Barton, Coddington, Clutton and Stretton

Saturday 9 April 5 miles

Carol, Donna, Jane and Hilary.

We were to meet Carol in Barton, but she had written Barnton on the WhatsApp so we thought we were going to Northwich not very far away. Fortunately we realised on the morning of the walk that Barnton was in the wrong direction and also that we had therefore not allowed enough time to get to Barton by 10am. 

We did eventually arrive and set off on a lovely walk in the Cheshire countryside provided by Cheshire Life. It turned out to be a pleasant sunny walk.

We walked on the signed path down the side of the pub and passed the conservatory ready for a wedding. We crossed the A534 and went into Barton Village, there were some houses that had painted flowers on them and we really liked them.

At times it was hard to know exactly where the path was and debated if we should walk through the farm yard  but that was the only way through. We came out on the road then walked passed the pond on Mill Lane and crossed the fields to Coddington. 

We came to Clutton where we crossed the road.

We walked up hill and went under a tree that had fallen across the path, there was plenty of room to get underneath, it didn't look too sturdy and we wondered when it would fall further. We passed the old rock face with a tree growing around it. Soon we came to some pines where someone was cutting some down and had left slices of tree trunk that were just right for us to sit on and have our lunch.

At Carden Park we walked across parts of the golf course there didn't seem to be anyone around fortunately. We went passed the clubhouse and the vineyard and then took the road to Carden Lodge. Carol pointed out the newish Spa Garden and Thermal Experience.

We followed the road to Stretton Mill. The gentleman at the mill had wandered away but when he saw us looking in the open door I think he thought he was going to have some customers, and then soon lost interest when he realised he wasn't.

We were looking forward to seeing inside the Cock O'Barton pub when we returned but there was a wedding going on so we couldn't go in. We looked at our phones and saw there was a Lakeside Cafe not too far away. It turned out to be a Caravan Park cafe and we sat inside as the wind was blowing cold even in the sunshine, We had some tea and hot chocolate. Carol had a scone and I had a Wispa brownie that was very sweet.