Kings Cliffe and Apethorpe

01 December 2016, 10.07 am.  With Maureen. 7.4 miles. 220 feet of ascent. Glorious weather, cold and bright. Some places were muddy underfoot as the ice melted.

Similar route to this one from three and a half years ago, but slightly longer.

View of Kings Cliffe church from Morehay Lane

Kings Cliffe housescape in the sun

Maureen enjoying the weather

Ok, the red kite didn't fly away immediately, but the camera focussed on the tree in the foreground . . .

. . . so I tried to get nearer, but branches obscured the view.
No third photograph, the bird flew!

Apethorpe's castellated water tower

A larg herd of deer, watching us watching them.

The weather front approaches

A fine walk in excellent conditions. Much enjoyed.

The icing on the mudcake was a flock of fieldfares flying from the bushes on the last half mile or so. Too small and quick to snap.

Kings Cliffe circular to Apethorpe

Mon, 2013 May 20 9:35 AM Western European Time 

Led by Mel. Norma, Jill, Phil, Barry, Gordon, Eddie, me. Sllghtly damp, grey, humid. One damp section underfoot. 5 miles.

Just eight of us on this dull morning with slight drizzle in the air.  We park at Kings Cliffe, on the no through road up to Fineshade woods.   

First we go across the main road, past the sign to the Village Hall and Underground Centre, and take the road directly ahead until we reach the Morehay Lane track. We turn left and continue until we find a path through a kissing gate, which takes us up past the clay pits, and alongside rape fields. About 2 miles into the walk we arrive at a road junction, with signs to Spa Farm, Lodge Farm and others.  Here we turn left to take the road into Apethorpe. It comes out by the Kings Head pub. 

Some of us wander into the village for a look at St Leonards church, which is closed, as there has been an attempted burglary recently.   We briefly admire the clock, restored in 1897 for Queen Vic's diamond jubilee, and smartened up for E II R's in 2012.

Then we rejoin the others and have a coffee and banana break. We go back uphill out of the village along the road we arrived on. When we reach the junction we go straight on, following the road alongside Calvey Wood, as far as Spa Farm Cottages.  We go behind them, and soon go through a short stretch of woodland, before turning slightly right to go north, following the field edges down towards Kings Cliffe. 

When we hit Morehay Lane we turn right, over our steps earlier this morning,  and before long turn left over a footbridge, along a track past the old watermill.

The water's flowing but the wheel's not turning

We emerge close to the church and follow the footpath just by the churchyard, between walls, past many narrow alleys, and rejoin the road leading to the cars.  

Cutaway corner for tall traffic.

Kings Cliffe church

Five of us had butties and a drink in Bulwick Pickled Village shop.

Map and details

Apethorpe circular

Me, Eddie, Barry, Gordon, Maureen. Last minute decision, with booklet - done in reverse. 6.7 miles. Weather fine while we were out, with a chilly wind,  but it began to rain later, just as we ate lunch. Brilliant timing.
Wildlife: deer - muntjac - , kites, a hare.

I wasn't sure who would be walking today, and we had no advance plan.  Luckily Eddie had a booklet to hand, and with its help and the usual map we did this shorter walk from Apethorpe.  We left the village along the road at the side of the Kings Head and walked west. At the junction we took the left hand turn (signposted to Lodge Farm).  This road runs behind the hall grounds, and continues more or less south.  There is a clear sign to say that the bridleway has been diverted off to the left, and we followed the new path to the right hand side of a small lake, then round to rejoin the original roadway.  Our route was now just north of west to the corner of Tomlin Wood, where we turned left towards another small wood, Morehay Lawn.

We walked along the edge of this wooded patch, and carried on, turning slightly to our left then right along a field edge and into another wood (Holey Brookes).  We crossed another track in the wood but carried on through.  At the edge of the wood, our path led almost due west, diagonally across one field, and then along the hedge of the second one.  In the third field is an abandoned cottage, and a footbridge slightly downhill and to the right of it.

