Little Budworth Common

(S/E) From the front door, turn left and walk down the main village street. Pass the end of Booth Avenue and continue past the Church Room on your left. At the War Memorial, carry straight on. Pass the end of Park Road (on the right) and a private road into the Oulton Estate (left).

(1) On the right-hand side of the road, a path leads into the trees; follow it to emerge behind the toilet block in a car park. Follow the woodpecker-waymarked Heathland Trail beyond the car park, passing a carved tree stump on the right. After a gate, cross two driveways, still following the Heathland Trail. Keep right at a fork, still following the woodpecker waymarks. Bear right (the “third exit”) at a five-way junction. Pass the end of a pond, keeping left up to some steps, and cross an open area.

(2) On reaching a minor road, turn left to a T-junction with the Coach Road, the main road through Little Budworth Common. Cross and follow the track opposite.

(3) At a crossroad of tracks at the edge of the wood, turn left (signposted ‘Smithy Lane’). Turn immediately left onto a narrow path leading to an area of open land. Follow the path along the edge of the woodland, passing a log used as a bench and with open land on your left. When a path joins from the left, bear right, with heathland still to your left. The path leads through a belt of birch trees and crosses a fenced path to return to open heathland. Bear right to meet a broad track, which you follow to the left. Cross another path and continue through the trees; in a grassy area is a log carved into a dragon.

(4) The path beyond leads back to Coach Road; turn right and follow the path parallel to the road. When you emerge from the trees by the road junction, cross over and walk up to the grand gateway of Oulton Park. Turn left along the park wall and follow the road into Little Budworth, retracing your earlier steps past the war memorial and back to the Red Lion.(S/E)

May be muddy in places. No stiles.