Hilary, Donna + Jane
I have called this 'Goostrey Wanderings' as we made it up as we went along. Hilary had seen the path as she was out and about and wanted to see where it went.
We parked at The Crown in Goostrey, it was closed for refurbishment. In walking along the road we passed the church and the Red Lion and took the track that led to Blackden Hall,
a Grade ll* listed Cheshire farmhouse with about 10 Acres on the market for a guide price of £1,295,000. Hilary wondered if this house belonged to Alan Garner, it didn't, his house is called 'Toad Hall' and is close by. Having walked by the house and between the outbuildings we could see the Lovell Telescope quite clearly.
Here we had a choice of going left or right, we chose to go left along Blackden Firs. At the t-junction we once again got out the map, we decided to go left again on to Bridge Lane, then we joined Bomish Lane. Here there are four very modern houses known as 'The Granary Yard' built in 2017. They are four bed houses and two have integral garages and two with separate double garages with a room above (playroom? or office?).
At The next junction we turned right along Blackden Lane. There are some lovely houses along this road too, a few new builds as well as older properties. One house had flat roofs and lots of glass, a man was putting up a swing and a slide combo in the garden. We suggested we might have a go - even though it was for younger children. We also laughed at the fact that they had a line of trees and pampas grass along the fence line.
We came to a triangle of grass in the road, the map came out again so we could decide whether to go left or right, left won out. Soon after that we came to a bend in the road where there was water on the verge and over part of the road. There was also a finger post indicating a bridle way. We looked at the map and decided to take it. Being off the road was good, although we passed a person with a dog who warned that it was very muddy. To start with it wasn't very muddy so I wondered what they were talking about but we soon had lots of mud to negotiate. Most of the time we just had to walk through it. Half way down this path we had to turn off so that we could return to the road and create a circular walk. We could have gone to the end of the path and still walked around to Goostrey but it looked quite a bit further then the route we chose.
At the turn in the path Donna and Hilary both said they were hungry plus there was somewhere to sit. The three old pallets piled in the field had been there a while but they weren't too wobbly and old. We had an early lunch at 11.30! This was a pleasant place to sit in the sunshine and enjoy the fields and the trees around us. A lady passed with a dog and said there had been sheep in the field last just a week before.
We went into the woods and across the Peover Eye, it was very muddy here too. WE continued up to the field and followed the edge to the lane, then to the gate and Blackden Lane.
As we walked along Blackden Lane we heard woodpeckers in the woods. We continued along the road until we got back to the corner where the water came onto the road. From here we retraced our steps passed the lovely houses, things look different from the other direction and we noticed a large well equipped play area in a garden, the children of the house must love it.
We continued along Blackden Road, up Church Rise and into Goostrey, then it was just a short walk along Main Road to the car. Even though we had mainly been on lanes not many cars passed us so it is always strange to be back in the world of traffic again.
We were not far from Jodrell bank, and we decided to go there. They were doing up the car park. We had tea and something sweet at the cafe: the sweet was danish pastries and shortbread. We were disappointed that there were no proper cakes.
