dropped off the Magnesian Limestone onto the Coal Measures for a while again.

Crossing The Erewash © Chris Morgan

Going up the hill across the pasture field, bear right towards a pylon and an open farm gate. Continue uphill to meet the old railway track. This is part of a maze of old lines that served the collieries round here. Many were still operating in the 1960s. Annesley Bentinck was the last pit in the area to close having struggled on until 1999.

The next section is through Bentinck Banks nature reserve. This is managed by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. It covers about 5 hectares of limestone grassland and scrub that was made up from some of the old railway tracks and their embankments. It has been an SSSI since 1982. Here you can find greater knapweed, burnet saxifrage, St. John’s wort and cowslips and a number of orchid species, some of which are rare in Nottinghamshire. More commonly there are bird’s-foot trefoil, umbellifers, vetch, various dandelion types and rosebay willow-herb.

After a stile the path is fenced both sides and runs parallel to the pylon line.

Ignore the path to the left and carry on until reaching a house. The path bears right before following the hedge and then striking northwards across an arable field. It passes the base of a pylon and heads up towards the church. If you look round to the left (south-westwards) Crich Stand comes into view. The skyline continues southwards to the very end of the Pennines - the southern end of the Millstone Grit. South-eastwards you will see the spire of Annesley’s new church, All Saints, about 3kms away. We are now well and truly back on the Magnesian Limestone.

The path comes to the wall of the cemetery with a line of what appear to be Corsican pines inside. It follows this along and up to the churchyard next to a big sycamore. Between the cemetery and the church is the site of Castle Hill camp, though there is very little to see here now. It is believed that there was a Norman motte and bailey castle here but it seems likely that the site has a much longer history.

The original medieval St. Wilfrid’s Church, which may have had pre-Norman origins, was burnt down and was replaced by this in the Victorian Gothic style in 1906. Pevsner says it is “a building without special merit”. However it is said to have a particularly beautiful interior with a fine reredos and chancel screen.

St. Wilfred's Church © Neil Theasby

You are at nearly 170m (over 500 ft) above sea level here. That is the highest point for quite a way.

Also nearby is Kirkby Cross at the junction of the B6018 and B6020. This is thought to have been here since 1218.

Kirkby-in-Ashfield is a market town that was built on mining and railways. The mines and most of the railways are now gone and it is becoming more of a dormitory town. It does have a Morrison’s supermarket in the newly developed shopping precinct. Here there is a statue commemorating the famous England bowler Harold Larwood of “body-line” notoriety. There is some accommodation available in the town.

Continue northward on Church Street (B6018) for about 100m to the Duke of Wellington. Just opposite there is a footpath off westwards indicated by a finger-post. This goes along at the back of some houses and meets the end of Manor House Court before continuing out to the fields beyond. On reaching a gravel road turn right. This road just leads to the final house before it becomes a field-side path at the back of the playing field called Titchfield Park. There is access to this as you walk by. As the hedge on your right bends off, the path carries on in the same direction as before, across the arable field. For about 750m the path goes almost due north-westwards across arable land. You pass through an old mixed hedge and although the PRW carries on in the same direction across the end of the field, most users seem to stick to the field edge round an angle. Then it’s across a wide-open field with views to the west and south.

To the west the skyline is the Millstone Grit ridge that marks the eastern edge of the Peak District. Looking about 10 degrees off to the left you might detect a kink in the ridge that shows you where the Ashover anticline is. To the south you might just see the hills of Charnwood Forest again.

The Ashover anticline: Ashover is a village near Matlock and an anticline is an upward fold or a dome of rock strata. The Peak District is an anticline on a large scale that has been eroded so that the older rocks – Carboniferous Limestone – are exposed at the centre, while younger Edale Shales and Millstone Grit surround it. The Ashover anticline has the same rocks but the structure is on a much smaller scale. There is an even smaller one at Crich.

Another path crosses but ours keeps on in the same direction until reaching Dole Lane. Here is a four-way finger post and you should take the left turn. I was tempted by the nice grassy track opposite. I gave that a try but soon I found that it was ploughed up and was hard going and it leads to problems.

Doles Lane is a road or track that goes to The Dumbles Bungalow. Follow this down to a pair of white gate posts at the start of the property where a footpath continues to the left. This does have the look of an old way, with hedges on both sides of hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn, maple and oak. As it twists downhill it is soon shaded by ash, maple and oak trees. It can get a bit muddy underfoot as we now drop below the limestone onto the Coal Measures again.

