This week’s column features three contrasting walks aimed particularly at dogs – and their walkers. I’ve tried to avoid routes with lots of stiles or significant stretches where livestock are likely, and where possible, I’ve recommended dog-friendly pubs and cafés. I hope you and your four-legged friend enjoy exploring a new area.
Nantwich and Acton
This route is adapted from my 2020 book Cheshire Dog-friendly Pub Walks, published by Countryside Books. Visiting two historic settlements, it is enlivened by some interesting buildings, including a Jacobean mansion, half-timbered cottages, an imposing Perpendicular church and Thomas Telford’s aqueduct of 1826. These are connected by pleasant paths alongside the youthful River Weaver and the Shropshire Union Canal. The route begins and ends at pretty Nantwich Lake, inhabited by wildfowl but supposedly otherwise lifeless, as its waters are more saline than even seawater. Adding to the salty theme, just below the weir in the closing stages of this walk is a subtle curiosity – the last remaining open salt spring in the vicinity.
I’ve visited Acton three times and unfortunately never found the church open, so I’ve never seen the ancient carved stones, amazing font and notable memorials within. The secret seems to be to visit on a Sunday afternoon, when volunteers serve ‘Tea in the Tower’ from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. The volunteers also schedule walks to coincide, at which dogs are welcome – see stmarysacton.org/tea-at-the-tower for more details.
Compass Points
Area of walk: Nantwich
Start point: Nantwich Lake CW5 7AE
Distance: 5 miles
Time to allow: 3 hours
Map: OS Explorer 257 Crewe & Nantwich
Refreshments: Waterside Café facebook.com/watersidenantwich
Oddfellows Arms oddfellowsarmsnantwich.co.uk
Wilbraham Arms wilbrahamarms.com
Dog-friendly: Livestock likely only on the opening stretch before the railway. No stiles.
Practicalities: free parking. Mostly on flat, surfaced paths, though the opening stretch is across fields and paths elsewhere may be muddy in places. Crosses the railway at an unprotected level crossing.
The Walk
1. From the car park, follow the path right of the lake to the Weaver. Turn left and follow the river upstream until you rejoin the road. Cross and turn right along the pavement over the river. After 150 metres, just before a house on the right, recross to a gate into a field. Put your dog on a lead here if you haven’t already, in case of livestock in the next couple of fields.
2. Cross to a gate on the far side, and continue to the far right-hand corner of the second field. Ignoring a kissing gate on the right, go through a farm gate and past a sheep pen. Turn right, then left through another gate, now with the field boundary on your left. Continue beyond the end of the field to cross the railway. Continue along an enclosed path and over a long footbridge, then past ponds and a play area in front of new housing.
3. At the end of the houses, cross the canal. The lane beyond bends right to the public road, with distant views of Dorfold Hall. Turn left along the road for a little over a quarter of a mile. Shortly after listed Moss Cottage on the left, turn right into Dig Lane. After 200 metres, the lane bends left; carry straight on through a gate onto a hedged, unsurfaced track. Follow it for a quarter of a mile to a farm, beyond which the track becomes an u
nfenced metalled drive, with glimpses of Dorfold Hall.
4. When you reach the road in Acton, turn left past the former Swan pub to St Mary’s. Just beyond the church, turn right into Wilbraham Road. When this residential road bends right, turn left onto a narrow path between houses. This leads shortly to bridge 93 on the Shropshire Union Canal, overlooking the site of the 1644 Battle of Nantwich, commemorated each January by the town’s Holy Holly Days.
5. Descend to the towpath and turn left under the bridge. Follow the canal for a third of a mile to the next bridge – we were royally entertained along this stretch by a showy kingfisher, perching on the roofs and tillers of the moored narrowboats. White-painted bridge 92 gives access to Nantwich Marina and the Waterside Café. Suitably refreshed, return to the towpath and continue for a further quarter-mile to Telford’s aqueduct.
6. Descend to the road and cross at the lights into Welsh Row. Follow the road towards Nantwich town centre for half a mile, passing Malbank School on your left and a variety of houses and buildings in a variety of periods and styles. Shortly after passing the Wilbraham Arms on your left, turn right into St Anne’s Court.
7. Cross a footbridge over the Weaver, and turn right with the river on your right. Turn left across the grass to the mill stream and turn right. Shortly, cross a weir; the salt spring is just below the weir on a ‘beach’ on the left. Continue to an open space overlooked by houses and bear left, with the river on your left. Cross the river again at the next footbridge and turn right, passing under the railway. Stay beside the river back to Nantwich Lake.
Watering Hole
The Waterside Café at Nantwich Marina is a small, friendly café serving breakfasts, sandwiches and light meals, plus home-made cakes, ice creams and coffees. They’re also licensed to serve beers, wines and ciders. Well-behaved dogs are welcome inside, or at the tables in the garden or on the terrace overlooking the bustling narrowboats in the marina.
