After the torrential rain that fell on Tuesday afternoon and evening in Biddulph it was a relief that the next day, Wednesday 19th November 2025, had a quiet start.
21 members met in Astbury for the 6.4 mile walk to be led by Jill Jones, and we were all grateful to get walking as it was very cold. We'd been given permission to park at the Egerton Arms on the A34, and we crossed over that road into Bent Lane. Part way along we took a left turn at the kissing gate to reach a succession of lanes, Childs, Brownlow Heath, Brook and Chance Hall. All these paths and field paths eventually returned us to the A34, where we crossed over into the entrance of Little Moreton Hall. This is an amazing black and white half timbered manor house, with the oldest parts dating from around 1450, with later changes between 1504-1610. It was given to the National Trust in 1938 by the descendants of the original Moreton family. The house is now mainly closed for the winter, but a later path on our route could be reached from the grounds, so we took our lunch break here overlooking the property and the moat with its wildlife, making use of the picnic tables there. A group photograph was also taken before we continued to a gate to access a footpath across more fields to take us to join the towpath of the Macclesfield Canal.
Later, at the bridge over Oak Lane we left the canal and followed the road to Watery Lane, then took the footpath on the right, to reach the rear of Glebe Farm. We passed by the alpacas, donkeys, geese and petting zoo to reach Peel Lane, where we crossed over to return to the pub grounds, feeling much warmer than we had at the start ! A lovely morning's walk.