We come to a wood and after entering, the path follows the edge. There are sycamore trees here as well. This area is called The Dumbles. This is a local dialect word for steep-sided wooded valleys and is mainly confined to Nottinghamshire. I’ve come across these in the Southwell area. The woods here are said to be good for bluebells in the Spring.

Another path comes in from the right but we go on to the stream at the bottom and over a culvert. After a short stretch of wood on the other side we emerge onto a field. Follow the hawthorn and holly hedge, and a solar farm appears on the right. This is the first one we have come across on the walk but no doubt there will be more to come. Although they are less intrusive than wind turbines they do take a lot of land. The hedge bends to the right and Crow Trees Farm appears ahead. There is a view here to the south with woods in the Underwood area. There is then a new section of hedge that might well deceive “hedge-daters” in the future as it already has a number of different species planted. There is also a wildflower strip on the other side of the hedge.

The path takes you up the side of the farm to Pinxton Lane where there is a way-marked post. Go over the road to the path on the other side. It couldn’t be clearer, as there is a finger post, kissing gate and trough stile. Don’t be put off by the proximity of the large new building. This is Castlewood Business Park, one of the many in this area that have replaced the old mining industry. This one is quite new with a lot of potential for further development. It is well placed, as it’s very close to junction 28 of the M1. I suspect that many of these “hangers” are distribution centres.

Although not really very scenic, this is the path of least resistance and probably the safest. So go with the flow for a while. The path is well surfaced and at the time of writing only has a building on one side. On reaching the service road (Farmwell Road), where there are similar hints on where to go, a path appears opposite. This leads up to the A38 at its junction with the B6027. This is one of the better places to cross the main road as there are pedestrian lights.

Nearby is Sutton in Ashfield, a market town based on mining and the hosiery industry. Until recently it had the biggest sundial in Europe. The Anglican parish church of St. Mary Magdalene is built of local stone and dates in part from 1170. The town has an Asda supermarket. There are some holiday cottages available in the area.

Once across the road it will be necessary to follow the A38 eastwards and upwards towards Mansfield for about 600m. There is no way that it is going to be quiet but there is roadside path and verge and a garage shop to provide a break. A retaining wall begins on the left, behind which a path allows you to get away from the traffic where some houses begin. Now back on the limestone we head northwards on Rookery Lane. After a while peace reigns again and you will pass Rookery Farm and reach another house at the end of the road.

Here, there is a gate and a kissing gate at the side which leads you into Rookery Park. This is on the site of New Hucknall Colliery that operated from 1876 to 1982. There is very little to show that it has ever been there. The waste tip is now a grassy open space with woods around and all the buildings have gone (almost).

We join a metalled path and soon pass a bench. There is a strip of grass with bird’s-foot trefoil, clover and St. John’s wort with an oak, ash and birch wood beyond. Young alder saplings are developing and there are patches of reeds. We take a path which branches to the right up the hill and out above the wood.

Huthwaite from the South © Nikki Mahadevan

Over the top is a grassy meadow with a lot of wildflower potential. I would guess that there are skylarks here as well. At the top, the altitude is almost 170m so there are views around towards Crich and Ashover. The path takes you down the hill to meet another path coming from the left. In a few metres you come to Mill Lane with new houses on the other side. Here some of the road names hint at the recent history - “New Hucknall Way” and “Headstocks Way”. Turn right here and carry on to where Mill Lane turns left and Harvest Lane goes forward. Take the Mill Lane turn northwards. There is even newer housing development here.

Then on the left is a bit of the old place. Colliery Houses they are called. A pair of semis and a row of cottages are all you can see. This is a relic of the social distinctions of the time, maybe between “upper working class” and “lower working class”. The managers (the gaffers) probably lived in detached houses “up the hill”.

The new houses, and the road, end just beyond Windmill Way, Brierley Hills. The route continues as a bridleway northwards as indicated by a finger-post. There are now ash and sycamore hedges either side as you pass some farm buildings on the right and the end of Cross Lane on the left.

