Cheswardine Walk 2 – 4 Mile Family-Friendly Route with Canal & Sheep Spotting (Shropshire)

3 down, 3 to go!

Saturday 7th September 2024. Today we embarked on walk 2: our 3rd of the 6 published Cheswardine walks. This series of 6 walks is provided by their Parish Council and you can find all 6 walks here, and read our accounts of Walk 1 here and Walk 4 here.

This moderate 4 mile circular walk starts from Cheswardine Parish Hall and heads out into the farmland to the south of the village.  The route takes you through farmland and down country lanes as well as a short section along the Shropshire Union Canal.  The Wharf public house is located on the canal and provides a perfect place to rehydrate.  Please be aware of traffic along the country lanes and you may also encounter lovestock on farmland.  

https://www.shropshiresgreatoutdoors.co.uk/route/cheswardine-walks-walk-2-little-soundley-ellerton-wood/

A ‘deload’ week

After the mileage we did last week (a whopping 22 miles!) we used this weekend to take a step back and enjoy a slower paced, lower mileage, walk. Having been a runner (although it’s important for any exercise really), I know the importance of ‘deload’ weeks and not piling on too much mileage too soon. This is something I’m particularly aware of with our children. Our family walks are meant to be enjoyable, as well as promoting physical and mental health, and I don’t want to give them any injuries or long term issues with their growing.

With that in mind, we decided to get out on another of the Cheswardine Walks. Other than Walk 4, the other 5 walks are all around the 4 mile mark, and considered relatively easy walks, so they made a perfect choice for today’s adventure.

Walk 2, as with all the walks, started from the Parish Hall. We parked up, alongside our neighbours, who were joining us once again, and we all headed left, down a rural alleyway into some fields. We crossed these fields and entered a quiet country lane, (as we did in Walk 1), however, after crossing the first canal bridge, we took the steps on our left to walk along the tow path (in the opposite direction from walk 1).

We wandered here along a grassy but fairly wide tow path between Halleman’s Bridge and Fox Bridge, a short but pretty section, before coming back off onto another country lane. This was another (thankfully) quiet lane, and we all ambled along at a leisurely pace. The forecast had predicted rain all afternoon, but other than being a little muggy, the walk was a dry one.

The Halfway Hotel

Around halfway through the walk we turned left up what looked like a private drive. The driveway up here was beautiful, lined with plum colour leafed trees, and beside it, a vegetable field with scattered red poppies between – it was very beautiful!

The drive firstly led past what looked like a little hotel – outside was the most impressive tree house the boys had ever seen, complete with a (dried out) moat and rope bridge! There were also huge metal animal shaped sculptures scattered throughout the garden. Our assumptions were that this was a some sort of boutique hotel, as we saw a Hotel sign at one point near the tree-house, but I can’t find a hint of it on Google!

From here we wandered up a field where 2 tractors were muck spreading. They were near the top and getting closer to the footpath side of the field, so we tried to adjust our pace to avoid getting in their way. Thankfully as we reached the top, they had both ran out of muck, and as one drove out to fetch some more, a young girl riding as a passenger gave us all a friendly wave.

We walked through the farm yard, following the footpath signs which were now in abundance here, and back over the canal. From here we found ourselves heading up the side of a couple more fields, all with lovely, albeit grey, views over the Shropshire countryside. We walked past a beautiful meadow, left to grow with these stunning wild flowers, which I thought warranted a photo – you don’t see much of this these days, even though it’s highly encouraged!

After passing the beautiful meadow we landed on the road again, where sheep in the opposite field ran excitedly toward us to say hello.

We then continued up another quiet road where we were finally welcomed back into the village of Cheswardine! As we arrived at the starting point, we decided to walk an extra loop through the houses as we all had the energy for it, and arrived back at the cars with an extra half a mile added to the walk. We changed out of our boots, put our bags in the car, and decided to have a refreshing drink at the Red Lion again! Isn’t it great when a walk finishes near a nice local pub?

Family Feedback on Cheswardine Walk 2

This proved to be another nice length, and technically easy walk, for all the family to enjoy. Unlike some of the walks we’ve done recently, there were no overgrown areas, no muddy pathways, and no dodgy stiles to contend with, so in my mind, a 5* family walk! We added the extra half mile loop as we still had energy to burn, and then all the children enjoyed some time at the park as well. For these shorter walks, the finish by a nice park is a real winner for children with tonnes of energy! For the grown ups, the nearness of a welcoming local pub is also a fun experience. We aren’t generally pub goers, but sometimes it’s really nice to just take off your walking boots and enjoy a refreshing glass of cold water, chatting with everyone you’ve just walked with! I’m sure as our walks get longer that we’ll start looking for little watering holes like this to break up the walk.

Having just stated how wonderful we thought the walk was for children and families, I thought it would be a good idea to get feedback from the boys to see if they agreed. However, that was easier said than done, as my 10 year old was fixated on the tree house. “I loved seeing that big tree house, it looked very cool!”. My 8 year old: “Same!” They did both say that they liked ‘all of it’, but as for the specifics, I’m afraid the tree house takes all the glory!

TOTAL MILES: 4.63 | TOTAL TIME: 2h01 (1h51 Moving Time)