OSMASTON PARK WALK
THE WALK
Osmaston Park Walk is a lovely, relaxing walk through the park woodlands to the pretty village of Shirley. It then returns alongside Shirley Brook, past an ornamental lake, before climbing gently back to Osmaston.
LOOK OUT FOR
Route Point 1 – Osmaston is a beautiful picture postcard village with delightful half-timbered cottages under thatched roofs and lattice windows. Thatched cottages are rare in Derbyshire, but at Osmaston, even the village hall has a thatched roof. The village green overlooks a pretty duck pond, where you can sit and relax.
Point 3 – Halfway between Osmaston and Shirley, the old disused water mill with its large wheel has a roof like a Swiss chalet. The building has been Grade II* listed since 1985.
Point 4 – Shirley, mentioned in the Domesday Book, is an appealing village with a fine church and an ancient inn. St. Michael’s Church has been heavily restored and has lost its Norman shape. The Saracen’s Head takes its name from the crest on the arms of the Shirley family. The pub is over 200 years old and stands on the site of a previous inn. John Cowper Powys, one of England’s leading religious novelists, spent the early years of his life in the village where his father was the vicar.
Point 12 – The strange-looking tower, seen through the trees near the end of the walk, was designed to accommodate all the smoke from the chimneys at Osmaston Hall before it was reduced to rubble.
Point 13 – The former polo ground that used to attract thousands of well-dressed visitors to Osmaston now belongs to the village. The Annual Ashbourne Agricultural Show, organised by the Ashbourne and District Royal Shire Horse Society, is held there on the third Saturday of August every year.
Point 14 – The horseshoe seat facing the thatched cottages across the village duck pond is an excellent place to rest and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the village. It looks uncomfortable, but it is not.
WALK DETAILS
Length: 4.75 miles.
Start: Osmaston Village Hall Car Park in the centre of the village, off the A52 Derby to Ashbourne (2 miles) road. (SK199439)
Terrain: Easy walking along estate tracks for the first part of the walk. The area around Shirley Brook is muddy at all times of the year. But the recent provision of a boardwalk is of considerable assistance.
Refreshments: The Shoulder of Mutton at Osmaston is very popular with walkers. At Ashbourne, the Gingerbread Shop is a great favourite, and there are several pubs, cafes, and restaurants to suit all tastes.
THE ROUTE
1. Walk to the right from the car park into the village centre and turn left past the duck pond.
2. Take the middle of the three paths, signed Bridleway to Shirley, and walk along a wide track gently descending with fields on either side.
3. After passing an old water mill, the track climbs through woodland and continues in the same direction, soon changing into a surfaced lane. Shortly after passing the driveway to Shirley House, a ‘T’ junction is reached.
4. At this point, you can take a diversion and continue straight ahead into Shirley Village, past the former National School House and the church on the right.
5. Go right at a footpath sign to walk alongside the wall to the Saracen’s Head public house. Then, after 15 yards, turn sharply right to walk down a track close to farm outbuildings to go over a stile at the bottom by a metal gate.
6. Turn sharp right, go over another stile, and follow the field boundary. At the corner of the hedge you have been walking alongside, go through a gap into the next field. Turn left and walk down the field, keeping close to the hedge to reach the bottom corner, where you cross a stile on your left.
7. Immediately turn to the right and, keeping close to the field boundary, follow it down to cross another stile. Continue in the same direction along an obvious path across a field. Go through a gap in the bottom corner of the field and turn left alongside the hedge. On reaching a stile by a metal gate, continue ahead downhill, joining a boardwalk over marshy ground.
8. Cross the footbridge over Shirley Brook and continue along the boardwalk, keeping straight on where it divides, to cross another footbridge into an area of woodland.
9. Keep to the main path through the woodland, leaving by a stile alongside a field gate. Follow a slightly sunken path above the lake, ignoring the Centenary Way path on the right.
10. Where the path dips, go over a stile near the water’s edge. Follow a clear path with a wire fence close to your left until you cross a stile where the fence ends.
11. Continue in the same direction until you see a whitewashed house in the distance. Here, you need to take particular care to follow the fence as it curves around to the right. Go through a gate and follow a track through woodland, which doubles back in the direction in which you were previously walking.
12. At the end of the woodland, go to the left and follow the track uphill, which eventually changes into a surfaced road as you progress through the Osmaston Park Estate. You notice the old Osmaston Hall chimney as it peers above the trees.
13. Turn left at a ‘T’ junction, down an avenue of lime trees along the drive to the former Osmaston Hall, passing the Polo Ground on your left.
14. At the end of the drive, turn left again to pass the duck pond you saw earlier with its inviting horseshoe seat. Turn right back to the walk’s starting point.
Osmaston
