Tim writes
These days we live near Frodsham in Cheshire and we visit the Forest of Bowland as often as we can. Luckily for us, we still live on the doorstep of a beautiful woodland area known as Delamere Forest.
The name means ‘Forest of the Lakes’ and the area is vast – nearly 2500 acres of ancient woodland, making it the largest area of woodland in the country.
At time of writing the Covid-19 crisis is taking place so the county is current in lock-down. The Government guidelines are to get your exercise from your doorstep and keep 2m away from other people, this is exactly what we are doing each day. And what a wonderful place to do it in.
We start the walk from a private entrance to our housing estate, so your starting position will need to be at the Barnsbridge Car Park. We’ve amended the map with way markers so the route initially takes you around the lake called Blackmere Moss. You then head up the Sandstone Trail for a little while before turning back and heading down Houndslough Lane.
At the main road take a right and then go over the stile on your immediate right. The route then takes you through some farms, and at Forestgate Farm there’s a very friendly pony who’ll probably come and say hello, he’ll most likely want you to feed him some fresh grass too.
Head through the next farm and hop over the stile back into Delamere Forest, where there’s a brief walk back to the car park.
The current paths have some diversions due to the holiday park construction by Forest Holidays which opens in November 2020. For more information about the holiday park visit their website here.