Holcot, Pitsford, Moulton, Boughton church

Thursday 19 September. With Harry and Eddie. 10.8 miles. The same route as yesterday, without the navigational errors, but with the addition of a visit to old St john's church ruins at Boughton. I last visited these ruins in 2014 - five years ago.

Pitsford Water

The Spectacle

The ruins of St John's church

Five years ago there was a lot of ivy on the walls.

Holly Lodge from the footpath

Virginia creeper in Moulton

To visit the church we turned right at the end of Spectacle Lane, and walked along the uneven grass verge beside the road - quite a busy one! In less half a mile, just round a sharp bend before a junction, the church was on our right.

Holcot, Pitsford, Moulton

Wednesday 18 September 2019.  With Marta. 11 miles, including a couple of unintentional detours.

We parked in Holcot, just before the speed limit sign going towards Pitsford Water Causeway. The footpath goes to the left over a stile in the hedge close to the sign.

 It crosses a field, where there were lots of wild flowers.

We continued through another field going slightly downhll, then up again, and through a hedge. On the other side we had a great view of the reservoir.

Our path took us past the cricket ground with the memorial dome and seat to Lynn Anthony Wilson, a local business man.

The path crosses the road to the cricket ground and continues along the hedge in the next field. After a short distance a footpath sign directs us through the hedge and across a recently harvested field - luckily for us the weather has been dry!

We continue until we reach a wide grassy section. here the footpath turns left and uphill for a short stretch before turning right and carrying on roughly south west above Moulton Grange Farm.
Sweet chestnut tree...

 The path does not go down to the farm, but goes straight ahead through some trees. It's quite narrow and not way-marked - easy to miss from this direction.  It goes past Grange cottages and the entrance to Moulton Grange, and joins the track around Pitsford Water for a short section. Seemed a good place for a break!

We followed the road past Grange Road Car Park and on into the village of Pitsford. We turned left at the village green, and went past the primary school. There's a very short section of road with no footpath, and before the independent school we take a left hand fork and quickly meet the footpath we want. It is fenced on both sides for a short distance, and we come to an open field, just past someone's observatory.

We carried straight on to the end of the hedge and turned right. We kept the hedge on our right, turning left and walking alonside a couple of fields. At the end there are way markers for two directions. We turn left between a hedge and a fence, and then turn right, eventually passing a stud farm and reaching Pitsford Road. We cross over to Spectacle Lane - someone must have taken a fancy to the sign here, as it has gone!

After a stretch walking slightly downhill we cross the ford.

Then we pass the Spectacle - this folly.

A little further ahead is Holly Lodge, the fine residence of the Jeyes family.

with the gates designed by Philadelphus Jeyes in 1861.They include replicas of 2 hay forks, 2 sickles, a scythe, a rake, a shepherd's crook, a ditch cutter, a stable fork, a flail, a spade and a woodman's axe.

From here we turned left and followed the road into Moulton.

The JGallery coffee shop was an excellent stop for a coffee and sandwich before the last leg of the walk, from Moulton, along the Overstone Road to a footpath off to the left. The path is clear enough, with one fairly long stubbly field to cross, then it's follow the path to Overstone Grange, which we passed on the left hand side, near some PYO signs. At Rectory Farm the path turns a right angle to the left, and heads more or less north west back to Holcot. We pass the war memorial and turn left and back to the car.

Holcot, Pitsford, Moulton, Holcot

Same route as August 8th 2011, with extra half mile detour, and the reverse direction of the walk from 15th August 2014.

Thu, 2015 Aug 6 9:26 AM BST

With Gordon and Maureen. Early light drizzle gave way to bright warm sunshine, with a slight breeze. . An interesting walk, with a detour to the ruins of Boughton church. Coffee break in Pistford, and pit stop in Moulton at jgallery.  Dry underfoot, most paths good. 10.5 miles.

From Holcot, the footpath goes to the left soon after Glebe Close, and heads across a field to a stile in the hedge. 

The view over Pitsford Water is grand as you climb the stile, though the early morning grey doesn't do it justice.

The path continues with the reservoir below on the right, past the cricket pitch with mock Tudor pavilion, thatch-covered scoreboard, and the cupola and bench commemorating a local businessman.