We had to cross a ploughed field after the bridge to reach the corner of Bushey Wood, where we had a break, before following a track along the right hand edge of Bushey Wood and then the edge of Hostage Wood.  The track heads north east and downhill to the stream.  The crossing is a bit steep and muddy, with some stones to help.

The route continues on a track which becomes covered in tarmac and leads past Spa Farm, with its watchful and barking dogs, the onwards to Spa Farm Cottages.  Here we turned right and followed the road back to Apethorpe, meeting the road beside the pub.

Then we went to the Sondes Arms in Rockingham to eat and celebrate Eddie's coming of age (65)  tomorrow.

It looks like Christmas already!

This walk from Aug 11 2011 covers some of the same ground
Map and details

Kings Cliffe - Apethorpe - Blatherwycke - Kings Cliffe

A last minute route, led by me, with Maureen and Gordon. Just over 8 miles, Dry, windy, some sun.


We set off from Kings Cliffe church, following the road down to the crossing of Willow Brook,  where it became a path shortly after an open area where an old lorry has found a home. The path leads rapidly to a track (Morehay Lane. We turned right and very soon left the track for a path to the left.  This leads up and then past some clay pits, through fields. You can see Apethorpe church in the trees ahead. We didn't go right into the village, but when we arrived at a threeway junction took the road signposted Lodge Farm and Spa Farm.  After a fair walk we met a turn to the left 'Private Road - Lodge Farm only' . This told us that we'd not taken the track we expected to take, so a bit of map-thinking was needed.
Quick change of plan, and we continued towards Spa Farm Cottages, and Spa Farm itself. 
The path carried on in the same direction (S.W - ish) and just after a hedge,  we found a trig point 85 metres above sea level according to the map.

 On along the clear path through the cornfield, touching the corner of Briary Wood.
A slight change of direction to our left ( more to the south now) took us past the corner of Hostage Wood and in the direction of an abandoned building. 

Nice place - how do I get the furniture in though?

 We didn't cross the stream, but continued round the edge of the field, turning sharp right. 
We were slightly off track, as we follwed the stream rather than the edge of Bushey Wood, but there is a gravel track which led us up to Hostage Wood again.  We kept the wood to our right and followed the path slightly up hill, until we turned a corner and found a convenient bench for a snack break.


Straight along the path still, in the middle of trees forming the field boundaries, past Keeper's Cottage, with its crowing cockerel and barking dogs, and down to the road into Blatherwycke.  A hundred yards or so along this road, past the alpacas in the field, and on the corner we followed the footpath off to the right.

Cool haircut

Wistful thinking?

The path passes Blatherwycke church and a large building where a lot of work is being done.  We saw the statue on the skyline to the right.

Apollo Belvedere

I found this picture I took in Feb 2008, with my comments: 

" I wonder who he is, with his cloak, and 
fig-leaf. His right arm is leaning on a 
tree trunk with a snake coiled round it. 
He stands on a hefty plinth with carvings.
He probably belonged to Blatherwycke Hall,
which was demolished in 1948. 
The Hall was used by troops in 
World War 2, and was in a poor state."

My thanks to Barry for pointing me to this information on East Northants website):

Sir Humphrey Stafford and his wife built Blatherwycke Hall in 1713, but it was pulled down in 1948 after irreparable damage by troops billeted there in WW2. The only remaining remnant of the estate is a statue of The Apollo Belvedere in an adjacent field.

Today we carried on along the path, past the recently  planted trees and views of the lake and a house by the water.  At one point we had to turn slightly to the left through a hedge, to keep on the path towards Alders Farm.  The path is clearly marked from here - some small trees have been cut down since I was here last.  


On through fields, keeping the brook to our left,  over stiles or through gates, over the brook by the footbridge.   We went through a field of cows, and another grassy field, along at the bottom of the allotments, and followed the road/track through the back end of the village until we reached the church.

There's something about allotments.

Map and details