TISSINGTON AND FENNY BENTLEY WALK
THE WALK
From the former railway station, the Tissington and Fenny Bentley Walk follows the Tissington Trail along what was the railway track bed. After crossing the bridge over the A515, it enters a cutting where a nature reserve has been established.
It was the arrival of LNER’S Ashbourne to Buxton line that really started the tourist boom. Many were the thousands who alighted from the train at Alsop-en-le-Dale Station and walked the length of Dovedale before catching a train home at Thorpe Station. The railway is long since gone, the station having closed to passengers on 1 November 1954 and for goods on the 7 October 1963, has been demolished, and the disused track converted into the hugely popular Tissington Trail.
On leaving the trail, the walk soon descends to the Fenny Bentley. Recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, it is one of the most southerly villages in the Peak District. It has been the ancestral seat of the Beresford family since at least the 15th Century.
Leaving Fenny Bentley behind, the route rises steadily through meadowland past Bassett Wood Farm to return to the starting point of the walk and the opportunity to explore the fascinating village of Tissington.
LOOK OUT FOR
Route Point 1 – Tissington Trail is primarily flat, once you have passed the relatively steep incline at Mapleton, near the southern end of the trail. The trail is well surfaced, and there is a car park and a seasonal cycle hire centre at Mapleton Lane, which lies just to the north of Ashbourne. There are several other joining points with car parks, including Tissington and Thorpe at the southern end of the trail.
Point 2 – St Edmund’s Church at Fenny Bentley is a fascinating little church where there is a tomb to Thomas Beresford, an Agincourt survivor who died in 1473, and Agnes Beresford. Around the base, there are carvings of their 21 shrouded children. The church dates to 1240, when it was one of the six chapelries to St Oswald’s Church at Ashbourne.
Point 4 – On the opposite side of the road to the church stands Cherry Orchard Farm, originally the home of the Beresford family. In the 15th Century, it was a moated manor house known as Bentley Old Hall, and it is unique in Derbyshire with its square tower and defensive slit openings in the walls. The Beresford Family Society holds an annual reunion in the village for everyone with the surname Beresford.
Point 9 – Tissington is one of the prettiest and most unspoilt villages not only in Derbyshire but in the whole of the country. The entrance used by most visitors is off the main Ashbourne to Buxton road, through large rusticated lodge gates. An avenue of 200-year-old lime trees immediately creates an air of expectancy. Surprisingly, this fine approach does not lead directly to Tissington Hall, but to the village. Neat, well-tended gardens and limestone cottages, behind wide grass verges and backed by mature trees, give a feeling of peace and tranquillity. No planner designed it; the beauty of the village is the result of evolution
WALK DETAILS
Length: 4.5miles.
Start: Tissington Trail Car Park, once the site of the village railway station.
Location: Off A515 from Ashbourne (3.5 miles) to Buxton, signed ‘Tissington’. Go through the village past the pond and turn right to the Trail Car Park.
Terrain: A stroll along the Tissington Trail and then a short descent to the historic village of Fenny Bentley. A long, steady climb back through pastureland to Tissington follows. It can be wet underfoot in places.
Refreshments: Herbert’s Fine English Tearooms at Tissington, formerly the Coach House. – The Coach and Horses Inn at Fenny Bentley dates to the16th Century when it began life as a half-timbered house. It became a public house in the mid-1700s.
THE ROUTE
1. From the car park, follow the Tissington Trail to the right towards Ashbourne for one and a quarter miles. Ignore the first two footpaths going off to the left after crossing the A515. Until about 100 yards past the end of the car park, which once served Thorpe Railway Station, and acts as a parking place for trail walkers. Take the path to the left signed ‘Fenny Bentley’.
2. Head down the field, keeping slightly to the left to cross a small bridge over a stream. Continue up the next field to cross a stile in the fence near the right-hand corner. Remain close to the hedge on your right and, after crossing a stile, head for the bottom left-hand corner of the next field, leading to a fenced path on the outskirts of Fenny Bentley.
3. On reaching a lane, turn left and walk towards the church, and go through the churchyard to reach the A515. Cross the busy main road with care and walk to the right for a few yards to a footpath sign for ‘Tissington’. The Coach and Horses can be seen further down the road.
4. Turn left up the lane by the Old School; Bentley Old Hall is on your right. At a fork in the lane, keep to the right to go through a stile with a row of houses on your left.
5. After passing the last house in the row, ignore the footpath that goes straight on. Once you are past the hedge, go to the left to walk diagonally across the field to meet a hedge on the corner of a small field, ensuring you do not enter the field.
6. Keep to the right of the hedge, heading uphill along the field boundary, with the hedge on your left. At the top of the field, the path continues across a stile, heading gently uphill through two further fields, with the hedge on your left.
7. At the top of the last field, walk right to follow the hedge for a short distance to a stile by a metal gate. Cross the stile and walk straight on across the field to a second stile to the right of Bassett Wood Farm and continue down the farm drive.
8. Watch out for a stile on your left, which you cross and stay close to the field boundary on your left as you gently climb to reach the top left-hand corner. Cross the next field diagonally to the right to a stile in the top corner.
9. In the next field, follow a short track that bends slightly to the left to join Darfield Lane, where you turn left towards Tissington. Watch out for the track on the left that leads down to the starting point of the walk. Take some time to explore the beautiful estate village of Tissington.
TISSINGTON
