It’s the Monday after the general election which Theresa May so spectacularly screwed up. Despite it being nearly the middle of June the weather is looking a touch ropy with plenty of black cloud. But I’ve optimistically/stupidly dressed myself as usual for the summer months in shorts and T-shirt although I have taken the precaution of bringing along a tatty, thin old fleecy which according to the forecasters I shouldn’t need because they reckon it’s going to brighten up. I’m going for a stroll near junction 27 of the M1 to a part of the Derbyshire/Notts border which dominates the landscape. You can see the woods for miles around.
The clue is in the sign.
Having parked at Colliers Wood, walk back to the road and up to the B600. It’s a couple of hundred yards to Beauvale Lodge and the right turn for High Park Wood but you should make sure that before you go into the woods you also walk just a bit further up the main road to enjoy the view up Moorgreen Reservoir. This is serious Lawrence Country – the controversial novelist was born just down the road at Eastwood (his birthplace museum is well worth a visit) and the reservoir itself features in Women In Love. There’s a really good information board about the writer and the area itself at Beauvale Lodge junction plus others along the way including outside Greasley Church.
View towards William Wood from Weavers Lane.
The path through the wood has the remnants of what looks like an excellent rhododendron display. Follow the path until soon after it swings left where you’ll come to a big concrete tube affair doubling up as a footbridge. Don’t cross it but turn right where you’ll find a junction of farm tracks. Take the middle one which heads north east. Check your compass. This is Weaver’s Lane which takes you past the splendidly named Pamela’s Larches, America Farm and over the M1 just south of junction 27. It’s easy walking in terms of map reading for a while which makes it all the better for appreciating the splendid landscape. This is big country – big fields, big woods and big views when you get to the right spot. There’s one coming up shortly, be patient. In the meantime, enjoy the vista to the left which takes in Felley Priory where there’s an excellent bluebell walk through William Wood in late April/early May, a beautiful garden (you have to pay but it’s well worth the fiver admission) and a strongly recommended tearoom with slightly weird opening times – check website but not Mondays or Saturdays, some Sundays. Also closed Nov 2017-end Jan 2018.
View towards Underwood Church from John Moss’s bench with Crich in the distance.
When you reach the A608, go down the path through the woods to your right. This will bring you to Annesley Old Church and the old hall where you can stop for elevenses if you like. There’s another of those really informative notice boards in the churchyard, this one devoted to local bigwigs the Chaworth-Musters. Or Musterses if you like. One of them was killed in a duel by Byron’s great uncle. That would sound good in the playground although better if it was the other way round, I suppose.
M1 north from Weavers Lane, just south of junction 27.
Retrace your steps, back down Weaver’s Lane but turn left at Kennel Lane. After a mile or so this swings left under the M1 and after walking through woods for a minute or so (ignore the track on your left) you’ll emerge into the open for that big view. Stop for a moment or seven at John Moss’s bench. Underwood Church is straight ahead on the near horizon with the Derbyshire hills in the distance. It would have probably been easy to pick out Crich Stand on the far horizon but the weather girls have let me down. A hundred yards or so after the bench take a left into the woods. After another couple of hundred yards you’ll come to a T-junction where you should turn left and then immediately right down a farm track that you could have taken after the motorway, if that makes sense. All will become clearer if you have a good shufty at your OS map. But it’s practically impossible to go wrong around here. Just make sure you are heading roughly south and also ensure you don’t cross the M1 again. The track/path swings left at a signposted fork and after another couple of minutes you’ll emerge into a field where you can go left, right or – on today’s evidence – straight through the field. My best advice is to go right so that you’re hugging the woods (treehugger?), especially today as the forecasters have let me down and I’m getting a bit damp in the niggling drizzle. You will eventually come to a road where you turn left for Brooksbreasting Farm. Great name. But if time permits it’s well worth a slight detour to Beauvale Priory where there’s another excellent tearoom (not open Mon-Tues) and lots more history in which to immerse yourself. Two of the last priors were hung, drawn and quartered but don’t let this put you off your lunch.
Annesley Hall
After the farm, head right across country for Greasley Church guided by some distinctive yellow signs provided by Notts County Council. A good mile later you’ll emerge on the B600 where you turn right and then left into the churchyard, round the back of the church (good benches for pack-up if you were too tight-fisted to push the boat out at Beauvale), through the graveyard and out into open country again. There are good views across Derbyshire again both here and when you’ve crossed the B6010. When you get back to Colliers Wood nature reserve, follow the signs for the wildlife area and the car park. You will now hopefully understand why, despite travelling the globe, Lawrence called this area the country of my heart.
View towards America Farm from junction of Kennel Lane and Weavers Lane.
Start: Colliers Wood car park, Engine Lane, Eastwood NG16 3PX
Highlight: John Moss’s bench, 496500, just west of the M1
Song: Bit tenuous but here’s one of Simon and Garfunkel’s finest.
Distance/map: 9 miles; OS Explorer 260 Nottingham and 269 Chesterfield.
Lunch: Try short detour to Beauvale Priory (not Mon-Tues but recommended) or pack-up at John Moss’s bench/Greasley Church/Annesley Old Church.
OS © Crown copyright [2017] CS-29042-R6R3Z6
Walks with welf 