Biddulph Grange garden ...

The garden at Biddulph Grange, between Stoke-on-Trent and the Peak District, was created by James Bateman in the 19th century. It is now owned by the National Trust. For once I will let my photographs 'do the talking' ... 

 

There is, of course, much more to see.

In the valley of the Manifold ...

We parked at Hulme End about 15 miles from home and walked along the Manifold Way. We were intrigued by the Staffordshire RIGS Group waymark ...

The Manifold Way is another of the now defunct railways that used to run in the Peak District. This one follows what used to be the Leek and Manifold Light Railway ...



  Pock-marked Ecton Hill loomed into view ...



  

There was evidence how popular this area was and still is ...

 

Beside the Manifold Way we could see why a Geotrail had been created here ...

 



To see the Geotrail leaflet [and download it if you're interested] go to the GeoConservation Staffordshire website here and click on Geotrails and then HampsManifold.

Like many trails that were once railway lines you have to get used to walking in a straight line for a hundred yards [or more] from time to time ...

 

Part of the Manifold Way is still used by traffic ... which makes walking through Swainsley Tunnel good fun ...



 As you can see there's not much room. We made it to the other end though ...



 We reached Wetton Mill where there's a nice tearoom and toilets ... as well as two National Trust Holiday Cottages. 

 

We were now on the eastern side of the River Manifold and as we walked back up the valley we got a good view of Ossoms Hill dotted with hawthorn trees ...

 

We were following an old road now which got quite steep in places ...

 

There was more evidence of the interesting geology hereabouts ...



 

We reached Swainsley again but this time we were across the river and above ground ... and there was a dovecote in view too ...

 

We were back at Ecton Hill and we read through the warning sign carefully ...

 

We then did something I wouldn't be able to do now ... we walked directly uphill ...

 

As we were going directly up, some other walkers were on their way down ...

 

We got a bird's eye view of Swainsley [and its dovecote] now ...

 

... and the slopes of Ecton Hill to our left ...

 

A 20 second video [with wind] gives you a good idea of the scenery in these parts ...

 

From a walking point of view a leader is told he should never walk straight up a hill to walk back down again. Guess what I did ...

Back at ground level some of the local livestock were foraging ...



 There is evidence that copper was mined beneath Ecton Hill as far back as the Bronze Age. It was the 4th Duke of Devonshire who made his fortune from it though, according to the information panel ...



 You can see 'you are here' on the panel above and you can see where we were in the photograph below ...



  I wonder what it's like 200 feet below ground now.

We made it safely back to the car park and had lunch at the Tea Junction ...



 Very nice it was too.

This walk was followed on the 1st May 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 6.23 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 160.49 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 1st May 2011 ~ 688.54 miles

  37 of 2011 [which means in 2011 I was averaging approximately 4.33 miles a walk.]
 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

This summary includes a walk of 2.26 miles on the 30th April 2011 around the villages of Carsington and Hopton for which there are no photographs.

The Rowthorne Trail and Lady Spencer's Wood ...

I think I was out on my fourth walk in four days ... back in April 2011 !

So, who was I out with ? Who's this ?

 It's my grandson ... with his mother !



 I had told Katy that it would only be a stroll so we parked on the Rowthorne Trail not so very far from Hardwick Hall ... and set off in the sunshine ...



 We left the Trail and headed across a field of oil seed rape towards Norwood ...



 The ground was very dry ...



 We entered Norwood ...



 The bluebells were in flower ...

 

They grow quite a lot of oil seed rape in this area but at least the footpath across the large field leading to Norwood Lodge was clear ...

 

There are three or four properties at Norwood Lodge but the path is easy enough to follow between the gardens ...



 We turned right along Newbound Lane and after a few hundred yards entered Lady Spencer's Wood owned by the National Trust ...





 

As you can imagine, with eleven year old Benjamin with us [as he was then] the walk was far from dull ...

 

The next wood we passed through was Park Piece where there was a wonderful display of Dryad's Saddle ...



  



 After leaving the wood and crossing a field we reached the driveway which led us away from the Hardwick Estate ... and back to the car.



This walk was followed on the 28th April 2011
 
Length of stroll ~ 2.84 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 149.93 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 28th April 2011 ~ 677.98 miles

  34 of 2011 [which means in 2011 I was averaging just over 4.40 miles a walk.]
 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

After the walk we went to Hardwick Hall ...





 This lady was dressed as a gardener of the time ...



 I often go to Hardwick just to look around the garden [as I did yesterday !] though all these photographs were taken a couple of years ago ...



 It is a marvellous place, well worth a visit.



 We finish as we started with a photograph of Benjamin. I think he was just about to take flight off the mounting block ...