SUGGESTED SHORT WALK
THE WALK
■ This lovely three-and-a-half-mile walk takes you through open parkland and woodland, along good, easy to follow paths with only gentle gradients. There are excellent views across the park on the southern side of Kedleston Hall. In wet weather, the walk can be quite muddy and slippery in places. Check opening times with the National Trust before undertaking the walk. The Kedleston Reception has a selection of shorter walks available if you prefer. Car parking is chargeable for non-members of the National
Trust.
THE ROUTE
■ 1. From the car park, walk back through reception to the public entrance to Kedleston Hall, and then follow the drive past Bentley’s Well, which is on your right, to the handsome bridge, which you can see a short distance away.
■ 2. Do not cross the Adam Bridge, but turn left and follow the path by the upper lake. If you had crossed the bridge and followed the road, it would have taken you to North Lodge and the Kedleston Road entrance to the park.
■ 3. After a short distance, you pass the Fishing Room soon followed by a weir. This is probably the finest of Adam’s garden buildings, built in 1770/72 on the upper lake, with a cold bath below it, flanked by two boathouses. For those who took a plunge into the water in cold weather there was a fireplace inside. The interior was finely decorated much as Adam intended, with the central Venetian window designed to enable ladies to cast their fishing lines.
Continue along a well-trodden path close to the brook, until you arrive at a point close to Village Lodge. Here you will see several estate cottages just outside the park boundary. The drive from Village Lodge acts both as an entrance and exit to the park.
■ 4. Cross the wooden footbridge by the park boundary to the other side of the brook. Once, on the other side, turn right and follow the path through a gate stile and over a small footbridge. Ignore the path to the left that leads deep into the area known as the Wilderness. Keep close to the brook along an obvious green path.
■ 5. As you walk along you will get a good view of the island in the
Upper Lake and you will be able to see the other side of the Fishing Room you encountered earlier. On reaching the Adam Bridge, cross over to the other side, and then immediately turn to the left.
■ 6. Keep straight on first by Middle Lake and then the Lower Lake, with Kedleston Golf Course visible on the opposite side of the lakes. The strange looking building in the middle of the course is the Sulphur Bath House, built over a sulphur spring once believed to have beneficial health qualities. Maintain the same direction ignoring paths to the right. On reaching the Splash Pool, reportedly home to whiteclaw crayfish, kingfishers and otters, turn right to follow a clearly defined track, as it rises gently uphill.
■ 7. At a T-junction of paths, keep left and walk up a surfaced track that winds a little more steeply uphill. Once you have reached the top, follow the path to the right along a tree-lined path.
■ 8. Maintain the same direction, along an easy-to-follow path. Soon you will be treated to excellent views of Kedleston Hall and the Pleasure Grounds. Continue straight on along the path, ignoring the “short path” sign on your right.
■ 9. Eventually, the path starts to bend to the right, as you gently descend the hillside back towards Kedleston Hall, keep a lookout for the Hermitage on your right. The little rustic, circular building was probably built about 1760 to a design of Robert Adam. In the middle ages, hermits were looked on as holy men. Appointed to lonely places by a bishop, they rendered hospitality and assistance to travellers. Later it became fashionable for landowners to build hermitages in parks for entertainment and in some cases to provide a home for a hermit.
■ 10. Pass through a tall metal “House of Lords” gate, and a few yards later turn left, to return to reception and the starting point of the walk.
REFRESHMENTS
■ Kedleston Hall Tea Room is a typical National Trust tea room. Visit: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ kedleston-hall or call 01332 842191.
■ Meynell Langley Tea Room is part of Meynell Langley Garden Centre off Lodge Lane south of Kedleston Hall. Visit www.meynell-langleygardens.co.uk/tearoom or telephone 01332 824358.