Flying Kites in Rockingham - An Illuminating Short Cut
The term forest originally meant a loose collection of neighbouring but separate woods, and Rockingham Forest, which once spread from Peterborough to Oxford, still bears that out. However, the few remaining pockets of this ancient forest are now considerably shrunken and isolated in Northamptonshire. Fineshade, Westhay, Wakerley and Fermyn woods are today managed by the Forestry Commission, and the emphasis is very squarely on conservation and responsible recreation. Partly because of that, Rockingham Forest has become one of the key centres for the reintroduction to the Midlands of one of our most majestic birds of prey. The red kite is a magnificently handsome and truly impressive bird, huge in size (with a wing span of up to 5ft/1.5m), but incredibly agile. Several centuries ago they were a common sight across the country, even scavenging for left-overs in the centre of London. But long-term persecution led to their eventual extinction in England, and only as recently as the 1990s have they been carefully reintroduced to parts of the Chilterns, Yorkshire and the East Midlands, much to the delight of birders and wildlife enthusiasts. The âRed kites at Rockinghamâ display at the Forestry Commissionâs Top Lodge barn at Fineshade, organised in association with the RSPB, tells you much more about these magnificent birds. The RSPB shop features a CCTV link with a nest in the nearby forest so that you can watch them close-up (depending on whether and where the birds choose to nest, of course!) and there are also guided walks and talks throughout the year.
Treshamâs Follies. In addition to its numerous country houses and parks, Northamptonshire also has some splendid follies. In that department the countyâs chief architect was Sir Thomas Tresham, Elizabethan landowner and persecuted Catholic who designed a number of odd buildings that still canât quite be figured out today. Rushton Triangular Lodge, north west of Kettering, is made up of three 33-ft (10m) sides, three storeys, three gables on each side, and so on, while Lyveden New Bield, south west of Oundle, is an apparently unfinished building in the shape of a Greek cross sitting isolated amid the fields. Experts have puzzled over Treshamâs works for centuries, but are no nearer understanding what on earth they mean. A leaflet entitled the Tresham Trail is available from local tourist information centres.
While you're there: Deene Park, a few miles south of Fineshade Wood, is a sumptuous country mansion. It has been owned since 1514 by the Brudenell family, descendants of the Earls of Cardigan. The brave 7th Earl led the charge of the Light Brigade, and inside the house you can see Crimean War mementos. Deene Park is open on Easter Monday, May, spring and summer bank holidays, and every Sunday afternoon from Easter to August.
What to look for: An Augustinian abbey once stood on the site of the present-day Fineshade Abbey, nestling in a fold of the valley between Fineshade and Wakerley Woods. It was later replaced by a small Georgian mansion, which was demolished in 1956.
Where to eat and drink: Lodge CafÃ©, at the Top Lodge visitor centre, is open daily for soup, sandwiches and cakes. For more substantial fare visit the village of Kingâs Cliffe, half-way along the walk. The Cross Keys pub offers quiet courtyard seating and has a daily lunchtime and evening menu. On West Street youâll also find the Kingscliffe Bakery, open Monday to Saturday mornings.
Directions:
With the Top Lodge visitor centre and cafÃ© on your left, walk along the lane past the Forestry Commissionâs offices, and fork left where the track divides. After passing some houses, it soon becomes a wide, semi-surfaced forest drive.
Just before you reach two semi-detached cottages (Nos 2 and 4 Top Lodge), you can detour for a broad gravel track on the left that leads through the trees to a wildlife hide (free to enter) overlooking an artificial pond and an area of open ground. Continue along the main track through pleasantly open woodland until, just after a mile (1.6km) from the start, you turn right at a crossroads of paths, indicated âJurassic Wayâ.
Walk down this wide track through the trees, with a field soon opening up to the left. When the field ends, go straight over a junction of paths into Westhay Wood and, in a few paces, join a main forest track to continue south through the woodland.
At the junction at the very far end, turn right to continue along the broad and easy track. The woodland here supports a healthy wildlife population. Besides the red kites, residents and visitors include dormice, nightingales, and several types of bat, and a walk at dusk may be illuminated, quite literally, by glow-worms. Britain has two varieties of these long, winged beetles, and the females like nothing better than sitting on the ground on warm, summer evenings, glowing blue-green to attract the males.
Ignore all other paths off left and right, and keep going west. Occasional waymarks indicate that this is also the route of the Jurassic Way, an 88-mile (142km) trail between Stamford in Lincolnshire and Banbury in Oxfordshire. Itâs named after the band of Jurassic limestone that runs through the East Midlands, and its symbol is an ammonite fossil.
A sign marks the boundary between Fineshade and Westhay Woods, where another forest ride enters from the right. Keep going straight on, as the track now bends a little to run alongside an overgrown railway cutting (on the left). The line was built in 1879 to connect the NorthamptonâPeterborough line at Yarwell Junction with the RugbyâStamford line at Seaton in Rutland.
After 0.25 mile (400m) bear right at a broad junction of tracks, indicated by a Jurassic Way marker. Follow this all the way back to the surfaced lane at the end to return to the car park and visitor centre. Although the Forestry Commissionâs useful map (available free of charge from the visitor centre) depicts Fineshade Wood as covering the entire northern half of their holdings, strictly speaking Fineshade Wood is just a small individual wood to the north-east â just as the great Rockingham Forest (like Sherwood Forest) barely exists any more. Both Fineshade and Westhay woods comprise a number of smaller spinneys and copses known by a variety of delightful names (Noses Holt, Peterâs Nook, Stockings, The Gullet, Hither Miers and Far Miers), while to the north of Kingâs Cliffe the Woodland Trust has established a Millennium Woodland.
Gentle Walk
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