and occasionally rides a bike.
A word of warning. The walk descriptions are not detailed enough to guide you - please take a map. The batteries never run out, and you always have a signal. Oh, And don't take left or right as gospel!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Uffintgon circular - Greatford, Barholm, Casewick Park



Wed, 2013 Sep 11 10:01 AM British 'summer' Time
With Marta. Same walk as one on july 25 2013. Flat terrain. Overcast day, but dry - good underfoot - paths clear. About 10 miles - .25 ish switch-off after Greatford pub.


The same walk as I did on July 25 2013.  This time we found our way to Greatford Church, but we still couldn't locate 'Meg's Well'.  The photos show very grey skies.

Near Uffington church stand three redwoods.
Marta saw two hares when she looked through the huge gates of Uffington Manor on the main road.We turn right before the houses after West Hall Farm.
We believe this is the site of the mill mound marked on the OS map.  

Our path takes us over farmland, always clearly marked and following track or field edge. We come out behind Cobbs Nook Farm, and join the Macmillan Way,  along a wooded bridleway.  We join the road turning left and then right to where we cross the East Coast Mainline at a level crossing.  A short half mile takes us to our left turn into Shillingthorpe Park.
The cows and calves are gathered round the food here.
We cross the river West Glen, and make our way to along the farm road to the woodland, before turning right over fields.  These are no problem this time, as they have been harvested and waymarking is good.  We follow the path behind the very private Greatford Hall into the village. A local resident of 25 year's standing tells us how to access the church - there's a small white gate near the bridge over the small river.
In the church is a memorial to Francis Willis, who is reputed to have cured George III of his madness in 1789.  Dr Willis owned Greatford Hall, and ran an asylum there.   The church also boasts a Roman coffin, and many interesting plaques and dedications.
As we come from the church towards the road we pass the entrance to Greatford Hall.  It was destroyed by fire in 1922, but rebuilt.
The inn sign for the local pub, where we had an excellent baguette lunch, with friendly service.
A large stone cross near Bridge cottages
The crown commemorates the coronation of George VI.  There is more info and more photos (not mine)  here.
We cross the fields south towards Barholm.  On the way we spot an ambitious mobile phone mast trying to look like a tree.  We cross a bridge over Greatford Cut, which joins the West Glen River to the Welland and forms a flood defence system for Greatford.
Barholm Church . Click on the link for further information.  
From Barholm we take the road past the Five Horseshoes pub and the Old Hall. We turn left and make our way over several fields to the railway again. No level crossing here, but a warning about trains travelling at 100 mph.  The track is straight and the view is good. On the other side we walk over two or three fields before reaching Casewick Park, with its lovely buildings, high hedges and fine gates.

I need to identify this tree.

A look back at Casewick Hall as we leave the park, and take the road leading to Uffington.

Apart from the hares, we saw a few swallows swooping after the insects, and a lot of small speckled wood (?) butterflies.

Map and details

No comments: