14 members of the walking group, and Shelby the dog, set off from Chester Station to begin a walk around the Duke of Westminster’s Estate. Walking along the ancient city walls, and along the edge of the Shropshire Union canal, we approached the Roodee, the site of Chester Racecourse. Just a short stride from here we walked into the tree lined paths of the Dukes Estate and enjoyed a little welcome relief from the hot June sun.Sue and Shelby left us about a mile down this track, as the little dog had done well to keep up in the heat, but Sue decided to retrace her steps and take respite from the sun in a local watering hole until we met up with her later. The route that we took led us to the edge of the river Dee, but in a very rural setting and we continued to walk along the banks, through lovely meadows, until we turned off to approach the village of Eccleston, which has been voted several times as one of Cheshire’s best kept villages. This village, together with Aldford and Saighton late are villages on the estate of the Duke of Westminster, the Eaton Estate. All the houses in the village have a neat and unostentatious appearance, many of which were designed by John Douglas, a well known Chester architect in the late 19th century.Typical of the Eaton village estates are the twisted chimneys, windows with diamond panes and even diamond brick inlay in many of the cottage walls.
We stopped for lunch in the churchyard of St Mary ,the Virgin, and took advantage of the shade of the trees. The church was built under the specific instruction of the 1st Duke of Westminster, and the foundation stone was laid in 1897.
From here we retraced our steps back to the banks of the river, and followed its meandering path back into Chester, crossing Queens Park Bridge and back into the hubbub of the tourist area. The walk officially ended here, with some people going for ice-cream, others to engage in a little retail therapy, whilst the majority sought refuge from the early summer heat in the Brewery Tap, where coincidentally we found Sue and Shelby, and quaffed a few well deserved drinks. Suitably refreshed we continued through the city to the station for our return trip on “Miseryrail” with very heated carriages and little air flow in 28 degree heat! A ten mile round trip from station to station, with good company and lovely scenery. Thanks to Keith for leading the walk.
The next walks will be on Thursday 5th July. The long walk will be to Mow Cop, an isolated village straddling the Cheshire – Staffordshire border. Car share will be available. The short walk will be around Aughton, starting from the Royal Oak pub, and will use local buses to get to start point. Details, as usual, are now posted in the church hall and will be on the website the week preceding the walk.