Holford Hall

(S/E) From the front door of the Smoker, turn right and right again (into Plumley Moor Road). After 100 yards cross (if you haven’t already) and follow the pavement on the left-hand side of the road.

(1) Turn left into Whitehouse Lane, a no-through road. After a quarter of a mile, leave the lane to cross a stile on the right. Follow the field edge until you reach a stile and footbridge on your right, where you turn right. Follow the hedge on your left for a couple of fields to a gate into the road in Plumley.

(2) Turn left to the road junction by Plumley Methodist Church. Turn right into Trouthall Lane and follow the road past the junction with Yewtree Road (on the left opposite Maltkiln Farm). Pass the end of Moorcroft then, when the road bends left, take the no through the road ahead.

(3) Cross the stream (Peover Eye) and turn immediately right at the footpath sign and over a stile into a track by a Holford Hall gatepost. Follow the winding, hedged track until it emerges into a field. Bear right, continuing along the track past a couple of clumps of trees, and then continue through trees to a junction of tracks near Holford Hall.

A brief diversion to the right allows a glimpse of the Hall and the old stone bridge over its moat. Returning to the junction, follow the track to the left, signposted “Railway Line” and “Diverted Footpath”. After about 200 yards, go through a kissing gate on your right. Follow the grassy path to a gate, where it bends right into some trees. The fenced path winds through the wood to a gate into a lane below the Holford Hall gates.

(4) Turn left over the stream, above the remains of a watermill. When you reach the main road, wait for a gap in the traffic and cross with extreme care. Turn right and walk along the pavement back to the Smoker, crossing back to the right-hand side of the A556 rather more easily at the traffic lights in front of the pub.(S/E)

Crosses the busy A556 dual-carriageway and may be muddy in places. Several stiles.