The Ultimate Guide to Chester and Cheshire - Spring Edition

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Cheshire’s best winter walks and gardens (that happen to start and end at the pub) As the ‘Beast from the East’ so chillingly proved, the last weeks of winter are often the hardest. Christmas feels like forever ago. The cold seeps into your bones. Everyone is, frankly, a bit of a misery. So, with that in mind, we’ve put together a guide to get you through winter’s last gasp – a guide that gets you out and about, but also has you warming up before and after in some of Cheshire’s best country pubs. Pubs-with-walks All the best winter-but-wishit-was-spring walks feature a pub like the Dusty Miller (Wrenbury). This former industrial corn mill, sitting pretty beside the Llangollen Canal, boasts a sun terrace if the sun does shine, while a quick Google reveals details of a five-mile walk that starts and ends there, taking in canal and countryside along the way. As it turns out, the Dusty Miller is not alone in having industrial roots: much of Cheshire’s best walking comes courtesy of the rail lines and canals that crisscross the county, leftovers of an era when the north west boomed to the sounds of mills, coal and cotton. The ten-mile Middlewood Way is one such a trail, a former railway line that fell victim to Beeching’s axe in 1970, but reopened 15 years later as a relatively level walking and cycle path (which also makes it an option for those who use wheelchairs and buggies). Walk done, go and eat pies at The Railway (Marple), just by the station. The 18th-century The Partridge (Stretton) is a fancier affair, a gastropub that underwent a £1m refurb a couple of years ago, and has the prices to prove it. It has, however, put together a gentle, 4-mile loop that’s downloadable from its website. Gentle too are the walks that run close to the historic Swan with Two Nicks (Little Bollington). Warm yourself by the fire, or feed yourself in the heaving restaurant, before jumping onto the Bollin Valley Way, a riverside trail that skirts the National Trust’s Dunham Massey estate. There’s a dedicated page on the Swan’s website with details. FROM TOP THE PHEASANT INN / LOVELL QUINTA ARBORETUM Pubs-with-dogs Out walking with your dog? The Fishpool Inn (Delamere) is a spruced-up inn that does a fine line in modern British dining – and which boasts a handful of dog-friendly tables in the restaurant. It’s also close to the canine paradise that is Delamere Forest, though the Inn lists three other walks online, including one that drops down into the depths of the Urchin’s Kitchen, a sandstone gorge scoured out during the Ice Age. Nearby, the Swettenham Arms (Congleton) is another creaky old number, a 16th-century gastropub that’s unashamedly dog friendly. And next door to that you’ll find the Lovell Quinta Arboretum (Congleton), a garden created by he of telescope fame – Jodrell Bank’s Sir Bernard Lovell – that contains 2,500 trees and shrubs. The pub lists a couple of walks, including a three-miler where the Arboretum, River Dane and Swettenham Meadows all loom large. 06
Mobberley is a safe bet for the four-legged fanatic, home to The Church Inn (Mobberley) – check out the doggy snacks on the bar – whose four-mile walk passes close by the Bull’s Head (yup, another dog-friendly pub) and St. Wilfred’s Church. There’s a poignant window in the latter, dedicated to George Leigh Mallory, the local mountaineer who died during an attempt to scale Everest, and whose gruesomely well-preserved body was found on the mountain 75 years later. Shudder. Up on the Sandstone Trail, meanwhile, the Rawhead Circular Walk starts and ends at the Bickerton Poacher (Bulkeley). As with the Church Inn, dogs are welcome in the bar, while it’s open early – from 8.30am – for pre-walkies breakfast. Rather marvelously, it also boasts its own skittles alley, though if your dog joins in we’re pretty sure that’s classed as cheating. Walks with views (and quite possibly pubs)... FROM TOP CHURCH INN / NESS BOTANIC GARDENS Walks these days seem to be as much about getting content as they are about enjoying the great outdoors. We blame the Millennials. But, whether you’re after an Instagram 100-liker or not, the views from the medieval Beeston Castle (Tarporley) are pretty special, all the more so when you figure out that this is a panorama that’s been enjoyed for the best part of 4,000 years. Mind blown, refuel at the Pheasant Inn, four miles away (Higher Burwardsley). If it’s warm enough, sit out on a terrace that overlooks the Cheshire Plain. ABOVE THE PHEASANT INN There are views of a different kind at Dunham Massey (Altrincham), whose winter garden is stuffed with thousands of snowdrops, irises and cyclamen. Ness Botanic Gardens (Ness) is also sprinkled with snowdrops each February and, while its snowdrop walks don’t finish at the pub, they do on occasion end by a roaring fire – which is a similar story at Rode Hall (Scholar Green). Here, snowdrop walks that feature 70 varieties of the little white blighter also include a massive great wood burner at the walks’ end (walks run 2 Feb-3 Mar). The Boat House (Parkgate), meanwhile, offers eyeball-dazzling views across the Dee Estuary, and there’s Instagram fodder a-plenty at Werneth Low Country Park. A twomile walk from the 18th-century Hare and Hounds (Hyde) takes in Werneth Low. Don’t be fooled by the name. It’s really quite high up. In fact, this was a spot used by the Celtic Brigantes tribe to celebrate the winter solstice – head to the pub at sunset to see why (and download details from its website). 07
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