Alderney Edge

 December 30, 2020.

THE EDGE AT ALDERLEY, BRYNLOW, TANYARD FARM, DANE VILLA, DEAN GREEN FARM, SOSS MOSS HALL, CHELFORD, HEAWOOD HALL, NETHER ALDERLEY, BRADFORD HOUSE, MEADOW FARM, WIZARD COUNTRY PARK

Distance: 10 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Snow underfoot in fields and cold but dry.

Leader: Chris Owen. Diarist: Alan Hart.

Starting point: Car park of the The Wizard pub and restaurant, Macclesfield Road, Nether Alderley. 

Starting time: 9.35am. Finishing time: 2.37pm.

Alternative walkers: Colin Davison and Laurie Fairman.

 

There was a Christmas card look about the scenery as Chris led our walk from this famous landmark. Black ice initially made the road surfaces tricky as we were followed at social distances by Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Jock Rooney, Dean Taylor and George Whaites on a route never attempted before.

Despite the hazardous conditions and lack of rehearsal, we emerged unscathed after a few minor hiccups on the way, ending our journey just as the first flakes of a new snowfall were landing.  

With harsher government covid restrictions being announced during the day, this could be the last officially planned outing for several weeks. For now only two people will be allowed to walk together until further notice and any walks will have to be arranged by individuals for the immediate future. As soon as the situation changes Wednesday Wanderers will be informed by email.

From the National Trust car park we crossed the B5087 Macclesfield Road into Artists Lane and headed gingerly downhill, crossing the A34 and following a signpost for Chelford (24mins). Great care was needed as we tiptoed over the icy tarmac before turning right (35mins) at an easily-missed green public footpath sign. Well spotted Jock !

After crossing a wooden stile we went over a bridge with a railway line below. On the far side of the bridge we crossed a wooden stile on our right and then turned left, keeping a fence on our left until we reached the corner of the field (47mins). Crossing a wooden stile on our left we then turned right over the next wooden stile and headed towards a farmhouse (53mins)

With long rows of greenhouses on our left we walked to a T-junction, turning left and then right over a wooden stile before turning left again and following the fence to the corner of a field. Here access to a stile had been overgrown and the easiest way to reach it was to clamber over a nearby gate,

After crossing the wooden stile we turned right (60mins) following a green public footpath sign along a path which ran parallel with the Alderley by-pass for 200 yards before swinging towards it. Even on a day of light traffic judgement, speed and not least courage were needed to cross the road and follow a path on the other side which swung left and then right.

We followed public footpath signs and yellow arrows to head through Tanyard Farm (83mins) and reached  a road where we turned left. Passing Christmas House on our right (99mins) we reached Merrymans Lane on our right. Here we turned left opposite the lane at a green public footpath sign by Dane Villa. After crossing two wooden stiles and a footbridge, whilst evading the attentions of two inquisitive horses, we stopped for Pietime (107mins)

Suitably refreshed we proceeded to the left corner of the field and went through a metal kissing gate marked with a yellow arrow. We kept a hedge on our left as we went through a field and crossed a wooden stile to reach a minor road called Soss Moss Lane (118mins)

We turned left passing a cottage called Grogram and turned right off the lane just before we reached a railway bridge (126mins). We were now in Nursery Lane, passing Dean Green Farm on our right and Soss Moss Hall on our left before reaching a main road opposite Keepers Cottage. We turned left (145mins)

After passing a sign for Chelford (150mins) we walked under a railway bridge (151mins) and turned left at a firm called Concep, following a footpath sign through its car park to reach a permissive path via a wooden stile (161mins). When we reached a T-junction of paths we wasted ten minutes in deliberation and the wrong route before turning right (173 mins) on a path between two fields. We then swung left to pass a yellow arrow on a post and follow the path through a copse of mixed saplings until we emerged at a T-junction (184mins). We turned left and went through a metal kissing gate to emerge on a lane (197mins)

Turning left we reached a T-junction where we turned left and right at a wooden public footpath sign with a yellow arrow to head for West Barn. We carried straight on where the track swung right (200mins) and followed yellow arrows as the path continued through a successive series of stiles and gates before pausing for lunch (203mins)

Continuing we reached Heawood Hall on our left, passing it before following a yellow arrow along a lane lined with a tall leylandai hedge on its left (213mins). We proceeded through a wooden kissing gate and up a flight of stone steps to cross a bridge over the Alderley by-pass (216mins)

Another wooden kissing gate to our left marked with a yellow arrow brought us to a metal kissing gate and a field in front of a turreted church. We followed a path into the churchyard (226mins)

St Mary's Church, Nether Alderley, dates back to the 14th Century and at its gate is a building which was once Nether Alderley Boys' School, dating from the 17th Century. It was a school until 1908. 

The nearby rectory was once the home of Neil and Christine Hamilton, the former MP for Tatton and his wife, who notoriously accepted free lavish hospitality from Harrods' Egyptian owner Mohammed al Fayed in return for seeking to get him a British passport. When al Fayed's passport application was refused he tipped off the press about his failed bribe to the Hamiltons.

After passing the rectory on our left we reached the A34 and turned left passing Netherley Alderley Mill on our right (231mins) This 16th Century cornmill is owned by the National Trust. You will be as impressed as I was to learn it is a unique example of a triple overshot waterwheel system.

Further along the main road we turned right up Bradford Lane (236mins), passing some of the area's most expensive houses before forking left at an ornamental triangle (243mins) and passing Meadow Farm on our left. We forked left at a green puiblic footpath sign passing Wizard Country Park on our left (259mins), the home of Wednesday Wanderer Graham Stone.

At the end of Bradford Lane (265mins) we turned left into Artists Lane (267mins) and returned to The Wizard car park (268mins)

Meanwhile alternative walkers Colin Davison and Laurie Fairman had set off from the former's home in High Lane to head through Lyme Park to Black Hill, returning via New Mills and the Goyt Valley Trail to Disley, a total of nine miles.

Happy wandering ! 

 

Tom's map of the walk

Pictures by Alan Hart