David Dunford guides a walk that takes in wide views to Wales and Shropshire
There are so many things you miss if you only see the world from a car window. It wasn’t until I walked the area’s footpaths that I – and my ageing limbs – registered how the small town of Malpas sits on top of a hill, in an easily defended position with wide views over the surrounding landscape of rich, rolling farmland.
The town’s motte-and-bailey castle was one of a chain of such fortifications built at strategic locations such as this to protect against raiders from Wales and to emphasise the dominance of the Norman overlords over any local would-be rebels. The building of the neighbouring church a few centuries later has obscured the extent of the bailey, but the motte still survives as an obvious mound between the church and bowling green.
Another feature of this route that you’d also miss from behind the wheel are some notable houses illustrating a range of architectural periods and styles. Pride of place goes to Grade-II*-listed Chorlton Old Hall, whose mellow 17th-century brickwork and ornamental scalloped gables are quite a surprise as they spring into view among the workaday farmyard buildings.
Just across the fields we pass Chorlton Hall, whose similar antiquity is less obvious following 19th-century gentrification and extension. The third instalment in our whistlestop guide to farmhouse fashion is Kidnall Grange, elegant in its mid-18th-century dress of white-painted brick and Gothic windows. Humbler, but no less attractive, are two listed cottages on the approach to Kidnal Hill. Malpas itself is also rewarding for architectural enthusiasts, who should definitely not miss the medieval church of St Oswald, triple-starred by Sir Simon Jenkins in his guide to England’s Thousand Best Churches.
At several points on this route, you will find yourself following or crossing the Bishop Bennet Way. This route is something of a rarity: a long-distance bridleway, available to horse-riders and cyclists as well as walkers. It runs for 34 miles from near Beeston Castle to Whitchurch, its need to accommodate four-legged traffic dictating its engagingly winding course along bridleways and country lanes. It is named after William Bennet (1746–1820), an eminent clergyman and antiquarian whose particular enthusiasm was for discovering and tracing Roman roads, one of which parallels the A41 between Chester and Whitchurch via Malpas, and which is followed here by the track through the old sandstone quarry on Kidnal Hill.
1. From the cross in the centre of Malpas, walk up Church Street past Lloyds Bank on the right, then past the colonnaded Market House and the Church of St Oswald. At the time of writing, Church Street is closed to traffic for repairs to the retaining wall around the churchyard but should be passable to pedestrians. At the far end of the churchyard, turn right into Church Walk and continue to the gates of the Old Rectory, before which you bear left, to the right of a brick building with blocked-up windows, and out to a kissing gate into fields. Head straight ahead across the field to a gate into the sports ground, where you walk between the football and cricket pitches, passing in front of the small stand overlooking the former. At the far side, bear right to a metal kissing gate on the left, which leads via a second, wooden, kissing gate into fields. Bear half-right to another kissing gate and cross the next two fields diagonally, leading to a kissing gate into a hedged trackway.
2. Turn right then left, and follow the field edge for two fields, swapping sides between the two. Cross the Bishop Bennet Way (a hedged track) between gates and continue across the field beyond. After crossing two further fields you follow the right-hand edge of a third over a low hill, all the time with views to the west to the Welsh hills beyond Wrexham and to the Shropshire Hills to the south, including the distinctive jagged profile of Caer Caradoc near Church Stretton. Beyond a gateway, join a farm track that leads straightforwardly to the farmyard of Chorlton Old Hall. Beyond the gabled farmhouse, continue out to the road.
3. Turn right. Shortly, just after a house on the left, turn right over a stile and cross the field diagonally to the end of the hedge on your left, with the undecorated rear of the Old Hall visible away to your right. Beyond the hedge corner, continue to a stile in the far left-hand corner of the field. Turn left over another stile, then head half-right across a further field under the noble gaze of Chorlton Hall. In the far corner, cross the driveway via two wooden hand-gates then bear right around the house and grounds, dropping gradually down to a stream on your left.
