Great Easton, Neville Holt, Drayton, Bringhurst.

Monday 13 March 2017. With Norma, Maureen, Tommy and Ken.  Just under six miles. Great sunny weather, with a little mud underfoot on occasions.

Nevill Holt from the path

Similar route to last Saturday, and also this walk from March 2014.  we began from the green, near the pub, and walked along Brook Street and Deepdale to pick up the footpath towards Nevill Holt.

 We took the path which  leads very close to the buildings of Nevill Holt, with the statue of the opera singer, Bryn Terfel . . .

 and this horse's head.

 The path takes us out on to the road to Drayton, and we walk downhill for some distance, watching a few cyclists making their way upwards.

 Break time at the bench with a view.

 Down into Drayton, past a garden gate decorated with a metalwork spider - there are smaller versions near the wall behind it.

 Then straight through the village and the tiny church building on the green. We take the path towards Bringhurst, and turn to climb the hill to the village.

At the road junction we turn right, and soon take the footpath on our left, labelled "Great Easton".

Lunch at Cottingham community cafe.

Great Easton - Neville Holt - Drayton - Bringhurst

Saturday 11th March with Harry

The walk follows the same route as this one from 2014. We did a recce walk for Monday. The weather was dry, but very grey, with some mist.
Some paths were quite muddy.  Distance - around 6 miles.

For details of the route see the next post.

Cranford, Grafton Underwood, Warkton

Thursday 09 March, 10.00 am. With Maureen.  Beautiful sunshine, though the wind still had an edge. Most of the mud in the fields was drying. Very little climbing, but slightly longer than I thought at 8.7 miles.

Near the Old Forge cafe we followed the road out of the village (not St Andrews Lane).  After about half a mile we crossed a line of pylons and a little further on, as the road bends there is a gap stile in the hedge on the right hand side. This is the footpath - the hedge was on our left, and we followed it as it turned left and headed more or less north.  There was a short wooded section, and after almost a mile we met the road.

A wooded section of the path from Cranford

 We turned left and followed the road round a bend to the left as far as the crossroads. A right turn took us into Grafton Underwood, with its stream and bridges, and its attractive church.

The church at Grafton Underwood

Spring is springing

 Just before the village boundary is a footpath sign. We followed the path to the left, through a field with a horse and pony - I blame them for the state of the ground near the gates.

A friendly pony

 The next field had more ponies, behind an electric fence this time. It left the path pleasanter to walk on!

 We had several stiles to negotiate, one or two needing some high-stepping on our part. The ploughed fields were drying in the sun and wind, and the paths had been made clear. We have seen much worse . . .

Mud is drying, and the path is clear

 It was a relief to arrive at a stile leading into a meadow. We crossed the estate road and walked along a field edge to the path which crosses the lime tree avenue.

The lime tree avenue near Warkton

 Next we walked along the footpath which emerges next to a house on the main road through Warkton. The little green opposite is putting on its spring clothes.

Chocolate box pretty

These look like some kind of cultivated celandine

We made our way to St Edmunds Church, which has a fine selection of monuments to the Montagues, but wasn't open. Thursdays after Easter, it says.  We took advantage of the sheltered porch, in the sunshine, to have a break. Five miles down, not so many ahead!

The next section of road walking requires caution, as this road is a bit of a rat run, though not too busy at this time. As you come out of the village there is a short hill and a bend, and the verges are narrow. Then there's a straighter section with wider verges. I saw a brimstone butterfly - the first I've seen this year.

We passed a road joining ours from the right. A little further ahead the road bends to the left, and our path turns off. It's a bridleway, more or less following the line of the road. It crosses the grassy ridged and furrowed field, and goes through a gate into a wide section marked as an avenue of trees on the map. It continues following field edges, heading slightly south of east, with a short dog leg over a stream, eventually joining a wider track, where we turn ot our right and head slightly west of south. We followed this until we were opposite the buildings of the Grange. We turned left (east) and the track takes us all the way back to Cranford.

Skeffington, Rolleston, Noseley

Monday 06 March 2017.  With Norma.  About 7 1/2 miles. Muddy paths to begin with and a couple of recently planted fields, but could have been much worse. Weather was fine with some sun, and some wind.

We parked on a quiet avenue parallel to the A47, and walked a hundred yards or so down a   cul-de-sac, before taking a footpath on our right, then leading south past a very large house and into fields. 

Snowdrops are still in bloom in shaded areas.

 The path continued south towards Skeffington Vale, then turned slightly west, crossing a stream and a couple more fields, where the yellow waymarker posts were very helpful, before coming out at Rolleston Hall, close to an area where horses were being trained.

When we reached the estate road we turned left and followed it past the lake and along a bridleway heading toward the road between Goadby and Noseley.  Most of the way the path was easy to follow, over fields and then into a wooded area. After this the bridleway became rather muddy as it led down to the road.

 We took a right turn on the road, and walked for about a mile, passing the entrance to Noseley Hall, and then going up slightly to Top Lodge. We had a short break in the sun here, before taking a turning to the right, heading northwest. 

This clump of trees is called Millfield Clump - a house, a sacred grove? Who knows?
A little further on there is a small wooded area on the right, as the road bends to the left, heading almost due west.
When we reached the B6047, at the entrance gates to the Rolleston Estate, we turned sharply right (northeast now), and followed the avenue of trees. Some of these horse chestnuts are just beginning to show signs of life.
We saw a fair amount of damage - I guess Doris is to blame again.

 As we approached Rolleston Hall itself this fine carriage and four gleaming high-stepping horses drove by, with a small Jack Russell leading the way.

 We followed signs to the gated road to Skeffington and followed this route back to the start.

Dramatic lighting over the old stable block

 A straightforward walk from here, with snowdrops along the way.  the carriage and four passed us again, with the dog still gamely trotting ahead.

the occasional watery reflection

and some rather fine gardens in the village, including the crocus display above.

Glad to have had a walk in this part of Leicestershire again, and in such agreeable weather too.

Chelveston, Yelden and Melchbourne

Thursday 02 March 2017. With Maureen.  9.6 miles.  Weather quite windy, with occasional sun.
A very similar route to the one I followed with Marta on February 14th. 

Once again we called in to the churchyard, where the snowdrops were starting to fade, but daffodils were popping up here and there.

We walked away from Chelveston, through Caldecott and past the Crescent, and took the bridleway straight ahead when the road bends to the right.  The path took us into Yelden, with its Norman motte and bailey. 

We took the footpath to the right of the castle mound heading south east across the meadow.When we had negotiated a stile we followed the path to our left along the field edge then continued to the fairly quiet road and turned right. We stayed on the road until we reached the St John Arms pub. Here we turned right and walked into Melchbourne village. We had a short break outside the church. 

We took the street close to the church, turning left. Very soon a footpath goes off to the right. this leads to the road, opposite the Day Nursery and farm. 

An odd photograph . . .

Across the road we picked up the path again. a little muddy at first, but soon easy to walk on. It took us alongside fields to Crowfield Farm buildings, and we followed the surfaced track out to the road.  We turned left and walked past one footpath sign on our left before turning left ourselves at the next one, and rejoining the route we had taken from Yelden earlier, and retracing our steps to the motte and bailey.

We walked along the road with the castle on our right, then turned left along the Three Shires Way, past Bottom Farm, turning left at the sign to Middle Lodge. We followed the path through the caravan storage place, up to the wind and solar farm at the top.  The path took us straight through and down into Chelveston. 

The walk felt longer than the nine and a half miles, probably because of the wind!