The Mitford Boys on a Jolly Jubilee Walk
(Northumberland) June3rd
I missed last week's gadgie walk because I was on holiday, in Madeira. Warm, a bit wet, and a bit windy.
This week we are off on a very local walk based on Mitford, a village a couple of miles west of Morpeth and the country home of the Mitford family.
North on A1, go through Morpeth and turn left at the top of the high street.
OS Explorer 325 Morpeth and Blyth is the map and the team is: Brian, Margaret, Harry, Dave and me.
June 2nd was the 70th anniversary of the Coronation of Elizabeth II, an event that did more for the sale of TVs than any other event in the country. We kids were given souvenirs of the great event, mine was a Coronation cup, donated by the council and distributed through schools My family did not have a TV so lots of us crowded into Mrs Bevan's front room to watch on a small set in black and white.
Today's car park, a few hundred yards beyond the entrance to Mitford Hall. Room for several cars and free!
Booted up and lightly dressed, it is summer, we walked west for a few hundred yards along the road before accepting the advice of the fingerpost on the right and heading down a track towards Newton Mill.
Newton Mill. The inhabitants had a number of friendly dogs. More important they pointed out the footpath we needed to follow, it was not posted.
The footpath we followed, directly opposite the farm buildings was narrow, through woodland, and ran close to the River Font. Eventually we reached Nunriding Moor but didn't see any.
Turning just south of west we crossed fields before heading north on track to Nunriding Hall.
Margaret enjoys a swing
Several fields later we reached Woodhouse Strip and a straight piece of farm track took us to Wood House and beyond, passing the hardly visible remains of a Roman camp too.
Just before a ford a few yards beyond Wood House we called a Herbie and settled on a handy pile of timber for lunch. Today's sharings were apple pies, almond slices, savoury buns and lemon cake from Mrs A.
Ford and footbridge close to lunch spot at Woodhouse.
Just before the ford, on the left, we spotted a footpath through the wood and across fields to Longshaw.
Unfortunately, shortly after lunch Dave began to feel unwell. A change of plan sent us east on a track to the roundabout where Dave and I headed north back to Woodhouse, this time crossing the stream and walking up to a road where we found what I think was meant to be a mounting block for horse riders and we waited for the others to complete the walk and come and pick us up.
As we waited a couple arrived on horseback, dismounted and loaded their mounts into a horse box.
I'm not sure exactly where the others went to complete the walk. I could ask but I suggest they continued east from the Roundabout and turned south along a track to the road at Throphill. From there they turned east and walked the road back to the car. And from there they nobly came to rescue Dave and me.
On the way home we stopped at the Plough Inn in Mitford, a special Jubilee Blonde was on offer brewed by the Great North East Brewery.
Plough Inn, Mitford. Very friendly
Both maps contain OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2022
Dave and I did about 7 miles, the others managed 9.5. Easy going, beautiful country and one for the future too.
Tried this walk (5/7/22) and it was fine to the point where you turned back but after that some of the paths were completely overgrown or down awkward rough tracks, particularly from the Nun Burn south to Throphill. Unfortunately, there's no easy alternatives.
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