4. In the far corner at a junction of paths, turn left through a gate across a stream. Keep right, below the bank and with a side-stream on your right, then cross the field to a gate into a hedged track (another encounter with the Bishop Bennet Way). Turn left and follow the track uphill, passing between rock walls as you encounter the beginnings of Overton Scar. The red-sandstone cliffs are at their most impressive at the point where the main track swings left. We part ways with Bishop Bennet at this point, continuing ahead along the field-edge footpath below the wooded crag on your right. There are views over the fields to the tower of St Mary’s, Tilstone. After the first field, the path runs within the woodland edge briefly before returning to the fieldside. Before a metal barn, go through a gate on the right and join the driveway at a hairpin bend, following it out to a road.
5. Turn right and follow the lane to a T-junction in the hamlet of Kidnal, where you turn right, climbing past Kidnal House Farm. Look across the fields on the right for distant views of Kidnall Grange. When the road bends left by a couple of cottages, take the byway on the right, which leads up over Kidnal Hill, passing between the rock walls of an old quarry towards the top.
6. Pass a house on the left and, when you reach the road beyond, turn right onto another byway. This descends pleasantly to a camping and caravan site within a farm on a road corner. Follow Love Lane ahead (right) as it curves downhill and passes a house on the left. We encounter the Bishop Bennet Way for the third and final time as the road bends left by a couple of cottages at Overton Heath.
7. After passing further houses (the last being Overton Lodge), the lane narrows and starts to climb. Ignore the first footpath on the right, continuing up the sunken lane. Just before the lane levels off, turn right up steps to a gate into a field. Cross to a development of newish houses and follow a broad pathway between them. When you meet a road, cross and follow a narrow path along a hedge to the right of the bowling green, with glimpses of the castle motte. When you reach the churchyard, follow the path left through the churchyard gates back to Church Street and the village cross.
The Old Fire Station Café Bar
Far be it from me to tell restaurateurs how to run their businesses, but I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve limped into some village or town in mid-afternoon at the end of a lengthy walk, keen for caffeine and calories, only to encounter the proprietor cashing up or wiping the tables down. I’m sure there’s a good reason why cafés and tearooms choose to close at three in the afternoon, and the proprietors doubtless know their trade patterns better than I do, but to a would-be punter the ‘closed’ sign in the door is always a disappointment.
There’s always the pub, I suppose, but it made a pleasant change after our walk on a snowy afternoon back in January to encounter the Old Fire Station, which opens from 9am for breakfast, brunch, lunch and snacks, and then continues into the evening as a café bar and restaurant. And it wasn’t just us: several groups of well-behaved youngsters from the nearby Bishop Heber High School were enjoying their home-time colas and coffees, and one mum was audibly relishing her super-indulgent salted caramel Bailey's hot chocolate.
As well as their range of hot beverages, the Old Fire Station offers a range of soft and alcoholic drinks including draught Peroni, Veltins and Anytime Pale Ale, and a decent selection of wines by the glass or bottle. Lunchtime food includes sandwiches, bagels and crispy jacket potatoes and a tempting tapas menu is served from 3pm onwards.
There’s a good choice of mains for heartier appetites – a chicken and wild mushroom risotto caught my eye – and non-carnivores aren’t forgotten, with four vegan mains including a tasty-sounding mushroom, cranberry and chestnut pie.
In the end, we settled for cappuccino and a delicious Bakewell blondie to share. Thanks to owner Jake Polmear for the friendly welcome, for putting in the long hours, and for making a couple of tired and hungry walkers very happy on a chilly afternoon.
Compass Points
Area of walk: Malpas
Start point: The Cross, Malpas SY14 8NQ
Distance: 5¾ miles/9.3 km
Time to allow: 2–3 hours
Map: OS Explorer 257: Crewe and Nantwich
Refreshments: Old Fire Station, Malpas oldfirestationmalpas.co.uk 01948 860989
Practicalities: Park at High Street Car Park for £1 (all day). Malpas is on the hourly 41 bus route from Chester to Whitchurch. Field paths may be rather muddy after rain.
