East Cheshire Walks
Walk: P2
Prestbury to Mottram
Starting Point:
SJ902773.
Springfields car park in Prestbury (behind the Admiral Rodney)
at the north end of the village, past the restaurants and on the
opposite side of the road from the church.
Map: OS Explorer 268 – Wilmslow, Macclesfield & Congleton
Length: 6 miles
Grade: Easy/Moderate
Duration: Two and a half hours
How to get there:
This is a walk that never strays far away from the River Bollin, and benefits from the excellent Bollin Valley Project – waymarking, decent stiles,
and little chance of getting lost. In February 2004, I checked this route
and found a few changes including a much-enlarged sewage works, a
cottage now demolished that once marked the route, and the usual building developments; on the other hand, there were dippers along the
Bollin, moorhen footprints in the fresh snow … and a friendly sheep!
Walk north through the car park, past the bungalows. Turn left along
Scott Road, then right into Bollin Grove. Continue past the football pitch
to the end of the tarmac, after which a track continues to the River Bollin.
Walk alongside the Bollin, following the signpost pointing to Wilmslow.
Do not cross the bridge, just go straight ahead – also passing the sewage
works, so keep moving!
After the very end of the sewage complex, the waymarked path
continues through the fields and stays near to the Bollin, with some spectacularly eroded banks. On reaching a bridge (1), do not cross it but head
for the top-right-hand corner of the field. Climb the stile, and follow the
waymark towards the middle of the farm (Top o’ th’ Hill) facing you (2).
Pass between the farm buildings and almost immediately turn left over a
stile, and walk parallel to the road on your right. The path eventually
switches to the right of the hedge-line. Keep close to the hedge, continue
across a footbridge and stiles, across a final stile, then turn right to join a
drive that continues to the main road (3).
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East Cheshire Walks
Mottram Hall Hotel – are muddy boots welcome here?
Turn left at the road, then go over the stile (signposted ‘Mill Lane’) to the
right of a drive. The path heads slightly to the right and goes through a
gate and a series of stiles (be sure to cross each one you encounter, as one
of them switches you over to the other side of the hedge). The path is
clearly waymarked, with a final swing to the right at a footpath sign that
leads to Mottram Bridge, the road bridge on Mill Lane (4) that is clearly
visible a little to the right.
Cross the bridge, then turn left to walk along the waymarked path.
The route has been diverted in recent years: it now heads towards and
around the left of the buildings that lie ahead, then crosses a stile and
continues along a well-waymarked route towards Mottram Hall Hotel.
As the hotel comes into sight, you approach a golf course. Cross a stile
and follow the occasional waymarks around the edge of the course
towards the hotel. Observe the warning about the dangers of this exercise! Pass a football pitch on the left and go to the left of the clubhouse;
circle around the building to a signpost, then follow waymarks across the
corner of the golf course and cross the hotel drive.
Go through an iron gate (5). From here, walk straight ahead and over a
small rise towards a farm, with noisy peacocks. The path crosses the
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Prestbury
drive, goes through what used to be the farmyard and then turns sharp
left after the gatepost for Woodside Farm. You then go through a working
farmyard, complete with a friendly sheep.
He’s a different sheep from a few years ago, but still inclined to butt
unwary walkers, so watch your back!
Head up through the fields towards Legh Hall; the path starts on the
right of the hedge, but, after 100m, crosses over to the left at a stile.
Continue to a kissing gate to Legh House, then walk along the walled
drive to Legh Hall (6), then turn left along a track.
Enter the circular tarmac area belonging to the large converted coach
house and go through the kissing gate into a field. Follow the waymarked
route downhill (it used to go around the edge of the field and past a ‘Pets’
Cemetery’, with most of the headstones in memory of horses) and
continue downhill to a stile. Follow the edge of the next field, over
another stile and carry on towards the right of the farm facing you. Turn
left at the farm drive and then continue down the track to the Little
Gadhole group of buildings.
Follow the waymarks, pass a pool on your left, then turn right at a
waymark. From here, the rest of the route is obvious. It drops down,
through a stile, to a footbridge (7), then round to the right and over
another stile. Turn left and follow the hedge, with Spittle House on your
left.
This would have been a hospital run by the church, possibly for the benefit
of lepers and others deemed to be kept away from the rest of society.
Bear left to a stile that leads to the drive to the house, and then turn
right along the drive. Continue down to the River Bollin, where you turn
right and head for home.
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