A yellow-topped way-mark post and a sign saying “restricted byway” tells you that no motor vehicles are allowed. Continue up the hill along the gravelly, shady path with an open field to the right (for the moment). The track bends off to the left where it meets a rough road coming down. There are a couple of large blocks of sandstone here to discourage motorists. On the right is a cemetery and on the left a pleasant recreation ground - the Welfare Park. It’s a bit steep for the last bit of Mill Lane before you meet the houses at the top. You have now reached Huthwaite at Sutton Road (B6026). We are continuing across the road into Skegby Road but it’s best to go to the left and cross at the pedestrian crossing. There is a brown sign pointing to “Brierley Forest Park & Visitor Centre”. That is where we are going to next. Carry on to the bottom of Skegby Road and there it is. The road bends to the left up to the car park and the Visitor Centre with tea rooms.

This is a good opportunity for a bit of refreshment (if the time is right). The café seems to be very popular with retired people at lunch-time.

There was a colliery here from 1873 to 1989 and the area has been completely transformed since then. There is a good network of paths round the park to take in the variety it has to offer.

The park, that covers 79 hectares, has been created to provide footpath, cycling and horse riding opportunities through woodland, hay meadows, and wetlands as well fishing on Brierley Waters.

The land has been categorised as: calcareous grassland, neutral grassland, spring-line flushes and marsh, species-rich hedgerows with standard trees, mixed and broad-leaved plantations as well as standing and running water.

The neutral grassland, spring-line flushes and marsh between them have great burnet, water mint, creeping jenny, brooklime, southern marsh orchid and bird’s foot trefoil. The drier land has tor-grass, cowslips and adder’s tongue fern. The more marshy areas have water avens, brown sedge, ragged robin and sneezewort.

The calcareous grassland has yellow rattle, hoary ragwort, yellow wort, wild carrot and lesser trefoil. In the wetland there is reed-mace swamp. Around that there is great willow herb and reed sweet-grass.

In Brierley Waters, curled pond weed floats on the surface, and branched bur-weed, arrowhead and hard rush grow round the edges. There are roach, rudd, tench, carp, chub, perch and pike.

In Rooley Brook, fool’s watercress occurs as well as water figwort, angelica, soft rush and great willow herb.

In the hedgerows there are pedunculate oak and ash with hazel, elm and holly. Bluebells, violets and sweet woodruff can be found along these.

The Miners © Graham Hogg

The plantations have silver birch, alder, goat willow, crack willow, oak, guelder rose and European larch. Black poplars can be seen by the Visitor Centre. Sixty-nine species of birds have been recorded including the grass-hopper warbler, willow warbler, whitethroat and short-eared owl.

(This information is from the parks management plan available on www.ashfield.gov.uk)

Leave the Visitor Centre by the double front doors (rather than the side door from the cafe) and pass the memorial to miners lost in an accident at Sutton Colliery. On your right is the black poplar plantation. Take the left turn and you are on Path number 9. There are a couple of gates giving access from Unwin Street and North Street and then you pass the pair of winding wheels from the old colliery set into the ground. There is open woodland on the left with areas of grass. Brierley Waters appear on the right with a number of fishermen doing their thing. There are picnic tables around too. There were quite a few coots, some of which were having territorial disputes, splashing and running across the water.

Brierley Waters © Graham Hogg

The path continues alongside an old hedge that shields the wildflower meadow beyond. There are willow trees and Path number 12 leaves on the right followed by marsh-land before reaching a mixed plantation. Path 11 goes off towards Rooley Top which is on the old pit tip.

On the right a footpath provides a short cut to the Brierley Branch Line that we will meet in a little while.

The Brierley Branch Line © Trevor Rickard

In the village is a pub called the Carnarvon for food and drink and it may be where D.H. Lawence wrote some of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”. Just up Silverhills Lane is a Camping and Caravan Club site.

At the junction of paths coming up there are sign posts pointing all ways. On the right is the Link Trail that heads eastwards and gives access to the Visitor Centre that you reach through the trees and past the local nature reserve and the Coal Garden. This apparently is not open on Mondays.

Teversal Manor Station © David Hallam-Jones

The Coal Garden © David Hallam-Jones

An interpretation board tells you that the nature reserve is composed partly of limestone grassland that has bird’s-foot trefoil and fairy flax. There is also neutral grassland with rosebay willow herb, mugwort, wormwood, hedge bedstraw and cleavers. The trees are pedunculate oaks, ash, birch, sallow, goat willow and apparently elm with an understory of hawthorn, hazel, purging buckthorn, bird cherry and alder buckthorn.

