Cheshire Walks - A Gawsworth Ramble

A Boxing Day Walk  

Getting together with a group of friends for a gentle ramble in the countryside is always an enjoyable event.  Do this on Boxing Day after the excesses of the Christmas Day festivities and it is recuperative too.  Finish it off with a welcome pub lunch and everything is wonderful!

Our meeting place was outside the Harrington Arms in Gawsworth, a village just south of Macclesfield in Cheshire.  From there we walked up towards the church and the Tudor manor house, Gawsworth Hall, admiring the beautiful old houses, timbered buildings and the reflection of the church tower across the village pond.

Gawsworth church

We passed the entrance to the Hall and walked by the old cottages, passing Gawsworth Fisheries to reach a farm gate heading straight ahead to cross the fields.  It was perfect weather, cold but sunny with a few fluffy white clouds drifting by. Visibility was good and we could clearly see Macclesfield Forest, Wilboarclough and Croker Hill.  

The route continues straight across a number of fields until eventually reaching Woodhouse End Road where we turned right.  Following this road we ignored a right turn for Cowbrook Lane and continued over the railway bridge then turned left following a footpath sign which takes you up to Woodhouse Green farm.  From here the footpath skirts around the farm buildings, first going through a metal field gate and turning left and then through a hand gate on the left where the path continues to the right.

There had been a lot of rain recently (and snow) and the fields here were especially boggy.  We squelched along, quite slowly, trying to avoid the worst of the muddy areas.  One of the girls got stuck in the mud, the suction under her foot was too much for her and she had to be pulled out! 

At the far side of the field there is a stile and a short path through a copse which leads to the Macclesfield Canal.  There were some unusual fungi on a fallen tree that looked a bit like ears and I was quite taken with them. You can see them below.

Woodland fungi

Once at the canal side the route turns to the left following the canal towpath until reaching a turning for Danes Moss on the left.  We saw a big group of Canada geese in the canal and adjoining field and were passed by just two canal boats. 

Canada geese on the Macclesfield canal

On our Boxing Day walks we always have a stop for our flasks of coffee and morsels of stollen or Christmas cake, it has become part of the tradition.  This time we stopped at the top of one of the canal footbridges so we could look down at the scenery and take a moment or two to share out our provisions.

The footpath turns left, over a railway bridge, then into Danes Moss nature reserve which is the largest and highest lowland raised bog in Cheshire, it is an area of Special Scientific Interest and contains at least 6 species of sphagnum moss. The Cheshire Wildlife Trust manage the reserve and recommend that the best time to visit is between March - September when many species of dragonfly, damselfly and butterfly can be spotted.  In winter it is still good to see the mosses and grasses glowing in the winter sun.

Sphagnum moss

We continued following the footpath straight ahead, along the edge of the field and through the reserve until we reached the end where the path turns to the left.  Following this we emerged back on to Woodhouse End Road.  Here we turned right down the road until we found the footpath sign on the left taking us back into a field.

The route now crosses a couple of fields until it emerges at a stile with Church Lane, turning left here we soon arrived back at Gawsworth Hall and then retraced our steps to the pub.

The Harrington Arms is a lovely old farmhouse which serves great beers and tasty food and we enjoyed tucking into our selections of fish finger butties with chunky chips, fish pie, fishcakes and mushroom risotto.  It was a good walk, great weather, lovely company and delicious food. 

The walk is about 3.5 miles and a map for the walk can be seen here (the map starts and ends at Gawsworth Hall).