Thursday 19 December 2024 - A Walk from Beeston Castle

An hour's drive took me and Sue to the Beeston Castle car park at SJ 540 590. (£3)

From here, the Sandstone Trail heads south through the narrow ginnel shown above, before crossing a road and reaching open fields with a view ahead to Peckforton Castle, now a hotel.

The view back to Beeston Castle

Looking back, the ruins of Beeston Castle, which dates from 1220 - a military stronghold with a turbulent history - hog the skyline.

The field path, today near a team of shooters after grouse, leads to a kissing gate and a bridge over a stream (below), then an ascent to another field path that veers to the right at another kissing gate and emerges shortly afterwards at Horsley Lane.

A right turn at Horsley Lane leads us to The Moathouse complex, the last building of which is an Elizabethan farmhouse with a massive brick chimney. Beeston Castle towers above the roofline.

After passing Ivy Cottage the Sandstone Trail takes a left turn along a track in Peckforton Woods, where after a kilometre a path junction is reached where eggs are for sale. A cheeky grey squirrel was unable to come up with any cash, and ran off when we intervened.

At this point we enjoyed elevenses before Sue continued along the prescribed route - Walk number 12 in Jen Darling's 'Walks in West Cheshire and Wirral' - and I left the Sandstone Trail and followed a waymarked path to the east.

The path was a good one, recently cleared of leaves, with notices threatening repercussions from any deviant behaviour! I stuck to the good path, and I didn't see or hear any 4WD 'Land Rover Experience' activity in the Peckforton Estate's private land.

Meanwhile, Sue continued along the Sandstone Trail for a little way before leaving it by turning left along Hill Lane and then passing under the Haunted Bridge, built in the 1850s to take carriages from Peckforton Castle to the gatehouse. A ghostly servant woman is said to walk from the ruins of a stone hut along the sandy track and up the bank, her severed head under her arm. Folklore dictates that if you see her you will die within a year.

Oyster mushrooms on Sue's route

Approaching the gatehouse/lodge near Peckforton Castle, this strange locked building stands alone.

Nearby, the gatehouse provided welcome shelter from a sharp shower. The road to the castle was surprisingly busy.

You can see where I was sheltering. This is where Sue's route rejoined mine, but she didn't catch up until nearly back at the car park.

Field and woodland paths led back to metalled surfaces beyond Willis's Wood and a long field.

There were more good views up to Beeston Castle, as we passed some picturesque cottages and a converted chapel on the way back to the car park, which is opposite the entrance to the castle..

Here are our routes. Sue mainly followed Jen's route, shown in magenta (she took the same route as me after the Lodge), and my route is shown in blue. 7km and 5.5km respectively, with around 150 metres ascent. Both routes took about 2 hours. I was moving hesitantly due to a poorly knee.