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The café is currently operating its winter timetable, which means it’s closed on Mondays and Tuesdays but otherwise open from 9.30am to 3pm during the week and from 9am at weekends for those delicious-sounding breakfasts. In high season, they’ll open six days a week, but if you happen to be passing on a Monday or otherwise outside their opening hours there are plenty of alternatives in Nantwich. Both the Oddfellows Arms and the Wilbraham Arms on Welsh Row are listed as dog-friendly.
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Norton Priory & Halton Castle
Urban Runcorn might not spring to mind when it comes to a dog walk, but this route is green and peaceful for almost its entire length. It starts at Norton Priory, the archaeologically important site of a medieval church with a superb interpretative museum packed full of fascinating finds (most memorably the enormous sculpture of St Christopher) and an undercroft that is one of the best surviving pieces of Norman architecture in the county. From here, the route picks its way through parks and other open spaces to Halton Castle, Runcorn’s other great historic site. Having admired the wide views over the Mersey estuary from the path around its sandstone walls, the return feels even more rural, through further parks and woods.
Compass Points
Area of walk: Runcorn
Start point: Norton Priory WA7 1SX
Distance: 4½ miles
Time to allow: 3 hours plus visiting time
Map: OS Explorer 275 Liverpool
Refreshments: The Castle at Halton thecastleathalton.co.uk
Brook Café, Norton Priory nortonpriory.org/cafe.php
Norton Arms thenortonarms.co.uk
Dog-friendly: No stiles or livestock.
The Walk
1. From the car parks at Norton Priory, walk right of the museum complex onto a metalled track signposted to various locations, starting with Phoenix Park and ending with Halton Castle. Two parallel tracks shortly merge; the second (a cycleway) is simpler to follow. Walk down to the Bridgewater Canal and cross into Phoenix Park. Bear left, then curve right across the centre of the open space. Pass left of some houses and right of an artificial climbing boulder.
2. On the far side, pass left of the playground and follow a path parallel to the road. Go under a subway and carry straight on to, and through, a second, on the right. Bear right and climb steps onto a path, turning left up more steps. Cross a narrow road, then turn right at a fork to a further short flight of steps. Walk up Mount Road, then cross and climb a longer flight of uneven steps ahead of you up to the castle.
3. Turn right just before the Castle pub and follow the higher, level path with the wall on your left, with views opening up of Runcorn’s two mighty bridges over the Mersey. Continue round back to the pub car park and turn right down Castle Road, passing a war memorial on the left and Halton Vicarage (1739) and the Chesshyre Library (1693) on the right. At the foot of the road, bear right to Halton Trinity Methodist Church.
4. Turn left then right onto a surfaced path, signposted Community Shop/Shopping City'. Beyond the church, turn left at a path junction by some benches and bins. Follow the path left then turn right, between fences, out to the road. Cross over and take the left-hand of two paths on the other side, then left again at a second fork. Cross several more paths, always heading straight on, to Stockham Lane. For the next mile or so, you are following the waymarked Mersey Valley Trail: carry straight on down the valley into woodland. After 350 metres, descend steps on your right to the stream, then take the right-hand fork and climb a shallow flight of steps.
5. The surfaced path crosses a grassy area towards a busway; aim right, across the grass, to a gate with a Woodland Trust sign. Walk through the trees beyond (parallel to the busway). then bear right, uphill slightly. Turn left at a junction and follow the path along a fairly narrow belt of trees. Keep left past a pond and pass under two brick overbridges, the first of which is decorated with a mural. Follow the left-hand path after the second arch.
6. At the end of the wood, cross the canal and turn left through a kissing gate into Big Wood. Follow the right fork, away from the canal. The path then runs alongside the A558; keep left of the fence to a gap back into the overflow car park at Norton Priory.
Watering Hole
There are three places to wet your whistle on this walk, two mid-route and one at the start.
The dog-friendliest is the Castle at Halton. Freshly renovated and occupying a Grade II* listed former courthouse built into the very walls of the castle, it’s one of Cheshire’s more unusual and historic pubs. The proprietor is also a professional dog-walker, so, as you’d expect, canines have the run of the place, and the pub offers ‘doggie
dinners’ from the Barking Heads company.
Not far away is the Norton Arms. Limited interior space means dogs are restricted to the garden but inside you’ll find a proper village pub with a friendly welcome, and a good range of cask ales: it was CAMRA’s Pub of the Year for Halton for 2024 and 2025.
Last but not least is the Brooke Café at Norton Priory. Again, dogs are limited to outside, but you can pick up a coffee or cold drink or choose from a menu prepared by chefs from Olive Tree, an award-winning catering company based in Runcorn.