We cross the road which leads to the cricket ground, and continue until we reach a wide grassy section. here the footpath turns left and uphill for a short stretch before turning right and carrying on roughly south west above Moulton Grange Farm.

  The path does not go down to the farm, but goes straight ahead through some trees. It's quite narrow and not way-marked - easy to miss from this direction.  It goes past Grange cottages and the entrance to Moulton Grange, Grange Road Car Park for Pitsford Water, and on into the village of Pitsford. On the second small green is a bench just asking us to sit and have a break.

We continue through the village and when the road bends right, our path lies straight ahead - a clear route between fences along the edge of fields - and there are already a few ripe blackberries on the bushes. We reach Pitsford Road and cross to walk along Spectacle Lane, past the ford and old mill, and past the folly (The Spectacle).

Too close this time!

At the end of the Lane, at Holly Lodge, we turn right along the surprisingly busy Boughton Road. It's about a quarter of a mile to the remains of St John's Church, Boughton Green. The church fell into disuse in the 16th century, but in the churchyard there are twenty-first century graves.

We return to Holly Lodge, built by the Jeyes family,

 with its iron gates containing twelve agricultural tools.

The gates include replicas of 2 hay forks, 2 sickles, a scythe, a rake, a shepherd's crook, a ditch cutter, a stable fork, a flail, a spade and a woodman's axe.

A few hundred yards after Holly Lodge we turn right on to a footpath - a welcome escape from the road. At the end of the first field the path goes left, but was very overgrown.

Luckily we were all wearing long trousers - there were a few nettles to trample.

Once through the path was simple, along a few field edges, then behind houses, turning left at Moulton School, and into the village. We succumbed to the temptation of jgallery's coffee and cake.

We have barely two miles walking left, and head north east from Moulton, past Overstone Grange, the Old Rectory, surrounded by cedars and pines, as far as Rectory Farm, where we turn 90 degrees left and head north west to Holcot and the car.

A quicker way to travel . . .

The corn was as high . . .

Wild life - swallows over the cornfields, a buzzard or two, a colony of coots.

Map and details

Holcot, Moulton, Pitsford

Thu, 2014 Aug 14 9:16 AM BST

With Gordon. Reverse of walk from 8 Aug 2011. I appear to have pressed the wrong button part way through, so about half of walk not recorded here. The later part was a little hillier. Just over 10 miles in total!
Almost the same walk as on August 8 2011, but in reverse, and with the added loop to Old St John's Church, Boughton Green. May be worth looking at the previous walk for some photos too.

We set off on the footpath from Back lane, alonsgside Brittens View, and headed southeast, along a track  then a path not quite blocked with brambles and nettles - memo to self - secateurs! Later we crossed a jungle of tall maize too. On a footpath.

When we reached Rectory Farm we turned right towards the south west.

I managed to miss the path when it went through a gate, then over a bridge, just before Marsh Spinney - a quick rethink was needed when we'd gone two hundred or so yards in the wrong direction. After that all was simple and we made our way into Moulton.

Heading west through the village, past church and primary school, we were ambushed, in the nicest possible way by a café! 

Next we followed the Boughton Road, along past Holly Lodge with its gates made of garden implement shapes, and on to the reputedly haunted ruins of Old St John's Church - the graveyard is still used occasionally.

Back to Holly Lodge, and we turned on to Spectacle Lane, a peaceful relief after the relatively busy Boughton Road. Past the Spectacle Folly, and through the ford, or over the bridge, and on to Pitsford Road.

Across the road to a footpath well supplied with more nettles - and a badger sett. The path turns left, going north west into Pitsford village.

Ah ha! A bench. Good excuse for another stop, and a cereal bar top up. 

From Pitsford we took Grange Lane, leading to a car park and the reservoir. We joined the round reservoir track for a very short distance before it turns left, but we carried straight on towards Moulton Grange.

Our footpath is along a private road, then along field boundaries with views of Pitsford Water from the heights.

The path goes north east, making a dog leg (clearly signposted here), then passing a well kept cricket ground with memorial cupola to a local businessman before we catch a final view of Pitsford Water.  

We emerged on the road to the causeway just outside Holcot. 

Around ten miles in all. 
Map and details