Loggerheads Family Walk – Woodland & Countryside Trail in Staffordshire

Happy National #GetOutsideDay

Before I jump into today’s post about our own family adventures in the Great British outdoors, I thought I’d share this great national day with you all! This day is dedicated to encouraging people of all ages and abilities to embrace the outdoors and enjoy the benefits of being active in nature – something I actively encourage too! You can find out more over on the Ordnance Survey website!

Saturday 21st September 2024

Autumn was truly showing it’s colours today as we headed out on our chosen walk. We’d decided to give the Loggerheads circular a go, after seeing the way markers for it on the Cheswardine Walk 4 a few weeks earlier – and with thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon, we decided to get out early while the sun was shining!

From Forest to Fields

My husband had found the entire Loggerheads circular walk on his All Trails app, and coupled with our OS map, we used both of these to guide us through today’s walk. The All Trails route started at the pub, but as we approached the car park we could see it was filled with a Saturday market of some description, so we found a quite cul-de-sac to park down instead. From the car we headed through a particularly beautiful housing estate (the sort from years ago when plots were sold instead of houses, so each house is unique and full of character) and then down a little alleyway toward the forest. The alley was filled with these beautiful coloured leaves – they made me feel very autumnal – what a pretty start to the walk!

This first section of the walk saw us wander through the woodland via several lesser used footpaths, but fortunately ones that weren’t particularly overgrown with brambles or nettles. What a relief!

The path lead to the edge of the woods, where we wandered in line with the woodland edge, before hitting a gate where a track began.

The track ran alongside the Hales Estate Woodland, with farmland and beautiful views across Staffordshire on the other side. The weather had really started to warm up at this point, with beautiful blue skies – we couldn’t believe the forecast of heavy rain and thunderstorms that had been predicted in only a few hours from now!

At the end of the track we had to cross a field with cows. Fortunately a lady with two young children had just passed us and were busy chatting to the cows, giving us a chance to slip over the stile and sneak down the side of the field before the cows saw us 😂

A Familiar Path Walked in a Flash

After we had crossed the field we continued down another lane, past a handful of old brick built barns, and onto a track that we recognised immediately – this would lead us down the section that we did the other week on our Cheswardine walk 4 – past all the pheasants, the Roman Villa and toward Flash Lane in Hales. Funnily enough, only yesterday I’d joined a local group of hikers whilst the children were at school, on a walk which also took me down this road!

As we wandered down the road, our youngest said he was happy to get past the house with the dog (I didn’t mention it in the original post, but last time a dog ran out onto the road from the house and jumped up him. Being smaller than the dog he found it upsetting at the time). I was also able to point out the area of the Roman Villa – we weren’t quite sure where it was when we walked it last time, but when I went with the local hiking group the leader of the walk pointed it out for us! This was particularly interesting to our youngest who has recently studied the Romans in school. The boys were disappointed not to see a highland cow this time 😂

Eventually we arrived at Flash Lane, and headed right, up toward Blore. We were beginning to feel a little peckish and were happy to see that there were still many blackberries to pick along this lane.

The Short Walk, or the Longer One

We walked past the sign and the houses, and continued on the concrete track, still scavenging for blackberries. We were so engrossed we almost walked past the stile we were supposed to cross! Fortunately our youngest spotted it – it was well hidden and well overgrown, and squeezing through the holly leaves wasn’t much fun!

On the other side of the stile we were met with a huge group of cows, and again we slowly crept along the edge of the field trying to blend in. We all thought we were home and dry after crossing another stile in the field, until one of the boys pointed out that the gate at the other end of the fence was wide open 😅

Eventually we did cross a stile that saw us free of the cow field, and we were met with some much more chilled out sheep. Across this large field we could make out the main (A53) road, so knew we were almost back (which was good news to the youngest who said his knee was hurting a little bit in this field).

After crossing another stile we were back in the woods, and following a footpath leading around the outside of the woods that we were in earlier. It was a little unnerving as there was a shot gun going off near the pond, and judging by the noise it was incredibly close! Whilst we never saw the source of the noise it was a relief as we continued onward and the shots started getting quieter. 

We stopped at a couple of little streams that we passed on the way out of the woods. The boys love water, and have asked to find some more walks by rivers. Shortly after the streams we passed an area marked as ‘sheep grazing ground’.

The walk went a little off kilter here as a new housing estate in progress got in the way of the original route – and of course it wasn’t on our OS map either. Fortunately the developers had put an alternative route in place, leading us to a path that lead us around the edge of the estate, then through main entrance/road and back onto the main road that goes through Loggerheads.

Before we knew it, we were back in the pretty housing estate and in sight of the car! It was ever so slightly beginning to cloud up as we changed out of our boots, and it wasn’t long after getting home and making a late lunch that the black clouds rolled in and we were treated to a bit of a storm! We timed that just right! Watching the storm, it was hard to believe that only a few hours earlier we had been sauntering around the Staffordshire countryside is beautiful sunshine!

Family Feedback on the Loggerheads circular

I loved the variety of terrain and different views that we were treated to along this walk. The terrain was mostly flat for walking on, with no real elevation, making it an easy 6 and a half miles for the boys. The forest really added to the autumnal ambiance, which I’m really looking for in walks at this time of year. The entire walk was so peaceful, only seeing a handful of people, and we enjoyed a good mixture of wildlife too; from rabbits to pheasants, and swallows to buzzards. Other than coming back through a new housing estate, the majority of the route is so rural and so peaceful, and we all agreed we’d enjoy walking it again! There were plenty of stiles to cross, but all were in good repair – just watch your arms and head getting through the ‘hidden stile’ on all that holly 😀

The boys as ever were keen to say what they thought. My 8 year old said the best part was picking the blackberries because they were ‘really tasty’ and gave him ‘lots of energy’. My 10 year old said that his favourite part was the stream. He said he likes being near rivers and my youngest has said he wants to see a waterfall, so if you have any suggestions for those two features in this area, please let me know!

TOTAL MILES: 6.57 | TOTAL TIME: 2h49 (2h28 Moving Time)

Let me know if you’ve done this walk, or would like to – and don’t forget to follow the Countryside Code:

• Enjoy the countryside and respect its life and work
• Guard against all risk of fire
• Fasten all gates
• Keep your dogs under control
• Keep to public paths across farmland
• Use gates and stiles to cross fences, hedges and walls
• Leave livestock, crops and machinery alone
• Take your litter home
• Help to keep all water clean
• Protect wildlife, plants and trees
• Take special care on country roads
• Make no unnecessary noise