Among Aristocracy at Osmaston and Shirley Parks

About trip

Osmaston is barely a few winding country lanes away from the buzzing traffic of Ashbourne, but it’s just the unspoiled tranquil village you’d hope to find on a country walk. The moment you leave the car you will experience the slow tick-over of the place. Mock Tudor. St Martin’s Church was built in 1845 to replace a much earlier one. The parish register goes back to 1606. It’s full of references to the Wright family, who for a long time were the local gentry and benefactors to the village. Francis Wright, the owner of the Butterley Iron Works, had Osmaston Hall built here in 1849. The hall itself was a mock-Tudor mansion and the gardens were landscaped. There’s a memorial to him found in Ashbourne’s Market Place. In 1964 the hall’s owner, Sir John Walker, decided to demolish the place when he moved to Okeover and took the Okeover family name. However the grounds, Osmaston Park, are criss-crossed by rights of way, and make a pleasing itinerary for the walker. Across the road from the car park is a terrace of four thatched cottages, built to celebrate the coronation of King George VI. As you walk down the lane you pass the Shoulder of Mutton, a fine village pub with much promise for the end of the day, then some more of those thatched cottages, this time built with rustic tawny-coloured local bricks. These cottages are much older than the ones seen earlier and they’re timber framed. At the end of the lane there’s a duck pond. Even the ducks seem less noisy in Osmaston. The walk enters the woodlands of Osmaston Park and threads between two of the estate’s many lakes. On the other side there’s an old mill, built in the style of an Austrian chalet and complete with a waterwheel. The path climbs though more woodland. Shirley’s another pretty village with its own aristocracy – Earl Ferrers and the Shirley family. Viscount Tamworth, the heir to Earl Ferrers, still lives in the village. From Shirley the walk turns back across fields and woods to Osmaston Park, reaching another of the estate’s lakes. This one has the best setting, with a lush meadow surround and the occasional heron. Towering in Woods: As you continue along the track, heading north and back into the woods now, you’ll see a peculiar-looking tower peeping out from the canopy of trees. It’s 150ft (45m) tall and all that remains of Osmaston Hall. The tower was designed to accommodate all the hall’s various chimneys in one single stack. With this odd sight still lingering in your thoughts the walk ends in fine ‘lord of the manor’ style as you walk down the hall’s main drive, saluted by a fine avenue of lime trees. While you're there: Ashbourne proclaims itself to be the gateway to Dovedale. It has some fine old coaching inns. St Oswald’s Church, with its 200-ft (61m) plus spire and early 13thcentury chancel, was described by George Eliot as ‘the finest mere parish church in the kingdom’. Where to eat and drink: If you’re after a traditional Sunday lunch try the Shoulder of Mutton at Osmaston, a free house with real ales. The Saracen’s Head at Shirley serves excellent food if you’re partial to a refreshment break in the middle of your walk. What to look out for: The lakes are frequented by many birds, including grey heron, mallards, moorhens and many migratory wildfowl. The annual show of the Ashbourne Shire Horse Society is held in Osmaston Park in August. Directions: Turn right out of the Osmanton Village Hall car park and follow the road past the Shoulder of Mutton pub to the village green and duck pond. Turn left and then take the middle of three rights of way – marked ‘Bridleway to Shirley’. The track descends among fields and through attractive woodland. Continue on the track past Home Farm, which lies to the left. 2 Follow the track it as it separates the two narrow lakes, to walk between them. 3 After passing an old watermill keep to the track ahead, which climbs up through the woodlands of Shirley Park. The track eventually becomes a tarmac lane, continuing towards Shirley. 4 The return path to Osmaston, highlighted by a Centenary Way (CW) waymarker, begins on the right, just before the village, but most walkers will want to take a look around the centre, if only for refreshment at the Saracen’s Head. 5 Return to the previously mentioned footpath, which begins with some steps. Beyond a stile it crosses a fenced-off section of lawn, previously part of a garden belonging to the cottage on the left. Beyond a second stile the path follows a hedge on the left round the edge of three fields. It cuts diagonally across a fourth field to a stile, beyond which you turn left to descend towards a wood, which is the southern extremity of Shirley Park. 6 Go over the footbridge to cross Shirley Brook and then follow a muddy streamside path to another footbridge. Go over this and then turn right into the woods on a path, which has another CW marker. 7 Beyond a gate at the edge of the woods, ignore the CW path on the right. Instead, leave the woods and continue along a grassy sunken track heading across the pasture ahead and alongside a pleasant lake, the southernmost of the Osmaston Park lakes. 8 Where the track fades, maintain direction alongside the lake and then a narrow strip of woodland. You are walking through the valley of Wyaston Brook and, although the path is invisible on the ground, the stiles in the cross-fences are all in place. 9 The bridleway from Wyaston Grove joins the route just beyond one of these stiles (grid ref 196423). Double-back right along it, passing some railings on the right. The bridleway track now climbs north-east out of the valley and back into the estate of Osmaston Park. It becomes a tarmac drive and eventually turns left on to an avenue of lime trees, emerging by the village green. Turn left, by the duck pond, then right, back to the car park.