Staffordshire Way Day 6

I got up at normal worktime this morning. The weather wasn't looking too promising! It wasn't actually raining, but it was very misty and foggy so if I was going to do the last day of Staffordshire Way I probably wasn't going to see much of it anyway! While making my sandwiches the weather forecast came on and it seemed to be saying that the weather in this area would improve during the day, so I decided I would indeed finish the walk today.

I set off to pick Steve up from Coventry and arrived at just gone 9am. We set off straight away and it looked as though the weather would indeed improve as we drove along the M42. This hope was short lived! By the time we left the motorway and made our way to Seisdon where I'd finished the walk before, it was raining quite heavily.. sigh. by the time we pulled up in The Seven Stars pub car park though it had stopped again. I donned my walking boots and first stop was the village shop in Seisdon, which was an oldy worldy place indeed. We then walked up the road and joined the official Staffordshire Way again. It was a gentle climb up out of the village past a free range chicken farm and then out onto Tinker's Castle Lane. The actual castle was less than impressive (being a modern psuedo crenulated jobby). Here we left the road to join a footpath along the fairly high and wooded ridge of Abbots Castle Hill, with its gentle slope off to the East and a more steep slope off to the right (or west). The ridge is made up of Bunter Pebble Beds and rises to over 400ft. This would have been more pleasant had the distant views been less hazy, but at least it wasn't pouring with rain! We should have been able to see the Shropshire hills off to the west, with Titterstone Clee Hill, Brown Clee Hill and Wenlock Edge being particularly prominent! Oh well!

Looking back over Seisdon village after climbing gently from the Seven Stars pub.

The less than impressive Tinker's Castle.

View through the trees as we walk along Abbot's Castle Hill.

We eventually came to a main road and crossed this to walk down a track and then around a quarry to emerge onto a small lane alongside woods and a golf course, with Wolverhampton Airport off to our right. This airfield was originally a second world war RAF airfield at Halfpenny Green, but is now a commercial airport for light aircraft. After a while we left the lane and entered the car park to Highgate Country Park, and made our way through Highgate Common. The common was formerly the northern part of the manorial waste which covered the eastern edge of the parish of Enville. The waste was inclosed in 1746 but remained uncultivated. We got slightly lost here but in reality just joined a lane slightly earlier than we should have done. We stopped to admire a fantastic sized sweet chestnut tree by the road at Highgate Farm and then took to a track across the fields. We passed Mere Farm off to the left which looked like parts of it were very old.. brick and timber framed and then crossed a field to get to Mere Hall with its two large lakes. We walked between these on a narrow strip of bank and then made our way by two fields at the front of the house, one containing llamas and one containing ostriches. Certainly the wierdest wildlife I've seen on the whole of Staffordshire Way so far I would say?!?

View out towards Shropshire from the main road after walking along Abbots Castle Hill.

Highgate common from our picnic spot. Heathland interspersed with silver birches.

The wonderful sweet chestnut after Highgate Common

Left: The wonderfully huge Sweet Chestnut by Highgat Farm again.

Above: Steve sets off again across the fields.

llamas in Shropsire... how alarming!:)

Ostrich too!

After another couple of fields we joined Lutley Lane and then turned off this to the left by the side of a small cottage and across a field of cows and bullocks to the far corner. The path then followed the side of the next field and into a dip to cross over a brook in woodland. I stopped to count the rings on a felled tree by the path... about 200 years of history! The scenery from this point on became pleasantly undulating and really rather pretty.. and luckily.. still no rain!!

We crossed Morfe Lane and then it was a short walk to the little village of Enville. We emerged onto the main road through someone's garden and rather grand drive gates and then turned left, to walk into the village past the church, and downhill to The Cat Inn for a well earned drink! The church of St Mary is of norman foundation but was restored and enlarged by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1872-75. It was then that the impressive tower, which followed the style of Gloucester Cathedral was added. The Cat Inn was an odd unspoilt little pub that is apparently not open on Sundays, so I was glad we were walking on a saturday this time and not a sunday as usual!

The ground starts to rumple up a bit as we approach Enville.

Nice autumnal trees in a gently undulating landscape as we approach Enville.

Right: St Mary's Church, Enville with its impressive tower based on Gloucester Cathedral designs.

Somewhat refreshed we set off along the driveway of Enville Hall, eventually walking by the impressive red bricked stable blocks at the end that hide the hall from view. The hall is the seat of the Grey Family, Earls of Stamford. Pevsner describes Enville as 'a fine house with glorious grounds'. It is basically 18th century, but in a mixture of styles with two fronts. The south front, which can be seen from the Way, is 'Georgian Romantic' with turrets, battlements and gothic motifs, whilst that facing north is conventional classical Georgian. The hall was badly damaged by fire in 1904, which led to extensive internal renewal. Carrying on past the stable block, we could look back at the front of the house. Its a rather odd looking place in my opinion, but certainly a very LARGE house of its kind! The next part of the walk was very pretty though the guidebook's description of it being the 'Swizerland of the Midlands' is certainly an exaggeration of the truth! For a considerable way the path followed a suncken track in the sandstone through lovely undulating fields with trees dotted about all around.. all very pleasant!

The red bricked stable block of Enville Hall and beyond the hall itself.

Looking back at the south front of Enville Hall.

Wonderful beech tree roots trying to find purchase in the red sandstone of the hills beyond Enville.

And again, with Steve standing by what seemed to
be an old well?

The Switzerland of the midlands??? hmmm!?

The sunken track beyond Enville.

More sandstone beside the sunken track,
though it looks like wood!

More Swiss alps??? hmmmmm!
pleasant enough but PLEASE!?

We were soon descending to the village of Kinver itself, skirting around its edge and then climbing steeply up through woodland and up onto Kinver Edge itself. Kinver was a royal manor at the time of the conquest and the area was the centre of a royal forest. Kings visited Kinver on several occasions between the late 11th and early 13th centuries, probably when hunting in the forest. More recently Kinver was a market town of some importance and in the mid 18th century woolen manufacture was a main trade.

It ws a shame the views as we climbed Kinver edge were so hazy as there would have been magnificent panoramas from there on a clear day. It was still pleasant enough! The edge is a southerly continuation of the Bunter Sandstone Ridge seen earlier at Abbots Castle Hill. Much of the edge is now owned by the National Trust and Staffordshire County Council owns 47 acres of public access land between the Trust land and the County boundary.

After climbing the 500ft to the summit I rang mum from the topograph, while we ate another sandwich. My family had gone out for the afternoon out in this direction, so that they could pick us up and take us back to the car waiting at Seisdon. They said they'd make their Way to Kinver after a cup of tea and so Steve and I made our way along the sandstone Ridge to the official start/end of Staffordshire Way. From here the Worcestershire Way Starts and also the North Worcestershire Path, so maybe in the future I should look at doing those? Once I'd taken a photo Steve and I made our way back down into Kinver via a different route and by the time we'd made it mum rang to say that they'd arrived. We met them in the Car park of the White Hart pub and then went in for a celebratory drink. We also had a drink when we got back to The Seven Stars in Seisdon.

The climb up Kinver Edge.

And the view from near the topograph at the top.

More views from the heights as we walk.....

...along the ridge towards the Hereford and Worcester border.

Above: a wonderful toadstool.. one of many on the descent back to Kinver town itself.

Left: Steve points back along the Way from its end! I have completed the 93 miles in six days of walking! Not bad going!