A nearly circular walk from the cottage through St Oswald’s church yard, and through the tunnel at the start of the Tissington Trail. Total distance 2 miles.
A lot of the walks from the cottage start or end up at the Tissington Trail, so this is a quick guide that takes you to the start of the trail and through the tunnel (where you can hire bikes) and then into Ashbourne, and back to the cottage.
There are many ways to get to the trail directly from the cottage, but if you want to walk through the tunnel this is the most direct route. This walk is again posted on my “Map My Walk” page here: https://www.mapmywalk.com/routes/view/4810479925
To start, take a left out of the cottage and head towards Ashbourne, take the first tarmac path into the grounds of St Oswald’s church and keeping the church on your left, carry on until you see a path on the right hand side, this goes past the church hall, and some historic buildings. At the end of the path take a right onto school lane, cross over Henmore Brook and you will see the leisure centre in front of you.
Take a left and carry on through the car park, and you will see the start of the Tissington Trail tunnel in front of you.
The Tissington Trail is part of the railway network that was closed under the Beeching reforms of 1967, which saw thousands of stations and hundreds of branch lines closed down.
In 1968 the line was acquired by the Peak Park Joint Planning Board. The Board removed the track bed, station buildings, platforms and other features as at the time these were considered to be eyesores.
In 1971 the 13 mile Tissington Trail opened for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. The original Hartington signal box was kept as an information centre for many years.
Go through the tunnel and at the far end you will see a bike hire business, a café and some toilets. You can carry on up the trail from here, it’s a lovely walk, and there are various points of interest as you progress, I will write a more comprehensive guide to the trail shortly.
If you choose to return from here, take a left through the carpark and then a left onto Mappleton Road towards Ashbourne. When you get to the end of the road, go straight across onto Dovehouse Gardens and then a left onto Union Street. This will bring you to the market square in the centre of Ashbourne, a perfect place for a cup of tea. Carry on through the square and onto St John’s Street, which becomes Church Street, which then becomes Mayfield Road, and back to the cottage.
If you like this walk or any others posted here, please head over to our Facebook page, and click like and follow us, also if you have any amendments to this guide please let me know. https://www.facebook.com/LetsLive-Holidays-103806115442908
Holiday Cottage in Ashbourne 