October 18, 2023.
POYNTON POOLCAR PARK, GLASTONBURY DRIVE, PARK LODGE, BIRCH HALL BOARDING KENNELS, BRAMHALL HIGH SCHOOL, HAPPY VALLEY NATURE RESERVE, BRAMALL HALL, THE LADYBROOK IN BRAMHALL, HAPPY VALLEY, MILL HILL HOLLOW, BARLOW FOLD FARM, POYNTON POOL
Distance: 7 miles.
Difficulty: Easy.
Weather: Fine with occasional sunshine.
Walkers: Peter Beal, Mike Cassini, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Mark Enright, Mark Gibby, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, Dean Taylor, Keith Welsh with Abe, Simon Williams, Cliff Worthington.
Apologies: Mickey Barrett (sore leg), Alastair Cairns, George Dearsley (in Turkey), Dave Willetts (on roof)
Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.
Starting point: Car park off Anglesey Drive next to Poynton Pool.
Starting time: 9.49am. Finishing time: 2.10pm.
A dozen walkers turned up for this double birthday celebration and were rewarded with unseasonably warm weather on a dry day that was occasionally brightened by sunshine.
A shorter route was chosen to maximise the time spent in the pub and to avoid the rain forecast for later in the day. It also enabled our wounded comrade Peter to join us for his first outing since a falling tree flattened him during a thunderstorm in Corfu.
We also met a new Wednesday Wanderer in the form of Abe, a black labrador puppy who is training to be a guide dog for the blind. He was accompanied by Keith, who made a welcome return to the fold after a long absence,
Debutant dawg Abe
From the car park, we walked away from Anglesey Drive and immediately encountered Poynton Pool on our left.
This secluded lake was created in the 18th Century when road builders dug out soil to create a highway linking Hazel Grove with Macclesfield. It is now the home of several birds, including swans, Canada geese, mallards, coots, moorhens and great-crested grebes with occasional visits from herons, cormorants and parakeets.
Poynton Pool
Walking with the pool on our left we reached a bench and turned right (6mins) to emerge on the A523 linking Hazel Grove with Macclesfield. We crossed it to enter Glastonbury Drive. Sadly your diarist failed to notice that two of our group – those with canines – had been delayed while Keith gathered some poo into a plastic bag. As I understand the explanation this was shed by Abe.
In any event Tom and Keith passed the bench and continued to the end of the path by the pool, headed south along London Road North, and then headed east in the direction of Higher Poynton before Tom decided to ring his diarist and leader.
As a result of this conversation there was a 15-minute delay while Tom and Daisy and Keith and Abe rejoined the group at the end of Glastonbury Drive where a bridge crossed Lady Brook. Tom explained he was unaware we were heading north-west to Bramhall even though this was stated in last week's diary. “I never read where we're going,” he explained. “I only bother to see where and when we start.”
We headed slightly left (26mins) along a path which took us past Park Lodge on our left. After passing a row of homes on our right we turned right through a kissing gate to enter a field which we crossed and emerged at another kissing gate next to the new A555 bypass. Our group turned left with the by-pass on our right and emerged on Woodford Road (36mins)
We turned right, crossing the road bridge over the bypass and crossed the road to turn left following the sign for Birch Hall Boarding Kennels and Cattery (40mins). The lane swings left at the entrance to Further Dairyground Farm and passes to the right of an exotic poultry enclosure where we saw goats, tufted ducks, guinea fowl and turkeys.
The lane emerges at the start of a housing estate. At the end of Lytham Drive we turned right along a road which led to Bramhall High School on our right. Just beyond the school buildings, there is a public footpath sign and a laid path that leads down to the bank of Lady Brook.
This area is called Happy Valley. It is the home of foxes, badgers, rabbits, voles, herons, kingfishers, songbirds, greater crested newts, frogs, dragonflies, butterflies and a variety of wildflowers. We turned left with the brook on our right.
