Four mile walk

Today we walked 4 miles on our local footpaths. I have tried to document it with photo’s so please let me know what you think. Is it rubbish?, are the photo’s too much?, is it boring? If I get some feedback I’ll know whether or not to try it again!


We set off from Taylor’s Flour mill at South Wingfield and crossed the River Amber which was running high, a torrent of water was flowing under the bridge.






The fields had dried out quite a bit but there were a lot of fresh mole hills. We think the moles were in danger of drowning and had to keep coming up for a lung full of air.

I like stiles, the different styles of stiles (I hope I’ve spelt them correctly) can be interesting and can sometimes give a clue as to how long the footpath has been around.

The path runs alongside a football pitch which was still a sea of mud.

This is the corner post of the pitch. I bet it's exciting watching a corner in this mess.




Another footbridge to cross this time over a feeder to the Amber but still a lot of water in it.

The path then passes under the main rail line through a purpose built tunnel and comes out onto a farmers track way which doubles as a public footpath.

We turned right (left just goes back to Wingfield via the road) onto a green lane.

Oak apple which contains a larva of a type of gall wasp.

There is a good view of Wingfield Manor from this lane, now in the care of English Heritage where, if you’ve got the energy you can climb the towers to get fantastic views of the surrounding countryside. Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here in the mid 16th century.

The green lane runs alongside a wooded slope and if you look carefully you’ll notice the soil under the trees is actually shale. Yes, there was a colliery here, over the hill at Oakerthorpe. It’s all completely vanished now except for the slag heaps of course. Anyway it’s made a lovely wooded nature reserve that everyone can wander around and it's given a home to lots of birds and animals.

After about half a mile we took the left path which crosses in front of a house and into the wood. The stile here is in the wall, a squeezer type but someone has kindly put in a little wicket gate.

The wall is also the end of the garden and has a small Dovecote built into it. A Dovecote is where pigeons were kept and they were all free range and fed themselves so there was very little work in rearing the birds, but provided a constant supply of meat. The inside walls have nesting holes from floor to ceiling, it's a bit like a modern block of flats.

A quick sentence for my Sister-in -law …. my brother (her husband) and I were born in a Dovecote after it had been converted for human habitation of course, and Janet, I couldn't find a blue plaque on this building either!

The path up through the woods leads to a sunken way and ultimately to a very old quarry, only a small quarry and I haven’t yet found out where the stone was used.

The ground in this part of the wood is full of Bluebell shoots and it’s going to be a real sight in a few weeks, the proverbial blue carpet. We’re looking forward to seeing it.

We continued ever upwards, it’s not too far, honestly…...............................to the top where it was time for a sustenance stop. It’s very important to keep your strength up with regular snacks !!when walking in winter. The temperature was about 10 degrees but you’ve got to practice these stops so that in the event of a cold day you don’t get caught wanting!

This is another sideline of walking, looking for interesting corners and trying to work out what happened. In this bit of a copse we found several very old farm implements left to die in peace.
This one was a ……………asked Pat and what it was used for………..raking up the hay!

Close by there is an old hay cart, the kind that you see in chocolate box pictures and jigsaws. Deeper into the wood there are just the skeletons of other implements slowly getting buried by the undergrowth. I imagine future archaeologists gently scraping the soil away and marvelling at steel spring systems in use. Then again there may well be plenty kept in museums so that archaeology becomes redundant or the technology of the day means that a camera is pointed at the ground, set on depth (a bit like we set the focus on head and shoulders or close up) and takes a perfect image of what is buried. That would certainly take the fun out a dig.

Full of new calories we felt fortified to continue with our journey. For the next mile or so we were on new ground. At the corner of the copse where we dined there is a Sweet Chestnut tree.

The corkscrew bark is a dead give away for this species in Winter (of course the chestnuts and shells on the ground helped a bit as well). We’ll have to do this walk again next Autumn to check on the edibility and size.

I have been noting all the fruit and nut stops on our walks and have found several apple trees that are sweet for eating as well as cooking. Hawthorn berries are on the menu next autumn, squeezed and sieved until the juice is free of seeds and skin at which point it should set like jelly. It’s then cut into strips and dried in the sun (oven in this country I think) and it can last years in that state. Apparently it is very sweet and fruity. We’ll let you know.

Stratocumulus stratiformis opacus (impressive huh!) It means it's black and you can't see through it. Ed.



Back to the walk. We love these local footpaths over fields and through woods and all the nooks and crannies that make up our countryside. Look at the Hazel in this hedge, it has been coppiced and see how many walking sticks there are. A true free range walking stick factory. No pollution, no noise, no maintenance. Just cut sticks when ready and nature will do the manufacturing.


