{"id":2883,"date":"2024-06-15T04:10:16","date_gmt":"2024-06-15T03:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2883"},"modified":"2024-06-19T08:14:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T07:14:59","slug":"hamps-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2883","title":{"rendered":"Hamps Valley, Rushley Dale &#038; Throwley Old Hall, Staffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=740,width=1220,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/> First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('HampsValley.jpg');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607923665_32be206316_z.jpg\" title= \"Throwley Old Hall 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607923665_32be206316_s.jpg\" alt=\"Throwley Old Hall 1\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607803354_c5d9904653_z.jpg\" title= \"Limestone cliff of Beeston Tor\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607803354_c5d9904653_s.jpg\" alt=\"Limestone cliff of Beeston Tor\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53606590497_9f3ac36dd6_z.jpg\" title= \"Manifold Trail descending to Beeston Tor\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53606590497_9f3ac36dd6_s.jpg\" alt=\"Manifold Trail descending to Beeston Tor\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607923705_e10eb24fd7_z.jpg\" title= \"view from the road to Throwley Old Hall 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607923705_e10eb24fd7_s.jpg\" alt=\"view from the road to Throwley Old Hall 1\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607923700_a2c31fec27_z.jpg\" title= \"descending from Throwley Old Hall towards Manifold Valley\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607923700_a2c31fec27_s.jpg\" alt=\"descending from Throwley Old Hall towards Manifold Valley\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607669498_bc67dd8a75_z.jpg\" title= \"Throwley Old Hall, Staffs 2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607669498_bc67dd8a75_s.jpg\" alt=\"Throwley Old Hall, Staffs 2\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53606590482_6b79b5846d_z.jpg\" title= \"road to Throwley Old Hall\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53606590482_6b79b5846d_s.jpg\" alt=\"road to Throwley Old Hall\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53606590477_a2c31fec27_z.jpg\" title= \"secret dale to Rushley\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53606590477_a2c31fec27_s.jpg\" alt=\"secret dale to Rushley\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607669488_dbc7757ee6_z.jpg\" title= \"water catchment reservoir above Soles Hollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607669488_dbc7757ee6_s.jpg\" alt=\"water catchment reservoir above Soles Hollow\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607669483_7d830bf3bc_z.jpg\" title= \"common spotted orchid\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607669483_7d830bf3bc_s.jpg\" alt=\"common spotted orchid\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53606590447_61d747f4b9_z.jpg\" title= \"Throwley Old Hall, Staffs 3\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53606590447_61d747f4b9_s.jpg\" alt=\"Throwley Old Hall, Staffs 3\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607803259_9317aa76bc_z.jpg\" title= \"looking down to junction of Hamps and Manifold Valleys\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607803259_9317aa76bc_s.jpg\" alt=\"looking down to junction of Hamps and Manifold Valleys\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607669378_1f255dce04_z.jpg\" title= \"strip lynchets on the way to Throwley Old Hall\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607669378_1f255dce04_s.jpg\" alt=\"strip lynchets on the way to Throwley Old Hall\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607923585_9dc8fa5f06_z.jpg\" title= \"Greater butterfly orchid in Rushley dale\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607923585_9dc8fa5f06_s.jpg\" alt=\"Greater butterfly orchid in Rushley dale\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607460271_aa041ff5e1_z.jpg\" title= \"roadblock at Slade House Farm\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/53607460271_aa041ff5e1_s.jpg\" alt=\"roadblock at Slade House Farm\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=2883','pwin','height=700,width=1200,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nThe River Hamps is a winterbourne, only flowing after winter rains, and on this warm cloudy summer\u2019s day it was a bushy green channel of butterbur leaves smothering the dry stones of its bed.