Bishop’s Wood Family Walk, Staffordshire – Autumn Woodland Trail with Kids

It’s a firm favourite

Saturday 30th November 2024. For the last two weekends, walks have evaded us due to children’s sports fixtures and Storm Bert, so we were really excited to finally get out again today! The boys, and Dad, were keen to get back to Bishop’s Wood. If you’ve followed our blog for a while, you will know that our first and second walks were far from ideal, and I vowed this would only be a place to go in the winter months – so now was the time to test the theory!

Upon arrival, it was clear that a lot of vegetation had died off since we last came, including many of the trees, which I had mistakenly thought were mostly evergreen, so I was hopeful that this walk would be bramble-attack free! We also decided to walk the route in reverse to mix it up a bit.

Starting backwards meant that we had to walk past the ‘creepy old building’ first (the boys description!) and past an area of land that we had all suggested ‘was probably a river in the winter’ : we were right – well, perhaps large pool of water is more correct!

This short section leads up to the lovely little area with a tyre swing, which the boys had some fun on before we carried on further into the wood.

From here we continued to the southern most point of the wood, where, as we approached a nearby farm, we were met by hundreds of loud starlings, and several low flying buzzards – it was quite the sight (and sound!). Starlings are common where we live, and we are lucky enough to live under the local “murmuration flight path”, but I’m glad they don’t rest too close to us during the day, because I amazed at the din they made!

After following one of the main pathways into the woodland, we veered off to the left to follow our perimeter walk, and into what was a bramble jungle, the last time we walked it! It was around this time that the sun disappeared behind the clouds, and the walk became noticeably cooler!

It was so much clearer and easier to walk, in fact, other than a couple of  landmarks that reminded me that I had been here, I wouldn’t have believed it was the same path! One such ‘landmark’ were these chimes: remember on my last walk how the chimes were so overgrown, I thought no one would ever get to enjoy them – turns out they probably do, just only during the winter!

Further up this same path we also got to have a better look at this interesting feature (below) – it is in fact a glass furnace, according to the helpful sign at the start of the walk – it was another well overgrown feature on the last walk that we could actually enjoy and get a closer look at on this walk! The boys spotted the interesting tile/enamel like finish to the interior, that you can see more clearly when you click on the second photo below. I was going to share another “before and after”, but it turns out it was so overgrown I didn’t even bother to get a photo on the last walk!

Another mile or so later and we found this sculpture again! Poor lass is probably a little cool now, as she’s a tad more exposed than she was last time! 😂 The boys enjoyed being able to walk up to her and get a photo this time.

We continued onward through the woodland with little in the way of issues. The brambles are still incredibly tedious. Though nowhere near the height of where they were on our last walk, and not encroaching across the pathway for the most of it, there were still dominant low level brambles that persistently attacked my laces, and I’ve had to make a mental note to invest in some gaiters, as I was getting a little cheesed off with having to keep stopping and retying them 😅

When we got to the ‘cow field’, we decided to try a different path and head back into the heart of the woodland. This was so that we had an idea of an alternative route if we walk the other way around and meet cows again (like we did in Walk 1). It lead us down the path that, the first time we walked it, we ended up giving up on, as the brambles either side of the path had fully emerged and become a hedge! Though they’d died back quite a bit in the past few months, they were probably the worst here than anywhere else on the walk today, but other than a few scratches (and the eldest getting swiped across the face) we all emerged relatively unscathed!

The final section was mostly uneventful, until the last half a mile, where some flooded sections of woodland lead to us having to make a detour – unfortunately the swathes of leaves all over the woodland floor, and fallen branches, made us go completely off route! Fortunately we could see the road through the now bare trees, so we trudge through the bracken and fallen foliage parallel to the road, until we eventually landed at the beginning again! Phew! That was hard work!

Our eldest’s boots, boots he’s had since the first time we said we’d start walking more (2022) finally gave up half way around, with the sole starting to peel away, so we headed straight home after the walk to jump online to find a Black Friday deal for him (great timing lad, thank you 😂).

Family Feedback: Bishop’s Wood (Autumn 2024)

As we walked around, my eldest said how much he was enjoying the walk, and how much nicer it was when you could actually get through! It was clearly enjoyed by both as they practically marched the entire route with no stop requests and no moaning – in fact by the end, as my knee (old running injury!) started to cause some pain, I couldn’t even keep up with the boys! Even when we got home, both the lads were happily chatting about the walk, with the only negative being at the end when, tired, we had to trudge through the tall bracken! I’ve been so proud of their performance today, and it still remains a favourite walk to them despite all the issues we have with brambles every time we come!

TOTAL MILES: 6.29 | TOTAL TIME: 3h23 (2h51 Moving Time)

Good to Know

Car Parking: Various local laybys.

Toilets: None.

Accessibility: The main routes are pushchair friendly, but this route is not.

Café/Picnic Spots: No cafes, no benches. Best to bring a picnic blanket and find a suitable spot – the place with the tyre swing would be a brilliant picnic spot!

Terrain: Mostly flat, a couple of inclines/declines – but watch out for uneven ground, tree roots and other woodland related tripping hazards.

Family-Friendly Tips: Visit the area with the tyre swing to have a little play.

Points of Interest: Some interesting things to look out for – Red Wood ant hills (very active during the summer), lady sculpture, stone sculptures (we’ve not seen these yet) and wind chimes – or tubular chimes as they are named on the sign.

Safety Information: Keep an eye out for information signs on the walk, as Foresty England woodlands can have people or machinery at work in them.