You may have wondered, as you rush along the Alderley Edge bypass, why there's a green bridge arched across the busy traffic. It's not for a road or a railway, it's for a footpath and we've got the late David Smith to thank. Once at peak times traffic jammed the A34 past the medieval corn mill at Nether Alderley, with its wide sloping roof, but St Mary's churchyard was an oasis of calm, a world away from the busy main road. Now the oasis is much bigger with the 14th century church on a knoll beside the mellow sandstone school house and the huge Stanley Mausoleum. Amazingly this gaunt building, the size of a large chapel, was built solely to house the ashes of just two people. But as we crossed the new bridge there were just two people using it - us! So do come and explore the countryside here. It's amazingly quiet and certainly David Smith would be pleased.
LOCATION: Four miles south of Wilmslow
START: Turn off A34 at traffic lights down Bollington Lane, then go right on the narrow road, also called Bollington Lane. Roadside parking further down. Grid ref: SJ840745 Postcode: SK104SZ
DISTANCE: Five miles
GRADE: Easy
TIME: Two and a half hours
MAP: Landranger 118
NOTE: Can visit NT Nether Alderley Mill BUS: 130 & 127
REFRESHMENTS: Pack a flask
EN ROUTE: Corn mill, St Mary's Church
This walk was originally published by
The Manchester Evening News