The path took us out of Happy Valley to the start of a road going left. On our right was the A5143. We went up Bridge Lane opposite, passing houses on our left. On the right of the last house was a footpath down a flight of steps which emerged on Bramhall Park roundabout.
Turning left past a bus stop we used a zebra crossing on our right to reach the road on the far side. We turned right along the pavement for 100 yards and turned left at a white gate on our left to enter Bramhall Park.With the brook on our right we took the right fork signposted Lake and Parklands.
Bramhall Hall
We were now approaching Bramhall Hall, walking over a bridge then swinging right and then left with a duckpond on our right. We climbed a flight of steps to have Pietime on benches at the front of the building (75mins).
The hall is a largely Tudor manor house. It is timber framed and its oldest parts date from the 14th Century with additions in the 16th and 19th Centuries. It stands in 70 acres of landscaped parkland with a playground area, restaurant and museum.
During his harrying of the north William the Conqueror gave 2,000 acres of land in Bramale to Hamon de Massey in 1070. From the late 14th Century it was owned by the Davenport family (by marriage) and they built the present house. They remained lords of the manor for 500 years.
In 1877 they sold the estate of nearly 2,000 acres to The Manchester Freeholders Company, which was formed to exploit the potential for residential housing. The hall and its residual park was sold to the Nevill family, who were successful industrialists, and in 1935 it was acquired by Hazel Grove and Bramhall Urban District Council. After government reorganisation it became the property of current owners Stockport Metropolitan District Council.
Continuing our journey with the hall behind us we turned right and walked down steps to reach a path where we turned left. This took us back to Lady Brook which was now on our left as we exited the park. Those of us who knew the way turned right to retrace our steps back to the pedestrian crossing which took us to the start of Fir Road.
Despite our cries others took a circuitous route over a succession of pedestrian crossings while we awaited their arrival. We then walked up Fir Road and reached The Ladybrook on our right (90mins)
This is a traditional pub serving a variety of cask ales, lagers and ciders, where a table had been reserved for us. As your diarist and Mark Enright were celebrating our birthdays, there were two rounds of drinks to be enjoyed. A variety of tapas snacks were also provided.
We soon noticed a sign overlooking our table which seemed highly appropriate.
Birthday boy Mark looking vulnerable
Tapas time
Hughie had already left us for a prior engagement at Bramall Hall and as we left the pub the Bramhall contingent decided to make their own ways home. The remaining seven of us retraced our footsteps back to Happy Valley. When we reached the path on our right which we had descended earlier we swung left across a bridge with Lady Brook now on our right.
The path now took us over duckboards and a stile into trees where we crossed another stile on our right and turned left. With trees now on our left we walked to the end of a field and reached Woodford Road. Here we turned right and after 100 yards turned left at Mill Hill Hollow (113mins). At this point Mark G made his own way home.
We walked uphill passing houses, the final one being Coppice End where the lane becomes a footpath with a pond on the left. Beyond the pond the path swerves first left and then right as it goes under the A555 with Lady Brook on our left.
After the tunnel we turned right along a gravel track and immediately left towards a metal kissing gate. The path through this leads to another kissing gate and the path continues. A yellow arrow on a tree showed us where to head right uphill to yet another metal kissing gate.
We followed the path now over a footbridge until we reached a main road via an elaborate metal kissing gate (133mins). This was London Road North which we crossed and went up a flight of steps to reach the bank of Poynton Pool. We turned left and reached the car park (135mins)
Next week's walk will start at 10am at Curbar Edge, To reach our starting point most of us will take the A6 east towards Buxton then turn left at a roundabout just before Dove Holes to follow the A623 towards Chesterfield. After passing through Stoney Middleton reach Calver and turn left at The Bridge Inn then go immediately right uphill. After two miles the lane swings right and there are lay-bys on the left where there is free parking.
We will be visiting The Wellington Monument and calling at either The Fox House Inn or The Grouse depending on which route Tom finds himself.
Happy wandering !
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