Holcot - Pitsford - Moulton - Holcot

Barry, Maureen, Gordon. just over 9 miles. Dry, some sun, windy.


Barry led this walk. We started from Holcot just after 9 am.


Across the fields from Holcot, with the morning sun casting shadows on the ploughed earth. Luckily the ground was dry.


We made for the gap in the hedge.

Our first 'surprise treat' of the day - the view of Pitsford reservoir as we climbed the stile.

On we walked with the reservoir below us on the right - the southern part which we've walked round a few times, close to the shore. We passed a house some way off, on our left, surrounded by trees, but certain to have a great view of the water. 

 Then pretty high up, was 'surprise' number two, a cupola memorial just by the local cricket ground. It commemorates local businessman Lynn Anthony Wilson, who died in a car crash in 2008.

We followed the path coming closer to the water where we saw a large colony of coots.


The we continued into Pitsford, turning left and walking a short distance along the Moulton Road, before taking a footpath to the left. The path turns right then left across three or four fields and turns right again just before a stud farm.

We crossed the Pitsford - Moulton Road into Spectacle Lane. An unusual name, sure to whet the appetite.
























So, to the first 'spectacle' - I should have taken the picture when we first spotted this 'ruined castle'. Life is just a bowl of should've's.
It is known as The Spectacle, and was built by William Wentworth in 1770, and was designed to be visible in silhouette from Boughton Hall.
I gleaned this information from the painted pixels website

We left Spectacle Lane and on the other side of the road from Boughton to Moulton is Holly Lodge, built between 1857 and 1861 for the Jeyes family, of Fluid fame. I seem to be stalking the Jeyes family - I had lunch in their Apothocoffee Shop in Earls Barton last Friday.
Holly Lodge echoes the style of the Spectacle, and boasts a pair of gates representing a dozen farm implements.










Philadelphus Jeyes designed the gates, which were erected 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 Holly Lodge we walked for a short distance along the road to Moulton before taking a footpath to the right, over a few higher than the average stiles. Some of the path includes horse riding trails from Moulton College.




We climbed up hill, and turned to the left, following the path into Moulton. This is a lively village centre with local shop, pub and stocks - locked to prevent fun-loving teens and walkers from playing silly games.


Instead, we sat staidly and devoured Maureen's scones on a bench in the square.






We walked out of Moulton on the road towards Billing and the A43, taking a footpath to the left. This involved crossing several fields of wheat, and a couple of recently ploughed fields. We walked alongside Marsh Spinney, where notices informed us that cycling was forbidden by local by-laws. It would have been a brave and slightly mad cyclist who climbed the stiles and tackled the uneven ground.

So far unidentified plant growing at the edge of a field of maize

Could it be the hallucinogenic and sometimes lethal Jimson Weed?
No fields of beans today, but we had to negotiate maize above head height with a narrow path through. Past Overstone Grange, we turned left Rectory farm, and followed the path back into Holcot.


Plenty of interest on this walk.


Map and details