To Netherseal, back and forth between Leicestershire and Derbyshire.

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2015

Distance: 10km, 6 miles. Allow 3 hours walking time.

Terrain: Relatively gentle gradients. In some places you will encounter nettles so long trousers are advised. In wet weather you will encounter some muddy sections. There are lots of stiles.

Pub on route – The Cricketts Inn at Acresford is open from noon until 11pm currently but please check. Phone: 01283 760359 Web: www.cricketts-inn.co.uk/

Farmland, woods, railway history and geology.

From the Youth Hostel walk down the drive to the road, turn right and walk for a few paces until you see a footpath sign opposite, next to a metal farm gate. Follow the footpath until you go through a kissing gate. Continue ahead past a picnic table and on to an interpretation board (1) that will tell you a little about this field which was the site of Barratt Mill. Turn right (from your original direction) and follow the raised path through a gap and into woodland. There is more evidence here of the site’s industrial past.

After a few yards you will emerge into a formal garden in front of a large house and you will have passed into Derbyshire. The footpath goes across the lawn and up the driveway. Please respect the privacy of the occupants. The drive leads you out onto the road at Shortheath (2). Turn right onto the road and after a few steps turn right onto a signed footpath that goes up between two houses and leads to a stile into a field.

The path across the field is not very clear but you are heading diagonally left across to a stile in the far corner. Take care to avoid any electric fences that sometimes divide this field into horse paddocks. You may see some traffic cones to guide you. The stile leads to a short track and a further stile leads you into the corner of another field. Look for the tall way marker post in the middle of the far side which shows the narrow gateway that will take you through the hedge and onto the road.

Take care crossing the road to the footpath that leads straight across the large field towards a gap in the hedge. Continue straight ahead and aim towards the farm buildings that you will see over the brow. Just before you reach these buildings look out for a path that leads off to the left (3) in the direction of a white house which takes you over to the hedge. Turn left and follow the track along the hedge up to a way marker pointing right through a squeeze stile and go through this into a field that is used for turf – which may be closely mowed or stripped bare. Head diagonally across to another marker post and then aim for the right hand end of the fence in front of the modern house ahead. Follow the driveway that leads you out to the A444. This is a busy road and you need to cross it to pick up the footpath that leads through the farm gate opposite (4). The path actually goes diagonally left across this field but if it is not clear you can turn right and follow the edge of the field round. Either way you are aiming for a path that follows the hedge uphill on the opposite side of the field. As you approach the top of the hill look for a stile set back in the hedge on the right that leads onto a green lane and maybe lots of nettles! If you miss this and reach the top corner of the field you can still access the green lane through a gap.

Follow the green lane until it veers right (5). You will see a footpath that branches off to the left (pretty much straight on) which you should follow across a field to the corner of a wood. Carry straight on with the woodland to your left, past a derelict barn (labelled as Mount Pleasant Barn on OS map). Go through the gap in the hedge to the next field and follow the hedge around the left hand side until you come to the exit to Gorsey Lane. The path continues straight ahead on the other side of the road, past a modern barn. At the end of this field, continue ahead down a few steps (6) along a surfaced path, across a grassed area and eventually onto the road in Netherseal next to a large house with interesting chimney stacks (7).

The walk continues left along this road, but the pretty village of Netherseal is to your right.

You can investigate Netherseal village if you wish. There is a post office and shop, a pub (The Seal Inn) and an impressive church. You will see a blue plaque on a wall on the other side of the road to Sir Nigel Gresley the famous railway engineer who designed The Flying Scotsman and Mallard steam locomotives. A little further on, next to the school is the graveyard where he is buried with his family. To continue the walk you should return to the point at which you met the road.

Continue along the road for about 1km until you reach the junction with the A444 by The Cricketts Inn (8). Cross the main road at this point and turn right over the bridge and notice that you are entering Leicestershire again. Turn left into Measham Road, left again into Coopers Close and follow the road up in front of a terrace of houses. One of the houses in this terrace is in fact a Methodist Church. Cross the parking area in front of the church and take the track that leads down past No 12. You will come to a junction of paths. The right hand one leads back behind the terrace. Take the path on the left that leads you into a wood. You will see that to start with you are following the stream, Hooborough Brook, which marks the boundary between the counties. The path follows inside the edge of the wood and after a few hundred metres you will see an interpretation board about a disused quarry that lies in the field to your right. If you are interested you can detour out and take a look at the sheer cliff-face of the quarry illustrating some local geology.

Continuing along the woodland track you will eventually come to a flight of steps and then after a short distance another flight that leads you out into the field (9). Turn left and follow the edge of the field through a kissing gate in the hedge to another field. Continue to follow the edge of the wood as the path drops down the hill and notice the village of Donisthorpe on the hill ahead. You will come to a yellow waymarker , and you need to go left, through a gate(see picture),over a footbridge and a stile to reach the bottom of another field (10).

Aim for the white house at the top of the field slightly to your right. You will eventually see a waymark post that shows the footpath to the left of this house that leads out onto a road. Follow the track ahead that leads on downhill past the backs of houses (and a concrete cow!). After a long downhill section, where the track turns sharp left, look out for a marker post and take the footpath that leads off to the right, through Lockhart’s Wood. Continue straight on, over Hooborough Brook, up the hill and over a stile. Keeping the hedge to your right, cross the next fields and several more stiles until you see a bungalow ahead with solar panels. A stile to the left of the bungalow leads to a short path and onto the driveway of Woodview Farm (11). Turn right onto the driveway and when you reach the road carry straight on through Shortheath. At the other end of the row of houses you will recognise the driveway where you emerged earlier (2). Retrace your steps down this driveway, across the front of the house, across the lawn and through the wood. Turn left at the interpretation board (1) and follow the footpath back out to the road opposite the Youth Hostel.