OCKBROOK AND HERMIT'S CAVE WALK
THE WALK
Ockbrook and Hermit’s Cave Walk is a popular and enjoyable walk on the edge of Derby, along quiet country lanes, through fields and woodlands, with a well-preserved Hermit’s Cave and views of the Cat and Fiddle Windmill to add variety.
After leaving Far Lane, the walk continues across fields and through Ockbrook Wood to Dale Abbey and enters Hermitage Wood. Abundant wildlife exists in this ancient woodland, and over 60 species of flowering plants have been recorded.
As you walk towards the Hermit’s Cave, the Cat and Fiddle Windmill can be seen to the north, the only one of its kind left in the county. After leaving Hermit’s Wood, the walk continues through fields and along a quiet country lane, passing Hopwell Hall and returning to Ockbrook.
LOOK OUT FOR
Route Point 1 – Far Lane, judging by the ancient hedgerows along its upper reaches, indicates that the lane is very ancient and may have connected with the Portway, an ancient prehistoric trackway. An Archaeological Project Information Board provides details about a project carried out on private land at Little Hay Grange. In the early 1990s, a team of local archaeologists excavated a substantial stone building, of at least two phases of construction, which appears to have been built in the late 1st century AD. The building seems to have been built on an infilled ditch of an Iron Age settlement.
Dale Abbey Point 3 – A more peaceful and pleasant spot than Dale Abbey is hard to find in the whole of Derbyshire. Yet it is less than three miles from the suburbs of Derby to the west, and even closer to a vast area of housing and industrialisation on the eastern side. The story of Dale Abbey, or Depedale as it was known initially, begins when a Derby baker had a dream – the Virgin Mary appeared and told him to go to Depedale, to live a life of solitude and prayer. It was a wild and marshy place, and the hermit carved out a home and chapel in a sandstone cliff. Here he continued to worship in solitude until one day the smoke from his fire was seen by a Knight, Ralph Fitz Geremund, the owner of the land. Intending to drive the intruder away, he rode over. But, on hearing the hermit’s story, he was filled with compassion, allowing him to remain and bestowing on him the tithe money from Borrowash Mill. This enabled the hermit to build a small chapel and home on the site of the present church.
Point 4 – Hermit’s Wood is an ancient woodland and probably formed part of the original forest that once covered this area. It contains many fine beech and oak trees. Abundant wildlife and over 60 species of flowering plants have been recorded. The Hermit’s Cave is now designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and it is worth taking a good look at the view from this point. On the hill to the north can be seen the Cat and Fiddle Windmill, the only one of its kind left in Derbyshire.
Point 9 – Hopwell Hall was built by Henry Keyes in 1720 on the site of a 16th-century hall belonging to the Sacheverell family. Henry Keyes had inherited the estate in 1661 from his cousin Ferdinand Sacheverell. It was owned by five generations of the Pares family from 1786 to 1921, and the house survived until 1957, when it was demolished following a fire that destroyed the upper storey. The site was then sold to Nottinghamshire County Council, who built a school upon it. A special school continued to operate there until it was closed in 1995. It is now a private residence.
WALK DETAILS
Length: 5 miles.
Start: Roadside parking to the north of Far Lane. The walk can also be started from Dale Abbey by making your way to the Hermit’s Wood and following the route instructions.
Location: Between A52 and A6005, one mile to the east of Spondon.
Terrain: Mostly undulating meadowland, quiet country lanes, and farm trackways, with one short, steep climb at Dale Abbey. It can be very muddy in Hermit’s Wood.
Refreshments: There are several popular public houses in Ockbrook, and the Apple Tree, a multi-award-winning teahouse and gift shop. The Carpenters Arms at Dale Abbey is a family-run pub.
THE ROUTE
1. Walk down The Ridings and turn left into Far Lane, passing Littlehay Grange on the right after about three-quarters of a mile. Continue along the lane, which soon changes into a rough track. After going by an Archaeological Project Information Board and entering a large field, turn left and follow the hedge along.
2. On reaching the top of the field, follow the hedge around to a stile in the right-hand corner. Keep close to the hedge on the left in the next field before going over a stile into Ockbrook Wood. Remain on the right-hand side of the wood at first, before dropping down a rough path. At a path indicator post, go to the right to leave the wood by a gate.
3. Continue along a clear path that soon bends to the left and reaches a ‘T’ junction, where you turn right near a stable yard along a track leading onto a woodland path (a diversionary footpath has been introduced to avoid going through the stable yard, which is now private). If you wish to visit Dale Abbey, continue straight ahead before returning to the walk.
4. Follow the path into Hermit’s Wood. As you enter the wood, you pass a flight of steps on the right leading to the top of the wood, which may be used by those people on this walk who do not want to visit the Hermit’s Cave. To see the cave, continue along the lower path through the wood for a short distance. There are views of the Cat and Fiddle Windmill in the distance. Keep a careful watch out for a short, steep path on the right leading up to the cave.
5. On leaving the cave, ascend a flight of steps to the edge of the wood, where you turn left. Within 20 yards, go up a short series of steps leading out of the wood into a field. From this point angle, to the left, to a gap in the hedge opposite, about 85 yards from the top corner of the field.
6. Continue for about 20 yards to the right and then about the same distance to the left, before angling towards a gate and stile near the bottom corner of the field. In the following field, walk towards Boyah Grange, but on reaching a stile into the farmyard, turn around without crossing the stile and face in the opposite direction. This is not the quickest route, but it is the right of way.
7. Angling slightly to the left, walk across the field towards a stile in the hedge opposite, and on reaching a minor road, turn right. Where the road bends sharply to the left, continue straight on past Sandiacre Lodge Farm, and after a short distance, maintaining the same direction, go over a stile and down a fenced cart track.
8. At the end of the fenced section, go straight across an open field to a stile opposite, leading to another fenced track that changes into a tarmac lane after passing Keys Farm.
9. Continue along the lane and up Constitution Hill until after passing an area of woodland, with a cattle grid directly in front of you, where you go to the right along a surfaced path that winds its way behind Hopwell Hall.
10. Opposite the hall buildings, turn right down a wide, partly grassed track. Pass Hopwell Nook Cottage and follow the surfaced track to Ockbrook. On reaching the village, turn right along The Ridings back to the start of the walk.
OCKBROOK
DALE ABBEY
