This is the fourth walk in the series – and we have already headed south, north and west – so this stroll takes in countryside to the east of Ruddington, around the pretty village of Bradmore.
The walk takes about three hours and is about four and a half miles long. Unlike the previous walks, there are no nature trails or country parks, but paths and tracks across open countryside and farmland, so please ensure that you are wearing sturdy footwear, or preferably good quality hiking boots.
As with all the other walks, Walk #4 begins in the centre of Ruddington, by the ‘Ruddington Church’ bus stop (1), which is served by Nottingham City Transport’s Navy 3 and Green 10/10X/10C* buses, so there are various ways to make it to the starting point.
(The first section of this walk follows the route of the first part of Walk #1, heading for Rushcliffe Country Park. If you haven’t done Walk #1 though, you can still follow these instructions.)
With your back to the church, head to the right and then follow the road round to the left, past the Co-Op. Keep going along Church Street past the White Horse pub to your right to reach Ruddington Green on your left. Take a cut through on your left, passing a terrace of houses, and then cross the street in front of you to head across the main part of the Green itself, where you will see the human sundial. (2)
Keep going in this direction across the Green until you reach another road, signposted as Elms Gardens. Turn right along this street, follow the road round to the left and you will see a short alleyway in front of you. Keep going into the alleyway, and turn right at the end of it. You will soon see a green public footpath sign pointing the way to the Country Park down a left fork. Follow the sign by heading roughly straight on after the turning, along a tarmac path. (3)
Keep going along the tarmac path, keeping the playing fields to your left. Bear slightly left as you reach a housing estate to your right and keep following the path into some woods. Follow the path to the left, ignoring the gate into the country park to your right. (You depart from the route of Walk #1 at this point.) (4) Keep going until you reach the road. This is Mere Way, which leads to Ruddington Fields Business Park. Turn left, following the footpath on the left-hand side of the road away from main part of the business park and towards the A60. The footpath turns to the right, so follow this to cross the road and then take the road in front of you which is signposted ‘private road ahead’. The road is called ‘The Avenue’, but the street name is facing away from you as you approach. As you follow this, it curves around to the right and reaches some gates across your path, becoming a driveway towards Park House. The public footpath continues to the left at these gates, and you will pass through wooden gates which say Welcome to Rushcliffe Country Park on them. Follow the path round to the right. (5)
The path continues with the A60 to your left behind a screen of foliage, until it turns right away from the road. Keep following the main path, ignoring the track to the left shortly after the right turn. The path continues with the business park to your right behind trees. Eventually, the path turns to the right to follow the southern edge of the business park. Just before this curve, you will see a bench and a set of sturdy wooden posts behind, which, as you move closer to these, you will see are labelled Bradmore Gate. (6) Go through these, crossing the road in front of you (Asher Lane) to follow the track on the other side of the road round to the right. The track continues as a narrow path following a hedge to the right and you will pass beneath electricity transmission lines which stretch between pylons across open fields.
The path bends to the right as it follows the hedge. Continue to follow this as it skirts the field round to the left, heading uphill towards a large white house. The path goes through a gap to the right of the house, where you turn left to follow the track in front of you. (7) There are public footpath signs pointing left (where you’ve just come from) and right, but ignore these and head on up along the track (signposted Littlemoor Lane) into the village of Bradmore. Ignoring another public footpath sign to your right, keep following the road until you see an alleyway to your left with a circular ‘no vehicles’ sign at the entrance, heading towards the church spire. The octagonal spire and church tower is all that is left of a 14th century church after the rest was destroyed in a fire in 1705. The hall which is now attached to the tower was built much later, in 1881.
Follow the alleyway to the end and turn right down Far Street, turning left when you get to the end. Here, you will see a converted barn which has a plaque attached to it, telling the names of the Bradmore Morris Dancers of 1618, who were brought before a church court for profaning the Sabbath with their dancing and music. The road continues round to the right and heads for the main A60. Cross this (CROSS WITH CARE) to turn left along the main road, turning right down a Public Bridleway after the edge of the houses. (8)
The bridleway is also known as Mill Lane and is an obvious track meandering across fields. You will see large metal farm buildings up ahead. Keep going towards these, leaving the track as it bends to the left, and continuing along the bridleway to the right-hand side of the farm buildings. Partway alongside the buildings, the bridleway takes a left-hand detour through a hedge, continuing alongside the buildings on the other side of it. Turn left around the far edge of the buildings and then continue to follow the perimeter of the site to follow the site access road out, past a metal gate with a red-painted barrier. Follow the track to the left of the sign for Private Farmland and continue along the partially tarmacked path to reach the right-angled bend of Flawforth Lane. (9)
From here, you can follow the road back to Ruddington. There is no footpath, but there is a wide grass verge on the left-hand side of the road which you can easily and safely walk on, so you will have good reason to ignore the usual rule of walking on the right so as to face the oncoming traffic. Keep going until you get to the junction with the A60 where there are traffic lights (10) (CROSS WITH CARE) and then head straight on down Kirk Lane back into Ruddington. To get back to St Peter’s Church (1), you will turn right along High Street and then across the zebra crossing to head down Church Street.
WORDS AND IMAGES: David R Thompson, Winter 2020.
Check out more of David’s photographs from Ruddington and beyond >>HERE<<.
