A walk in Wootton
It’s been overcast and rainy this week so I am falling back on a walk we took in November on a clear , blue sky day.
We completed this as a linear walk from our starting point in Wootton back to Greenacres. It was 6km and that’s plenty for a border collie knocking on the door of 15 years old, although in truth it was plenty for us too that day.
The starting point, through the arch in the stone wall ( It’s a bit ‘ Secret Garden’)
We took a short loop to pass Wootton Lodge, visible from the footpath, and then walked back up and over the hill dropping back into the valley that runs behind Greenacres. The final stretch of the walk is along the railway line and up through the field to home.
Wootton Lodge, seen as you walk along the footpath.
According to David‘s copy of the Staffordshire Pevsner, Wootton Lodge was built between 1580 -1611 by Sir Richard Fleetwood. He describes it as ‘high, compact, and hard with it’s unrelenting grid of mullions and transoms’. I know nothing about architecture so I don’t know if that‘s an insult but ‘unrelenting’ sounds a bit sniffy!
It looked beautiful on a bright November day though.
The house is privately owned by the Bamford family (JCB) so you need to admire it from the footpath. Pevsner notes that as owner, Mr Bamford ‘demonstrates here to what good use his excavators can be put’ referring to terraces, lakes and rockeries that have been added by the family.
Back down the lane and though another smaller wall a footpath takes you past, but not all the way around, a lake.
We took a path up the hill and down the other side to the valley behind Greenacres.
You will pass Crumpwood weir on the way.
The final stretch takes you back along the railway line to home.
There are lots of alternate paths you could choose along the way. We’ll show you the route of the walk on the map if you would like when you are here.
Tessa