The next part of the path wound along the edge of the fields and we thank the farmer for not cutting down the trees or cutting back the undergrowth to make his field larger. It’s a path that has all sorts of wonderful things to look for. The first Spring flowers , Butterflies, birds even small mammals of which we saw none on this walk. Better luck next time.

Nooks....

... and crannies.

I didn’t take a picture of the Oakerthorpe road which we crossed near the Anchor pub. A fascinating place the pub, it has a mighty big Anchor in the front garden and the sign shows the pub to be original 17th century. It was built in 1642 and the first renovation was 1925. The enlargements to the original buildings have all been done in the last 30 years.

Over the road the path is between back garden fencing and a small grassy field.
It leads into Oakerthorpe nature reserve past a nice looking house with a nasty looking Alsatian.
I love the real single snowdrop.

He didn’t take too kindly to having his photo taken!

It’s very muddy in places in the reserve but some boardwalks have been erected over the worse spots. It’s marshy area with ponds and from the information board it owes it’s existence to mining subsidence. Is there any where in this corner of England that doesn’t?

It’s a lovely place to find the more unnoticed flowers and fungi at the right time of year and frogs and toads and grass snakes. I would love to see a real live wild grass snake hanging from a hedge in summer. I’ve been looking for 30 years but probably not seeing!

We didn’t walk the reserve today we continued over Alfreton Golf Course.

Sorry about this one, I just like old gnarled trees!

Golf courses always have nice open areas with stands of trees, sandpits and beautiful lawned areas just right for elevenses. Only joking, I think the greensman would have us shot on the spot if we lit a fire on his green.

Across 2 more stiles and fields, over the Oakerthorpe to Alfreton road and back into more fields.
Oakerthorpe road over the brow of the hill.

Oakerthorpe is in the dip.

Ha, there it is nestling cosily between the hills.

Nice views from here down towards the Peacock Inn. An old coaching inn and reputedly to have a tunnel leading direct to Wingfield Manor. The 'Inn' was also a post office where the post for the area was sorted. The pigeon holes and parcel cupboards are still intact and on view.

The farm buildings looked just like a shanty town as we approached and I couldn’t resist a photo. Just look at the subtle changes in the colours in the roofing, a true representation of mid 20th century culture. The recycled wooden fence posts used in a then fashionable abstract pattern to give the whole structure stability. Did you spot the wall hangings on the right hand side to give the whole ensemble a homely atmosphere?

I shan’t even try to describe the next building but I just had to get a picture of the Cockerel who was jealously guarding his harem of one chicken. She was totally ignoring him and quite happily scratching in the soft earth.

The next unhappy soul we encountered was the farm dog and he was very brave, barking and trying to get behind us but a quick snap of the lense cover and he slunk away. Seems like dogs do not like their photo to be taken.

The footpath we intended to take passes to the rear of The Peacock but the ground was pure mud, curdled by the cows and in danger of suffocating our toes. So, we backtracked and took the path in a direct line to the railway.

The cows and bullocks ignored us, thankfully, but look at his cow horns, one skyward and the other earthbound. Great aren’t they, makes me want another motorbike!

Just look at the mud near the stile, and this was the good path.

The path sloped down towards the railway and instead of crossing we turned left and headed towards the road running through South Wingfield.

No I didn’t collect anymore of this fungi, Jew’s Ear, remember it’s cold and slippery and not much better cooked!

We came across some old railway carriages and buildings that looked like they were a railway station.

Sadly they were derelict but given time and money they would make a super home, especially with the ideas that modern interior designers have. They were in fact the remaining buildings for South Wingfield station.

Look what we found amongst the rubble, a bit of beauty amongst the beastly.

Instead of taking the road back to the car we decided to continue back into Shaw Wood.


The path sloped gently upwards....

and upwards .....

to the top corner and ..........

we walked .......


and walked.....

past the den which we think is the local kids, towards the copse where we had our first tea stop.

After a second tea break we retraced our footsteps down the sunken lane,




through the wicket gate

along the green lane

where I noticed this tree. A stag’s head in my eyes but his antlers have gone a bit awry!

Under the railway

a quick photo opportunity of the Manor (on telephoto)

and oh good! The van’s still there.

A lovely day and some beautiful countryside with interesting wooded areas. It's friendly and comfortable walking in this type of countryside. Hope you've enjoyed sharing the walk, please let us know your favourite walks.