Uffington, Casewick, Barholm, Greatford

Thursday 27 April 2017, starting at 10.20.  With Maureen.  A cold grey day, with occasional drizzle, and a chilly wind.
This is the route we took in December 2013.

We parked on School Lane, and walked back to Casewick Lane where we turned left. We followed the road to the estate gates, 

From here the lane becomes a public footpath and leads past the house and other buildings. 

Lady smock flowers?

The hall

and its ha-ha

 The path crosses a couple of fields and goes over the railway line. Definitely a case for crossing with care, as the trains pass at over 100 mph. However, the right of way is still there.

Clearly marked paths along field edges lead into Barholm, where we turned right and then left immediately after the church.

The path is clear, over fields and a bridge over Greatford Cut.

Mobile phone mast and trees.

Inspired by Monet?

Inside Greatford church

An unusual stained glass window

After a quick visit to the church, we continued along Greatford Gardens and walked along to the end, where the gates and boundary of Greatford Hall are protected with some vicious looking razor wire.  The footpath turns right, and then left through the trees. Turn right at the end of the woods, then cross an arable field - easy enough at this time of year.

Cows and calves in the fields of Shillingthorpe Park

The path turns slightly left, keeping the wood on the right, and then follows the track through Shillingthorpe Park, over the River West Glen to the road. We turned right and walked for about a mile along this road. There is a level crossing at around the half mile mark.
At the next junction we turned left, and very soon joined the bridleway to the right.Shortly before the bridleway joins a road our path goes to the left, along field edges, over a footbridge and on for some distance. Eventually it turns right and we walk for a mile or so towards Uffington.

View of Burghley House across the valley.

When we meet the main Stamford - Deepings road we turn left, and walk as far as the church gates, turn left through the churchyard and out on the other side at School Lane.

Braceborough, Greatford, Shillingthorpe Park

 Sat, 2015 Oct 10 1:19 PM BST.
Recce for part of a possible longer walk. Grey, but dry and good conditions underfoot. Just over 4 miles.

Braceborough Church

Braceborough has an interesting past. According to Wikipedia

Braceborough Spa, rising in the grounds of Spa House,^[4] was popular in the Victorian era for its natural spring waters. A bath house was built in 1841, and Doctor Willis treated George III here for his 'madness'. His royal patient stayed in a wing of Shillingthorpe Hall nearby, now demolished; there is a tablet in Greatford Church commemorating his stay. 

Shillingthorpe Hall was built in 1796, possibly as an extension of the asylum at Greatford Hall run by Dr Willis.

The walk was taken from an article by Will Hetherington in Rutland Active magazine.

I parked near the church and I extended the walk a little at the start, by taking the footpath  east which joins the farm track, instead of the path directly across the field heading southeast. They both join the Macmillan Way, though it's not brilliantly signposted. This takes you to the road into Greatford. If you wish to visit the church you will need to make a short detour from this route. See pictures from this previous walk. (That route is not possible, since the footpath over the railway has been closed.)

In Greatford, turn right into Greatford Gardens and walk along to the end, where the gates and boundary of Greatford Hall are protected with some vicious looking razor wire.  Follow the footpath to your right, and then left through the trees. Turn right at the end of the woods. This is where I saw a few fallow deer on the field nearby.  I've seen them around here before.

They stood and watched me briefly before moving off.

You follow the edge of the field for a short distance before turning left and across fields to the path through Shillingthorpe Park.  I met a group of walkers using the same footpath - this doesn't often happen round here.

The house, where George III is said to have stayed, and which was used as a convalescence home during the Second World War was demolished after the war, and the parkland is mainly used for cattle.  The track runs uphill through the woods and on to open fields with views to the east.

Tractors have been busy ploughing recently, but only one of these paths was across a field, and that one dry.

The path leads down to the Greatford to Carlby Road.

Cross this and take the quiet road back into Braceborough.

When I was there there were lots of free apples and pears on offer - one with the sign:

"Help yourself, but if you use the ladders it is your responsibility." Another requested donations for the Leicester and Rutland Wildlife Trust.

I also had a brief chat with a beekeeper, who unfortunately had no honey with him to sell, but was moving bees.

