Magical mystery
First impressions are lasting impressions. After a school visit to the Potteries I had filed the entire county away as dull, grey and industrial. How wrong I was. I have just returned from meandering through postcard-pretty villages and glorious country estates and across lonely heath-covered moorland to magnificent stately homes.
I stayed in one of the most comfortable and friendliest hotels I have ever been in and dined there on some of the finest food I have ever tasted.
We were staying at the Moathouse, a 14th-century moated manor house in the village of Acton Trussell, on the edge of Cannock Chase. It was to prove to be the perfect base for exploring the Chase and the late Lord Patrick Lichfield's former ancestral home of Shugborough Hall nearby. It was also just a short drive further north to the Staffordshire part of the Peak District.
High up on the Morridge, a few miles north east of Leek where the lonely Mermaid Inn stands beside the Mermaid pool, it felt a world apart from the big, noisy cities embedded in my memory.
I loved the views from the Morridge, stretching far into Cheshire and broken only by the landmark Ramshaw Rocks, which strike out rather aggressively above the Leek to Buxton Road.
These rocks are part of an area known as The Roaches, where, incredibly and not so long ago either, wallabies bounded. They were released in the Second World War from a local private zoo and managed to breed and survive until the late 1990s.
Steep steps at the side of quaint Rockhall Cottage, built into the lower tier of The Roaches, led us to more wonderful views over Tittesworth Reservoir below. Up here is another "bottomless" dark pool, the Doxey Pool, in which an even more hideous mermaid than the one up on the Morridge is said to live.
Locals say that the pool is named after the daughter of the notorious highwayman, Bowyer of the Rocks, who lived in a cave which later became part of Rockhall.
The girl was carried off by strange men and her ghost is "heard" singing in these parts.
So it is probably no surprise that, with all this unnerving talk of ghouls and ghosties, my visit to the deep, damp gorge below The Roaches that they call Lud's Church was a fairly quick one. I can easily believe the claim that the sun never shines here. This is where, 600 years ago, the Lollards, who were persecuted by the Catholic Church, apparently held their secret religious services. There surely could not have been a better place in which to hide than in this sinister-feeling chasm with its dripping, fern-clad walls.
The other end of the gorge emerges on to the pretty wooded path which gently winds upwards again to a ridge from which I could see across to Shutlingsloe Hill and to the huge telescope at Jodrell Bank and the outskirts of Manchester beyond.
On the way back to "base" we stopped off at Rudyard Lake. It once made such an impression on a pair of young lovers,
John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Macdonald, that they named their first child after it.
At Shugborough next day we had been warned on the way in to the working
farm area that the people we were
about to meet thought that they were living in 1805.
The origin of the estate's name is Shug, meaning a devil or evil spirit, and barrow, a burial mound.
And one of the oldest yew trees in England – said to ward off evil spirits – grows in the vast grounds. In the Tower of the Wind, near the farm, strange flickering candles have been glimpsed after dark.
The strange inscription on the Shepherd's Monument has never been uncovered, despite great efforts by code breakers. But it's no mystery to me why I now find Staffordshire so appealing.
On Cannock Chase we glimpsed deer said to descend from the original herd introduced here in Norman times for hunting purposes. This entire area was once the hunting ground of ancient royalty. Now it is a wonderful outdoors playground for thrill-seeking mountain bikers, horse riders and walkers, as well as those, like us, who like to take it a bit easier. The best way to discover the Chase is by cycling; it is one of the most popular locations for mountain biking in the region with trails to suit all abilities. We hired bikes from Swinnertons Cycles at the Birches Valley Forest Centre and rode past a sculpture trail featuring carved giant animals, and, oddly, drums and pipes, as well as a rather incongruous giant shoe. A gentle track took us into pretty Fairoak Valley, past fishing pools. There are plentiful benches and picnic spots and the chance to spot deer and other wildlife.
Churnet Valley Railway runs for about 10 miles through picturesque countryside between Cheddleton, with its Grade II listed Victorian station and Froghall, past the sleepy rural station of Consall.
Walk along the Caldon Canal, off the A520 three miles south of Leek, to take a look at the historic Cheddleton Flint Mill. The site features two water mills, a small museum and a period cottage.
The huge entrance of Thor's cave looms over the picturesque Manifold valley (a short drive west of Leek) which offers
an easy and traffic-free walking and cycling route.
Scramble inside this cave where remains of long-extinct animals have been found. Use the pay and display car park at Wetton.
WHER TO VISIT
Helen and her family stayed at AA**** The Moathouse, Acton Trussell. The restaurant also offers a great value early doors menu from 6.30-7.30pm (not Saturdays). 01785 712217. www.moathouse.co.uk.
For other places to stay and tourist information; www.enjoystaffordshire.co.uk
www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk
www.shugborough.org.uk
www.roaches.org.uk
www.cannock-chase.co.uk
www.bikechase.co.uk
(Swinnertons Cycles' hire).
Rudyard Lake Railway; www.rlsr.org
Cheddleton Flint Mill is open weekends and some week days; 01782 502907.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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