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Woodseaves Walks; Walk 1, Park Mill and Park Hall Farm

Difficulty Leisurely

Walking time 1 hour 24 minutes

Length 4.5km / 2.8mi

Route developer: Geoff Loadwick

Route checker: Pamela Bradley

Start location Woodseaves Village, nine miles west of Stafford
Route Summary This two-and-three-quarter mile walk uses footpaths and bridleways across fields and passes the former Park Mill where deer can sometimes be seen. It offers good views towards the north-west to Bishop's Wood, four miles away.
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Getting there

Buses: Arriva Midland runs a two-hourly bus service between Stafford and Woodseaves calling at Great Bridgeford and Eccleshall

Description

Woodseaves Walks 1 - 4, are all circular walks that pass by "The Green" and they can be combined in any number and any order to produce a range of walks varying in length from 1.5 miles to 7.5 miles.

[1] Starting from the village crossroads, walk towards High Offley using the pavement on the left-hand side of the road.

(A) Prior to the building of the Council Houses in the early fifties and before the arrival of the senior citizens' bungalows or the housing estates of Barn Common and Glebefields, in the sixties, this was a quiet country lane with neat hedges and rough verges. As you walk down the pavement, you pass some older property that formed a small community long before piped water arrived in the district. Those who lived here then obtained their water from a well in Well Alley, which runs between High Offley Road and Back Lane. 

Pass, in turn, the end of Glebefields cul-de-sac, the entrance to the village hall and the end of Blackberry Way. At the point where the pavement comes to an end, Back Lane joins the High Offley Road from the right.

(B) The house built into the corner of High Offley Road and Back Lane is the former Wesleyan Chapel; notice that the date 1844 is still displayed on the front of the building.

Turn left to leave the High Offley Road and follow the lane to The Green. At the T-junction, turn right and continue along the lane to re-join the High Offley Road opposite Home Farm. Cross the road and turn left. In fifty metres there is a concrete "cow lane" on the right passing between the buildings of Home Farm and its neighbouring farm, The Hollies

[2] Walk up the cow lane and pass beyond the farm buildings. Near the end of the lane there is a track turning off to the right. Opposite this track on the left of the cow lane, there is a stile and a signpost pointing into the field. Cross the field going half right to the corner of the hedge and walk down the field with the hedge on your right. Just before you reach the bottom corner of the field, there is a gate in the hedge on your right.

[3] Go through the gate and walk up the next field keeping the hedge on your right.

(C) There are some good views ahead towards Bishop's Wood, one of the last remnants of a vast forest that once covered this whole area.

Go over the stile in the corner of the field and cross the farm lane to another stile in the hedge opposite. Continue down this field keeping the hedge on your right and go over the stile in the bottom corner to reach the Garmelow Road.

[4] Turn right and walk down the road for 150 metres. Just before the road bends to the right, there is a gate on the right at the side of a tree. Go through the gate and walk down the bridleway between a hedge on the right and a square-mesh deer-fence on the left.

(D) Park Mill

Take care not to step into any of the rabbit holes that tunnel beneath the path.

(E) If you walk quietly along this stretch of bridleway you might be fortunate enough to see a herd of roe deer in the field on the left.

Thirty metres after the deer fence turns slightly to the left, there is a bridlegate in the hedge on the right.

Go through this gate and walk up the field keeping the fence on your right. When you reach a bridlegate, go through the gate and turn half left to reach a bridlegate on the left of a barn. Go through the bridlegate and walk a few metres to cross a concrete track.

[5] Follow the bridleway round between two barns, where there is another bridlegate. Go through this gate and walk up the field, keeping the hedge on the left. Just after passing a pond surrounded by bushes on your right, you reach a bridlegate in the corner of the field.

(F)This is a good place to pause and look at the view behind you. On a clear day you can see the Maer Hills and in front of them, the former windmill at Croxton.

Go through the bridlegate and, keeping the hedge on your left, continue up the next field. Just before the corner of the field, turn half right to a bridlegate at the end of the cow lane.

Walk down the cow lane to reach the High Offfley Road and turn left to retrace your outward route and return to the crossroads in Woodseaves.

 

POI information

Park Mill.  Prior to 1980 when this path was officially diverted onto its present route, it used to pass along the side of Lonco Brook, 100 metres to the left. In the days when Park Mill was a working mill, long before it was converted to a private house, local farmers would bring their corn to the mill, perhaps once a week, to have it ground. Some of them would come along the route we are about to follow back to Woodseaves. The mill drew its power from the waters of Lonco Brook and was an example of an undershot mill

Notes No details available.
Acknowledgements No details available.
  • The village crossroads. High Offley Road leaves on the right and Dicky
    The village crossroads. High Offley Road leaves on the right and Dicky's Lane on the left.
    By - Geoff Loadwick
  • View along High Offley Road towards the Woodseaves crossroads. The white house on the left is the former Wesleyan Chapel
    View along High Offley Road towards the Woodseaves crossroads. The white house on the left is the former Wesleyan Chapel
    By - Geoff Loadwick
  • The "cow lane" passing between "Home Farm" and its neighbouring farm, "The Hollies".
    The "cow lane" passing between "Home Farm" and its neighbouring farm, "The Hollies".
    By - Geoff Loadwick
  • The view towards Bishop
    The view towards Bishop's Wood
    By - Geoff Loadwick
  • A mute swan with roe deer at Park Mill
    A mute swan with roe deer at Park Mill
    By - Geoff Loadwick
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