We are going to continue from the path junction northwards on the Teversal Trail. But very shortly we come to the bridge over Pleasley Road. Here there are some steps down and it is worth taking these to go and have a look at beautiful Teversal village. From the steps, turn right and go up the hill on the roadside path. You soon reach the 30 limit and in Springtime you would see daffodils and narcissus on the bank on the left. A row of lime trees begins on the right just before the main road bends to the left. The limes continue along Buttery Lane, and so shall we, going past the old telephone box (now a book exchange). There is a high brown stone wall on the right.

Buttery Lane also turns left and a footpath leaves to the right of School House Cottage and its garage. The path crosses the access road to Teversal Manor with an avenue of lime trees and daffodils and snowdrops (in the Spring). The house was fictionalised as Wragby Manor in Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

Teversal Church © Chris Morgan

We are now at the southwest corner of the church yard. This is St. Katharines’s Church. It was built in the 12^th and 13^th centuries and its interior is un-restored 17^th and 18^th. The Norman south door has been altered at some time though. It is built of a mixture of limestone and sandstone and is the family church of the Earl of Carnarvon. On the southwest corner of the tower is an Ordnance Survey flush bracket bench mark S9100.

Now return to the bridge and the steps up to the Teversal Trail and go northward. After a few yards the Silverhill Wood path goes off to the left. This will lead you to what is claimed to be the highest point in Nottinghamshire so is well worth a circular detour.

Firstly we go into a wood with ash, birch, sycamore, oak, hawthorn and brambles. Then after passing beneath an electricity line, things open out and a pond appears on the right. It is shielded by young willows and alders. There was a moorhen swimming across the water. Ducks and woodpeckers have been seen here. Newts and diving beetles are said to be here too. A bench overlooking the pond is shielded by a plaited willow screen.

We then join a track coming from the left and go right. There is a finger-post and an information board here. At a t-junction we follow the track to the left. This heads south-eastwards skirting another pond with an island in the middle, on the right. There are picnic tables nearby. Set back quite a way is the edge of the wood with some beech trees. The track goes on between wide grassy strips with willow and birch on the left. All along here are a lot of what appear to be sea buckthorn bushes and these have bright orange, juicy berries in the Autumn. There is a stretch of concrete road before it reverts to track. On the left is a stand of pine trees before willows and birch take over again. A kestrel hovered above and I’m sure that there will be skylarks around in the Spring and Summer.

We come up to another t-junction where there is another information board. This tells us that this is the site of Silverhill Colliery that was active from 1875-1992. A path goes up the hill to the right which takes us up what was once the pit waste tip. Now, on either side are pine woods set back to allow wildflowers to grow amongst the grass. At the time of writing there were alder and willow saplings and clover. There is a short diversion to the viewpoint and the statue of “The Miner”. It is also called “Testing for Gas”.

There is a view indicator at the top with lines drawn in the direction of Lincoln Cathedral, Cottam Power Station, Crich Stand and Althorpe Heights amongst others. It is claimed that the altitude here is 204.4m above sea level which is about the highest point in the county but there are other contenders and this is not a natural hill. However you won’t get a better all-round view anywhere.

Testing For Gas © Neil Theasby

The path continues down some steps that take you back down to the track. We continue northwards with woods on both sides but with wide grassy strips that have a lot of wildflower potential. The track curves round to the right and meets another at a t-junction. Go to the left and after a while the track curves right again to head eastwards. Then at a second right curve there is a view out through the trees to fields beyond. There are yarrow, hard heads and clover here. There was also some meliot and some reedy bits.

All through the woodland there are well spaced benches for those with weary legs.

Now heading southwards the wood crowds in and we soon reach the ponds we met on the way in. So on returning to the information board turn left and left again to rejoin the Teversal Trail.

The Teversal Trail heads northward through the old railway cutting with scrubby banks giving some shade. This is the track of the Teversal to Pleasley line built in 1898, part of the local colliery complex. It was run by the Great Northern Railway and also took in the Silverhill branch. It was the last to close in 1978.

Teversal Trail © Bobby Clegg

As I walked along the trail I came to a stone wall running on the right and a well-built archway that doesn’t seem to lead anywhere. There was bryony growing in places. A bridge goes over carrying Peartree Lane. This is made of brick with what appear to be limestone coping stones. The vegetation thins out and ash trees take over for a while as some new houses appear behind them on the left. Another bridge passes over with what appeared to be flower prints attached. It makes a change from graffiti. There are steps up the side that go up to another bit of Peartree Lane. Exposures of limestone crop out high up on the sides of the cutting with ash, sycamore and holly trying to hide them.

