Walk 6: Tegg’s Nose and Walker Barn
The walk starts and ends at the Teggs Nose Country Park car park. The last time I used this car park, it was 'Pay and Display', with a charge of £1.50. Leave Macclesfield town centre on the A537 road to Buxton. Eventually there is a sign to Teggs Nose Country Park along Buxton Old Road. The Visitors Centre and car park are on the right hand side after a few miles.
| Fact File | |
| Distance: | 4.5 miles (7 km) |
| Terrain: | Fairly strenuous, along lanes, bridleways, and other footpaths. Several ascents and descents, but not too steep |
| Maps: | OS Explorer Map 268 |
| Start: | Teggs Nose Country Park. |
Route Guide
Teggs Nose Country Park is a mixed habitat consisting of open heather moorland, meadows and woodlands. The visitor centre at Teggs Nose has many interesting displays, walking guides, and toilets. There is a cafe, which is open at weekends only, from Easter to September.
Teggs Nose used to be a quarry in Macclesfield of days gone by, and some of the old quarrying machinery is still strewn around the area. Tegg’s Nose Country Park offers splendid views over the patchwork landscape of the Cheshire plain, with distinctive landmarks such as Jodrell Bank and Beeston Castle. The peak of Shuttlingsloe, above the Forest, is seen to the southeast.
The first part of this walk is along the Gritstone Trail, which leads north and crosses the A537 Buxton Road. The Cheshire Gritstone Trail is a long-distance footpath running from Disley in Cheshire to Kidsgrove, just over the border in Staffordshire. The trail is waymarked with yellow discs with a footprint inscribed with a G.
Walker Barn is a small group of houses on the A537 Buxton Road. At one time, one of the buildings was the Setter Dog pub. The buildings now house PEAK Cyclesport.
Note that Walk 7 can be added onto this walk. Walk 7 takes you on to Rainow and past Lamaload Reservoir before returning to Walker Barn.
Directions
Start from the car park at Teggs Nose.
1. Leave the car park and turn right up the road. After a short distance, the Gritstone Trail is signposted to the left, away from the road.
2. Follow the Gritstone Trail over several stiles, over the brow of the hill. Eventually a cross roads of footpaths is reached. Head straight on down hill to meet the busy A537 Buxton Road.
3. Cross the A537 carefully, and turn left along the pavement. The Gritstone trail now heads down a field to a stream.
4. Cross the stream, and follow the trail uphill (more strenuous now!). The Gritstone Trail crosses a stile, and heads across a field to a bridleway. We leave the Gritstone Trail here, unless you want to add Walk 7 to this one (Walk 7 takes you on to Rainow and past Lamaload Reservoir before returning to Walkers Barn).
5. Turn right along the bridleway to Hordern Farm.
6. Past the farm, bear left along the footpath.
7. This footpath now passes along the side of Gulshaw Hollow. Eventually the path turns right and meets and crosses a stream.
8. The path heads uphill. After a short distance it meets a concreted driveway (the driveway to Vale Royal Farm). Walk uphill along this driveway to the main road (the A537 again). The group of houses here is called Walker Barn.
9. Cross the A537 here and turn left. Take care crossing the road, as it is on a bend here. After a short distance, turn right along a lane (indicated as being a No Through Road).
10. After a short distance, cross a stile over the wall on the left, and follow a footpath uphill. This footpath meets a driveway at the top of the hill. Bear right along the driveway, towards Warrilowhead Farm. Follow the footpath to pass to the right of the farm.
11. Continue along the footpath, crossing a stream in a deep gully.
12. Passing to the left of a house (Ashtreetop), the footpath emerges onto a lane (Hacked Way Lane).
13. Turn right down the lane. Past a house on the right the lane turns into a bridleway, which takes you down between fields. Turn sharp right as the bridleway follows the edge of the right hand field.
14. Follow the loose-stone bridleway down hill, which eventually crosses a stream tumbling down the hillside. Keep following the bridleway until it meets the lane at Clough House Farm.
15. Turn right up the lane, until you get to Saddler’s Way on the left.
16. Walk up Saddler’s Way to the Tegg’s Nose car park.