White Horse Walk 1 - Lower Lane Walk

Approx. 1.77 miles (2.85 km)

This is the shortest of our suggested walks, taking the walker towards Aldford and returning via Lower Lane. It can be completed in less than 1 hour.

Starting at The White Horse Churton, cross the main road and walk down Pump Lane. About 100 metres down Pump Lane you will see Churton Hall on your right. This is a 16th century hall (now a farm), originally home to the Barnston family, who are a wealthy family who owned most of Churton from as early as the the reign of Richard the II. Opposite the Hall is the entrance to New Lane, some say this was the original driveway to the Hall.

Turn up New Lane and then take the first turning off to the right. Follow this lane until you get to a cattle grid, turn left after the cattle grid and follow the footpath signs along. To the right you get a good view of Beeston in the distance. A few hundred metres along the path you will notice a field with some boards that run the length of the field aswell as a few other metal railings. This is a polo course. The footpath runs along the hedge on the opposite side to the polo course, and goes towards a farm, the path then follows the edge of the farm around before continuing along the edge of some woods.

The official path runs on the woods side of the hedge, however be careful as it gets quite overgrown and there are badger sets here that have created at least one very large hole which cannot be easily seen when it's over grown. Once you reach the end of the woods the footpath continues in the same direction, keeping along the hedge past an open field before reaching another wood. The footpath follows on the same direction along side these woods for just a few metres before it cuts through the woods at their thinnest part. It is not an obvious path as it is a little over grown, but you should be able to see it. The woods are only about 5-10 metres wide here.

Once you come out on the other side of the woods the footpath goes diagonally accross the field, most times of the year it is an obvious path, and can be seen in the photo to the right. Follow this path to the other side of the field, at which point you will reach Lower Lane, if you turn turn left it takes you into Aldford, however we want to turn right, back towards Churton.

Lower Lane is a wide track which can then be followed all the way back to the bottom of Pump Lane. Along the way you cross a couple of farm roads, but keep following the track until you reach the corner of a tarmacked road (Pump Lane). Once there you will see quite a tall stile to your right, climb over this and cross the field where you will see a wooden bridge that takes you over a small brook.

Cross the bridge and you will be in a field which is likely to have livestock on it so make sure dogs are on leads. Keep to the left hand side of this field and cross the stile at the end. You are now on Stud Lane. You will notice some small horse jumps on the left hand side and probably a number of horses in the fields on the right hand side. Follow the lane up until you reach a cattle grid, this is the same grid you encountered earlier, cross the grid and follow the lane to the end. Turn left at the end, then right onto Pump Lane. Walk to the top of Pump Lane and you will see the White Horse opposite you.

The Lower Lane Walk Route:

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