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Macclesfield Forest
In Norman times, Macclesfield Forest was a royal hunting forest and is now greatly reduced in area, although it is still one of the largest woodlands in the county and retains a small and elusive herd of red deer. The land is owned by United Utilities as a buffer for their reservoirs.
Forest Chapel – more formally the Church of St Stephen, Macclesfield Forest – dates mainly from the 1830s, though the original chapel was built in 1673. It is one of a handful of churches in Cheshire that still hold an annual rush-bearing service, reflecting an old tradition in which the rushes covering the damp, sometimes earthen, floors of churches were renewed in summer. The service here takes place on the second Sunday of A
ugust.
A potential shortcut mid-walk would reduce the distance and ascent, but at the time of writing, ‘Macclesfield Forest and Wildboarclough FP6’ is closed because of trees blown over by Storm Goretti in January. I’m told that clearance plans are complicated by the need to get heavy machinery to the awkward site, so it may be months before it reopens, but when available, it offers superb views over the forest to Shutlingsloe. That said, there are plenty of great views on the rest of this walk, so you won’t leave disappointed.
Compass Points
Area of walk: Macclesfield
Start point: Ridgegate Reservoir, SK11 0NE
Distance: 4¾ miles
Time to allow: 3 hours
Map: OS OL24 Peak District – White Peak area
Refreshments: Leather’s Smithy leathersmithy.com
Snack van at Trentabank car park most weekends
Dog-friendly: No stiles or livestock. The Leather’s Smithy welcomes well-behaved dogs.
Practicalities: limited parking: the layby nearest the start may fill up quickly at weekends. Alternative free parking ¼ mile uphill from the Leather’s Smithy or off-route at Standing Stone car park, or pay-and-display at Trentabank and Forest Chapel – see noticeboards. Significant ascent and descent, some of it on slightly rocky and uneven paths.
The Walk
1. From the Leather’s Smithy, walk uphill along the quiet lane that runs in front of the pub. After about a quarter of a mile, turn left onto a bridleway, passing a red waypost. Follow the track for three-quarters of a mile, mostly uphill, with views to Tegg’s Nose to your left.
2. At a ruined barn, the direct Forest Chapel footpath (currently closed – see above) heads right. If this path is available, follow it through the forest to step 3; otherwise, continue ahead uphill to Hacked Way Lane. Turn right and follow the lane uphill for a quarter of a mile. Just beyond the last trees, turn right onto a rough track, Charity Lane. Follow this along the top edge of the forest and over a hill, with views left of Shining Tor and the Cat & Fiddle, then descend towards Forest Chapel.
3. The path through the forest joins from the right as you approach the hamlet of Macclesfield Forest after about a mile. Descend the rock-floored, sunken track to the isolated settlement. Having visited the ‘Forest Chapel’, pass a stone barn on the left and follow the public road downhill back towards the forest. After 250 metres, at the start of the trees, turn left through a kissing gate onto a stony path that descends (with steps) to a junction. Turn right (signposted ‘Trentabank’). At the foot of the slope, by a small pond, turn right over a footbridge, again signposted to Trentabank. After a quarter of a mile, bear left to the road.
4. Cross straight over through a gap in the wall and turn right. This concessionary path runs parallel to the road then turns left over two boardwalks at a fork (staying left of the stream) to climb above and around a flooded hollow. Turning right through a grove of conifers back towards the lane, turn left and follow the obvious continuation of the roadside path. Beyond a barrier, the path parts company with the road, bearing left past a
boardwalk and right again by some old walls. On meeting the path down from Shutlingsloe (marked by a yellow way-post), turn right towards Trentabank Reservoir. Divert right to overlook the heronry, which should be in full swing by March, from the roadside viewpoint. Returning to the concessionary path left of the lane, proceed to the car park and toilets and continue beyond to a road junction, signposted to Wincle.
5. Go through the barrier in the wall straight ahead and follow the path right. Cross the stream between the top of Ridgegate Reservoir (left) and the Trentabank dam (right) and follow the road – or the parallel path on the right – back to the Leather’s Smithy.
Watering Hole
The Leather’s Smithy occupies a stone building overlooking Ridgegate Reservoir. Its unusual name comes from its first owner, William Leather, a farrier by trade, who obtained the first licence in 1821. The pub treads the fine line between authenticity and modernity nicely, with a traditional pubby interior, cask ales, beer garden, theme nights and pub favourites on the menu, but also with an eye to the gastropub market and a decent selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes. The latter gets a lot of love on the HappyCow website for vegan diners, who are a demanding crowd.
The pub proudly declares itself dog-friendly, and welcomes cyclists, walkers and dog-walkers, though they do politely request that you don’t take up a space in their small car park while elsewhere.
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