There’s much more to Prestbury than pretty buildings.

There’s much more to Prestbury than pretty buildings. It has a plethora of public rights of way to enjoy and a new footpath map will be available soon for the princely sum of £1!

Lying in Green Belt in the the valleys of the Bollin and Dean rivers on the western boundary of the Peak District National Park, Prestbury Parish consists of much more than the picture postcard main street for which it is renowned.

Prestbury has 42 footpaths, many of which are inter-linked within the parish and with adjacent parishes, offering many opportunities for circular walks. In the north the long and narrow Parish of Prestbury has a boundary with Woodford in Stockport Borough but, working clockwise from there, it also has boundaries with Adlington, Bollington, Macclesfield, Over Alderley and Mottram St. Andrew which all lie within Cheshire East. Much of the land in this area is rolling farmland but there are also pockets of woodland and many pretty vistas, particularly where the land rises from the river valleys.

Undoubtedly the best known footpath in the area is the Bollin Valley Way, which covers a 15-mile (40 km) route in total from Macclesfield to Partington where the Bollin joins the Manchester Ship Canal. It winds through the entire length of Prestbury Parish from south east to north west. But, anyone starting a walk from Prestbury village centre can follow an interesting linear walk along the Bollin Valley either southwards towards the Macclesfield through the Riverside Park or northwards through Mottram.

Getting to Prestbury village centre can be achieved by rail on the stopping service between Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent or by the no 19 bus from Macclesfield. And there are two public car parks – Springfields off New Road and the Shirleys accessed from Shirleys Drive off Macclesfield Road.

A Prestbury footpath map is available for only £1 from the Village Pharmacy or Macclesfield Town Hall, compiled by Norman Ridley of the East Cheshire Ramblers (http://ramblerseastcheshire.org.uk). However, Norman has been working on an updated version of the map and he expects that to be available for the same price late April 2015.

In the meantime, Norman has compiled two short walks which are not too demanding to blow off the winter cobwebs. One includes Prestbury Golf Course and the other Tytherington Golf Course.

Walk 1. Prestbury Golf Course circuit, including King’s School Derby Playing Fields. (About 2 miles; 3 km; I hour) Start: Unsurfaced layby near Thieves Hollow, Chelford Road. Map ref: SJ8889763.

Cross over the road and walk southwards downhill for about 500m to reach path 23 on your right leading onto Prestbury Golf Course. Follow the waymarked route on 23, crossing two fairways, and bear right following the edge of the trees to reach a path on your left running between a garden fence and a hedge to emerge on Golf Course Drive. Turn right and after about 30m take the signposted path 25 up the steps on your left which skirts the perimeter of the trees and emerges on Summerhill Road.

Cross the road diagonally right and through a kissing gate onto King’s School sport fields. Keep to the boundary of the house on your right and go round the edge of the playing area. Pass through a metal gate in the hedge on your right. Turn left and follow the field boundary to two successive metal gates adjacent to a stream.

Turn right and in a short distance pass through a further gate near Fallibroome Farm. Bear right and pass over the stile in the fence ahead and below. Walk up the slope to a metal gate adjacent to two large sycamore trees. Before reaching this gate, turn right onto path 24 and follow the field boundary on your left, to and through a kissing gate adjacent to a large beech tree onto the practice golf course.

Turn left, through a further kissing gate and follow path 18/24 to the fence and wood ahead. Do not cross into the wood but follow path 24 along the side of the fence to reach a black kissing gate on the left. Pass through this gate, go down and over the footbridge, and then follow the path up the slope to reach Chelford Road opposite to the unsurfaced layby.

Walk 2. Tytherington Golf Course. Tytherington Wood and Bollin Valley Way.
About 3 miles; 5km; 1½ hours Start: Springfields car park off New Road, Prestbury village centre. Map ref. SJ902772.

Leave the car park by the New Road entrance, turn sharp right down Pearl Street, left into Bollin Grove to reach New Road opposite the toilet block. Cross the road, turn left and then right into Bridge Green. After about 75m turn right by a signpost and follow the waymarked path around the back of the houses emerging on the road at the end of Bridge Green. Go ahead through a tunnel under the West Coast Main Railway Line to a signpost and stile.

With the railway fence to your right, walk diagonally left across the sloping field, over a small footbridge. Pass to the left of two large trees. Keep the fence on your left to reach a signpost and footbridge. Cross the bridge and go up the slope bearing right to reach a large field. Walk up the edge of the field adjacent to a tree lined gulley for about 300m, to reach a kissing gate next to a hollow. Pass through the gate and turn right to a further gate.

Go over onto Tytherington Golf Course and turn sharp left along the boundary fence to reach a 3-finger signpost.

Turn right at the signpost and walk ahead before bearing left, passing the 12th hole tee on your left to reach an unmade track. Follow the track 3 through the trees and over two successive streams. Leave the track and go across the grass to your left. Follow the waymarked route towards the Tytherington Club, passing close to a lake on your left. At this point the club house is visible ahead and the path goes to the right of the tennis courts, and close to residential accommodation on your right, to reach Dorchester Way. Turn right down this road, and immediately after Walton Heath Drive, right again down a path with Tytherington Wood on your left. There is wooden fencing adjacent to housing on your right.

The path continues downhill until the golf course reappears on your right and then, shortly afterwards, the railway line is reached. Turn right between the line and the golf course and follow the path until it turns left and passes under the railway, with the river and the Bollin Valley Way visible ahead. Turn right and follow the path into and along the valley, through the kissing gate at the Prestbury boundary, and on to reach the footbridge over the river.

At this point the path may be followed up the right hand side (path 37) of the river to reach Bridge Green near the tunnel under the railway line, and thence back to the starting point. Alternatively, the footbridge can be crossed and path 38 followed to Shirleys Drive, then right through Shirleys car park to reach the village main street and back to the starting point.

Before and/or after your walk

Before and/or after your walk you may like to grab a coffee, a snack or a full meal from one of the many eating places in the village centre:

Admiral Rodney (01625 829484)
Bachuus (01625 820009)
Bridge Hotel (01625 829326)
Chocolate Box (01625 820268)
Legh Arms (01625 829130)
Prestbury Thai (01625 828423)
Romulus (01625 829466)
Saffron Rooms (01625 828220)

Or, just outside the village on London Road is the Butley Ash (01625 824930)