The Hermit's Walk - Part 02
w/e 21 May 2017
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

For this second part of the Hermit's Walk we returned to Hermit's Wood at Dale Abbey and picked up the route close to the steps down from the Hermit's Cave.

Up The Escarpment

The path continues along the boundary of the wood at the foot of the sandstone escarpment and both of the descriptive leaflets, that is the original and reprinted versions, say to pass "through yard of Church Farm". There is now however a sign at the side of the path that says there is no right of way through the yard and the alternative is to climb up the escarpment on a new path to the left of the original ....
Down Again

.... and then drop down again to pick up an existing path from Ockbrook Wood.
Two Paths

The path from Ockbrook Wood rejoins the original one through the yard at the side of the former farmhouse.
Former Farmyard

Now converted to a residential abode the path through the property is still there but looks a lot different to when I walked through it years ago accompanied by the sound of cows mooing and pigs grunting in the barns and with poultry roaming free in the yard.
Semi-Detached

The semi-detached former farmhouse was also the Bluebell Inn at one time and is famous of course for having a connecting door to All Saints Church. This gave rise to the door being known as the link between ‘salvation and damnation’ but temptation was removed when it was bricked up in the 1820s.
Gates

The path meets the lane through the village at this gate and another gate a few steps further on leads into the field behind the white cottage. The Dale Abbey Arch can just be seen from here above the cottage.
East Window

The footpath through the field allows for a closer inspection of the arch which is all that remains of the East Window of the Abbey after which the village is named. Before is dissolution in 1538 the Abbey owned about 24,000 acres of land and here's a sentence from the Hermit's Walk leaflet that I like. "Legends tell of knights in armour and of unfound hidden treasures." Today's treasures are all around in the landscape and nature.
Abbey House

Returning to the lane which is called The Village the route now passes Abbey House, a building that incorporates some of the original stone from the Abbey.
The Village

Turning right at the triangular island with a tree circled by a seat that marks the junction with Tattle Hill, we walked along The Village. For more detailed information about Dale Abbey village itself I would point you in the direction of my Village Trail but as this is a "Country Walk in Erewash" we continued to Moor Lane.
Carpenters Arms

Facing down The Village is The Carpenters Arms, the village pub that has timbered parts dating back to the late seventeenth century although the front was built about 1880. Here the route is right to Moor Lane and that is where we'll pick it up in Part 03.
Back to Part 01
Part 03 to follow

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