We are now approaching Norwood Lane and the track finally does a twist and turn up the slope to ease wheelchair access while a path goes straight on through the middle.

Now we have a bit of quiet road walking. Turn left onto Norwood Lane which only goes to the little hamlet of Norwood. The road is bounded by hawthorn hedges with a good grass verge to escape to if any vehicles come along. Indeed after the first field the hedge on the right-hand side has been taken out altogether. The road gently bends left and right up to the corner of Norwood – that is the wood itself. This has a mixture of deciduous trees. There is a gas pipeline compound at the side of the road. The hedge on the left looks quite young and probably has replaced an older one.

There are only half a dozen or so houses in Norwood and these are a mixture of brick and brown stone. We then get to the point where the good road goes off to the right to Hardwick Park Farm and we are left with a farm road carrying on westwards. There is parkland with scattered trees on the right, as we approach the end of the public road. A farm gate leads off to Dovedale Farm on the left. We carry on through a pedestrian gate and down the hill. There is no way-mark here, just a notice board without a notice.

This is where Lady Spencer’s Walk begins. We go into a wood and down some steps. There are some magnificent beech trees that predominate here along with some saplings as well as ash trees, sycamores and limes. At the bottom of the hill cross over a footbridge, after which there are shallow steps up. It is about here that we pass into Derbyshire. Beyond a picnic table on the left is a field that seemed full of goats, Shetland ponies and donkeys. The path broadens as you come to the “woodland play trail” with children’s adventure equipment to help train young commandos.

A large car park on the right tells you that we are getting close to Hardwick Hall, but off to the left goes the Oak Walk. If you are really not interested in the two halls, the Visitor Centre, shop and restaurant then the Oak Walk is for you. It goes across a pasture field, with signs of cows, to join the road just below the hall.

Hardwick Hall © Beth Peart

Hardwick Hall. There are two Hardwick Halls – the Old Hall and the “new” although they are almost the same age. They were built by the formidable Bess of Hardwick in the Tudor period. She had been brought up at Hardwick in the original manor house as part of a minor gentry family. At the age of 13 she married the even younger Robert Barlow but she was a widow about a year later. After another two years or so had elapsed she married Sir William Cavendish. He had made a fortune in land at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. They had eight children (two of whom died in infancy). They bought land at Chatsworth. Cavendish died in 1557.

In 1559 she married Sir William St. Loe who was captain of the guard to Queen Elizabeth and when he subsequently died.

in 1565 he left all his riches to Bess. She did not marry again until 1568 when she became Countess of Shrewsbury by marrying George Talbot, 6^th Earl of Shrewsbury. They lived at Chatsworth and for 15 years they were made responsible for the custody of Mary Queen of Scots which was a huge financial burden, but in spite of that on Shrewsbury’s death in 1590 Bess was the second - most wealthy woman in England after the Queen. The marriage had broken up before his death and Bess moved to Hardwick.

Hardwick Old Hall © Beth Peart

In 1587 she began to develop what is now the Old Hall on the site of the original house. This is described as being one of the most innovative houses of the Tudor period. A radical modern mansion, it drew on the latest Italian ideas in house design. However before it was finished Bess had more ambitious ideas. She employed the architect Robert Smythson to design a new hall across the way. Bess moved into the new hall in 1597. The sheer quantity of glass used was daring and gave rise to the saying – “Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall”. At the time the two halls were supposed to complement each other but in the 1750s Bess’s descendant the Duke of Devonshire began to dismantle the Old Hall and what remains today is just the shell. It is now in the hands of English Heritage. There are still the remains of plasterwork on the walls and you can see some of this from the staircase on the way up to the viewing platform.

Although both halls are sitting on the Magnesian Limestone they are built from Coal Measures sandstone from quarries on the estate.

Hardwick Hall proper is now owned by the National Trust and is open to the public. It contains an extensive collection of tapestries and embroideries many collected by Bess herself.

The gardens are divided into four courtyards by sandstone walls, each with their distinctive character. In the west court is a magnificent cedar tree planted in 1832.

The Visitor Centre with a shop and restaurant are housed in the Great Barn south of the two halls. They are open throughout the year (apart from Christmas Day). There is an extensive lawn with picnic tables for outdoor snacking.

I had time to look round the Old Hall but I left the main hall for another day.

If you would like to continue northwards go to Book 2 which will take you to Dinnington.

The copyright for the photographs is under a Creative Commons Licence by geograph.org.uk