As I said at the end of last month’s post I knew this one would be a bit of a bumper one, and so it’s turned out with four walks under my belt this month. One of those was a guided historic walk arranged and led by St Mary Magdalene Church in Newark where we visited the ancient battlefield and saw the memorial Burrand Stone which is sited on private land, and we learnt so much more of the fascinating history of where we live.
But before we get to that, the month started with a walk down School Lane and onto Church Lane down to the River Trent. The big news in the village is that the WI Hall is up for sale or to let, we’ve not been here long enough to know the history but I’ve heard from people outside of the village that there’s definitely a story there, but one we’ve yet to discover. And even if/when we do it’s most definitely not my story to share, but it will be good for the hall to have an active future, so I’m hopeful for that.
SCHOOL LANE
Our walk took us down School Lane and into Church Lane, but don’t be fooled by the blue skies, it was chilly! Just look at the broken ice on the grass verge alongside the puddles, and this was easily mid-morning. The trees reflected in the puddles almost made up for the chill though, almost.
CHURCH LANE
On reaching the River Trent I was keen to check the situation with the jetty, as you can see it was visible again in its entirety and very different to the photo I shared in January when only the tops of the posts were showing as the water levels were so high. It’s quite a difference, and it’s worth popping back to that post to check.
It was reassuring to see clumps of bulbs growing wild, with daffodils on the way with the snowdrops beginning to fade. There’s something special isn’t there about the spring bulbs, and for me especially the cheery daffodils.
As we retraced our steps towards the village, I had a quick peek at the sheep - only a quick peek as they’re quite inquisitive and stare back at you! I’m sure in the next month or so I’ll capture a lamb or two, and no doubt our village Facebook group will be reporting ‘escaped lambs’ as usual fairly soon.
Our second and fourth walks took us down Moor Lane, where we usually stop at the bridge - you’ll have seen the photo in previous posts - but with the weather warmer even for our second walk, just a week after the photos above, we carried on until the bend. Not round it, just to it!
The ditches which had been cleared last month already looked so much better for it, and more so as they started to dry out. Thankfully these skies were a fair bit warmer than those of last week’s walk down to the Trent, and the pylon surrounded by light wispy clouds looked a picture worth taking. This month was the month that the roadworks started on the A46 to add a new roundabout to connect it to the A1. We’ve eighteen months of the roadworks, which has meant much more traffic through our village as people try to find quicker routes - sadly that also means the 30mph speed limit is mostly ignored too.
This month’s view from the bridge looks almost spring-like doesn’t it? There’s still a large patch of mud in the field to the left, but there is also plenty of greenery. As it was so nice we carried on walking, setting the bend as our target - in actual fact it’s not that much further, so maybe it will become our regular turning point especially on the milder days.
What I love about where we live is that there’s always something different to see on these walks - and plenty that stops me for photos. Seed heads are so structural and look great against the blue wispy clouded sky. A week later and the clouds were different again - this time much lower, and more oppressive but equally as impressive.
And while it looked like rain might be imminent, we managed to stay dry. Not only that we caught a glimpse of blackthorn blossom too, which looks kind of strange with the grey moody skies.
Which leads me onto our third walk of the month, the guided walk I mentioned before. We were extremely lucky with the weather as it was another glorious day - I’d seen that a previous iteration of this walk took place in the autumn and the day wasn’t great, in fact it was very wet. I was so glad I hadn’t booked onto that one!
Yes, I’m mostly a fair weather walker through choice - though at times, you don’t always get that choice.
Quite a lot of this walk took place on private grounds with access from the farmer as arranged by the church, so while I can tell you our walk started from School Lane - the WI hut from the first picture - most of it won’t strictly be lanes.
As well as getting fantastic views across the landscape we were led to the place where it is believed that Henry VII placed his standard after the Battle of Stoke - the last battle in the War of the Roses. It’s said that here a Burrand Bush was planted, and much later that’s been marked with this stone. I’d heard of its existence, and am grateful to the farmer for providing access so that I could see it, a piece of history that not many people will see.
Of course for their to be a battle there needed to be opponents and its thought that they made their camp up towards the horizon in the photo below - not that it’s known for sure, or that you’d know it from my photo either. It looks a serene, quiet place doesn’t it?
It’s thought that many of those fighting for the contenders of the throne here back in 1847 lost their lives in the retreat over that horizon, which has a mighty drop into a ravine on the other side, which is known locally as the Red Gutter. Some say it’s name is from the river of blood, others say it’s from the colour of the soil there - the first sounds a lot more grisly though doesn’t it.
We walked along to the public footpath which took us down to the River Trent and walked across the field where we’ve walked many times before (though usually the other way!) this time knowing much more of the history of the site.
But not before noticing this large branch which had clearly come down in the wind (and travelled a fair distance too) and before crossing a large muddy area across the path, which wasn’t ideal for the mud-hating me. But grimacing and slipping through it was the only way. It was great to hear more about our very local history, and if you ever get the chance to go on that guided walk in the future, do - it’s most definitely worth it.
Thanks for joining me for this update, if you enjoyed this post you may also like to see all of the posts in this series.