<\/p>\n<p>Setting off from humpbacked Weag\u2019s Bridge, I followed the Manifold Way\u2019s cycle path past the looming cliff of Beeston Tor, its grey limestone face seamed with cracks and caves. The path snaked to and fro across the dry Hamps, the verges spattered with yellow rattle and common spotted orchids.<\/p>\n<p>A side path led up through Old Soles Wood and on up Soles Hollow into open sheep country. I crossed the long ridge of Mere Hill with spectacular views east to the gorge of the River Manifold and the tent-shaped upthrust of Bunster Hill at the entrance to Dovedale. These iconic hills, dales and uplands of the Staffordshire\/Derbyshire border are a walker\u2019s dream, and it felt like a privileged moment to have them grouped together in one prospect.<\/p>\n<p>At Slade House I found a big cream-coloured bull blocking the farm drive. He seemed dopy and drowsy among his harem, but we hadn\u2019t been formally introduced, so I hopped a stone wall and bypassed the bovine roadblock.<\/p>\n<p>Below Slade House a deep and sinuous dale, seemingly nameless, runs eastward. As soon as I got into it I found slopes of unimproved grassland thick with wild flowers \u2013 intense blue milkwort, harebells nodding on slender stalks, and masses of greeny-white greater butterfly orchids. What a treat to be walking here.<\/p>\n<p>Things soon got a little more challenging as the path wriggled under sycamores and hazels in a dank, damp tangle of herbage. I walked with head bowed, watching for slippery stones, and hands raised out of the way of stinging nettles, like a surrendering soldier in a jungle.<\/p>\n<p>Out of the stingers at last, I came to the tumbledown farm and neat holiday cottages of Rushley, and turned up the long open-sided road to Throwley Hall farm. On a knoll rose the blackened stone ruin of Throwley Old Hall, tall and stark, its Tudor mullioned windows looking out blankly over medieval ridge-and-furrow fields to the deeply carved cleft of the Manifold Valley.<\/p>\n<p>I sat and stared, munching an apple, while the Throwley cattle came to the wall and stared at me.<\/p>\n<p>How hard is it? 7 miles; moderate; field and woodland tracks<\/p>\n<p>Start: Weag\u2019s Bridge, Grindon ST13 7TX (OS ref SK 100541)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: A523 (Leek-Waterhouses); at Bottom House, B5053 (\u2018Warslow\u2019). In 1\u00bd miles, right to Grindon; then \u2018Manifold Valley\u2019 to car park on left before Weag\u2019s Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>Walk: Pass bridge (don\u2019t cross); ahead on cycle path (Manifold Way\/MW). In \u00be mile after 3rd bridge, left off MW (101534, gate, \u2018Old Soles Wood\u2019) up woodland path. In \u2153 mile through gate (100529); up cleft. In 500m left through gate (102525, yellow arrow\/YA); right along wall for \u00bd mile to cross road (104517). Follow drive to Slade House (107510). Through farmyard (fingerpost \u2018Calton\u2019), then gate (YA). Grass path to next gate (107508); fork left (stile), down hedge to bottom. Left (107504, gate, YA) along dale bottom path for 1\u00bd miles to road at Rushley (124514). Left; in 100m, left up road (\u2018Manifold Trail\u2019\/MT). In 1 mile pass Throwley Old Hall (111525); on to farmyard; left (\u2018Calton\u2019). Immediately dogleg right\/left through wicket gate (110526, YA, MT). Half right to corner of wall (108528); track to gate beside trees (108529); down slope to gate (107533, MT); follow MT back to Weag\u2019s Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: Picnic<\/p>\n<p>Accommodation: Black Lion Inn, Butterton, Leek ST13 7SP (01538-304232, <a href=\"http:\/\/blacklioninn.co.uk\">blacklioninn.co.uk<\/a>) \u2013 everything you could want in a comfortable, welcoming village inn.<\/p>\n<p>Info: <a href=\"http:\/\/peakdistrict.gov.uk\">peakdistrict.gov.uk<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/enjoystaffordshire.com\/\">enjoystaffs.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The River Hamps is a winterbourne, only flowing after winter rains, and on this warm cloudy summer\u2019s day it was a bushy green channel of butterbur leaves smothering the dry stones of its bed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}