Map and details

Uffington Casewick Barholm Greatford

Thu, 2013 Dec 5 9:36 AM GMT

Led by Barry, with me Gordon and Maureen. Reverse of a previous walk. Weather very windy, and for the last mile or so a downpour. Good underfoot. Just over 9 miles. New problem with footpath crossing of mainline railway.

Previous walk in reverse.

We left Uffington on Casewick Lane, and followed the footpath along the main driveway with a winter view of the hall.

Casewick Hall

Dovecot

monument

Happy Christmas

 The railway crossing appears to have been closed. Memo to self - contact Lincs CC.

Can they just do this?

 After the railway we walked over fields to Barholm, where we paused at the church.

Lantern in the porch of Barholm church

 The path beside the church takes us directly to Greatford, crossing a dyke/canal/cut on the way.

Greatford

The ducks make a quick getaway

There are a lot of odd stone structures

 Greatford Church was open - well worth a look.

Memorial to Francis Willis, MD, who treated George III.  Greatford Church

 We walk through Waterside Gardens and turn right along a narrow path between fences, then alongside woodland.

We were pleased to reach the end of this section in the high winds.

Just possible to see the herd of deer

The path takes us through Shillingthorpe Park, and over the River West Glen.  Then we have a mile or so of road walking, and another crossing of the railway, before a left turn at the road junction.

 Then it's turn right along a bridleway, with trees each side - quite muddy, but very clear. At the end of it I turn round and see a dramatic rainbow.

Up to now we had stayed dry - but a rainbow tends to mean - rain.

 From here we take the path to our left, behind a farm and alongside fields and back into Uffington.

poplars in the wind

Ah - 'twas just a clearing up shower!

A wet last mile!





Map and details

Uffintgon circular - Greatford, Barholm, Casewick Park

Wed, 2013 Sep 11 10:01 AM British 'summer' Time

With Marta. Same walk as one on july 25 2013. Flat terrain. Overcast day, but dry - good underfoot - paths clear. About 10 miles - .25 ish switch-off after Greatford pub.

The same walk as I did on July 25 2013.  This time we found our way to Greatford Church, but we still couldn't locate 'Meg's Well'.  The photos show very grey skies.

Near Uffington church stand three redwoods.

Marta saw two hares when she looked through the huge gates of Uffington Manor on the main road.We turn right before the houses after West Hall Farm.

We believe this is the site of the mill mound marked on the OS map.  

Our path takes us over farmland, always clearly marked and following track or field edge. We come out behind Cobbs Nook Farm, and join the Macmillan Way,  along a wooded bridleway.  We join the road turning left and then right to where we cross the East Coast Mainline at a level crossing.  A short half mile takes us to our left turn into Shillingthorpe Park.

The cows and calves are gathered round the food here.

We cross the river West Glen, and make our way to along the farm road to the woodland, before turning right over fields.  These are no problem this time, as they have been harvested and waymarking is good.  We follow the path behind the very private Greatford Hall into the village. A local resident of 25 year's standing tells us how to access the church - there's a small white gate near the bridge over the small river.

In the church is a memorial to Francis Willis, who is reputed to have cured George III of his madness in 1789.  Dr Willis owned Greatford Hall, and ran an asylum there.   The church also boasts a Roman coffin, and many interesting plaques and dedications.

As we come from the church towards the road we pass the entrance to Greatford Hall.  It was destroyed by fire in 1922, but rebuilt.

The inn sign for the local pub, where we had an excellent baguette lunch, with friendly service.

A large stone cross near Bridge cottages

The crown commemorates the coronation of George VI.  There is more info and more photos (not mine)  here.

We cross the fields south towards Barholm.  On the way we spot an ambitious mobile phone mast trying to look like a tree.  We cross a bridge over Greatford Cut, which joins the West Glen River to the Welland and forms a flood defence system for Greatford.

Barholm Church . Click on the link for further information.  
From Barholm we take the road past the Five Horseshoes pub and the Old Hall. We turn left and make our way over several fields to the railway again. No level crossing here, but a warning about trains travelling at 100 mph.  The track is straight and the view is good. On the other side we walk over two or three fields before reaching Casewick Park, with its lovely buildings, high hedges and fine gates.

I need to identify this tree.

A look back at Casewick Hall as we leave the park, and take the road leading to Uffington.

Apart from the hares, we saw a few swallows swooping after the insects, and a lot of small speckled wood (?) butterflies.

Map and details