Darnhall Distance: 3½ miles.

Starting point: The Old Star, Darnhall. Park, with permission, in the pub car park or over the way on Darnhall School Lane.

How to get there: The Old Star is on the B5074 Winsford-Nantwich road, ¾ mile south of its junction with the A54 and 8 miles north of Nantwich town centre.

Terrain Apart from three fairly steep banks, this level, easy walking. There are plenty of stiles but these are due to be replaced by kissing gates.

OS map: Explorer 276 Northwich and Delamere Forest (GR: SJ647650).

The Walk: 1 From the pub, turn right and right again into the avenue. As you approach the church and a replica of the fire-damaged, medieval Blue Bell Inn, bear left and go along a track marked ‘for access only’. Pass Church Hill farmhouse and go through the farmyard onto a farm track. Do not follow the track where it begins to go downhill into a dry valley, but bear left to walk along the left-hand edge of the field.

2 Pass through a kissing gate and turn right onto a stony lane. At the junction by the Lakeside Caravan Park, turn right again. Enjoy the views of Bottom Flash through the gaps in the hedge to your left.

3 After passing a wooded ravine on your right, turn right to a stile. Climb the bank to another stile and bear right to follow the edge of the wood. After the next stile, turn left to walk along the left-hand edge of a field. On reaching a concrete road, turn right onto a track and follow it round to the left. Pass through a metal gate into Shaw’s Wood. Coming into the open, cross a stile and walk to the far right-hand corner of the meadow. Go into the next meadow and walk along its right-hand edge. Pass through a gap in the hedge ahead and continue forward to a metal gate.

4 Turn right onto a concrete lane. Pass a farm on your let and turn right at a public footpath sign. Cross a stile and walk diagonally right across the paddock to a wooden gate. Remembering to close the gate behind you, go along the right-hand edge of the next paddock and through a metal gate. Walk along the left-hand side of a big field with long views to the right. Cross a plank bridge and stile, and walk ahead to a kissing gate beneath an ash tree.

5 Now bear slightly left to another kissing gate, cross a farm road and pass through a further gate. Cross the field to a stile and plank bridge almost directly ahead in a hawthorne hedge. Go diagonally right to cross a ladder stile and then bear left to another stile. This will take you into woodland. Go down the steps to a footbridge and up the bank to a stile. Keep to the left-hand edge of the field to pass through a gap in a hedge. There are likely to be cattle here. Continue ahead and skirt the field until you come to a stile in a corner.

6 Turn right onto a farm track. As you approach the farmhouse, cross a stile on your left. Go along the left-hand edge of a field, with good views of Winsford to the right. Turn left and go through a gate to walk alongside the churchyard fence. Cross the stile and turn left. Where the avenue begins, take a path on the left which ends by the Old Star car park.

From: More Pocket Pub Walks Walks in Cheshire by author David Pill, is published by Countryside Books, 3, Catherine Road, Newbury, Berkshire. Available from local bookshops, or go to www.countrysidebooks.co.uk