Walk 33: Eastcote Circular

The ‘Needs to Know’

Distance: 2.5 miles (4.02km)

Time to walk: This is a really quick jaunt across the fields & it’s a great Sunday afternoon walk to get rid of that big lunch which you could have at The Eastcote Arms!!

Difficulty: Mainly across fields, with some hard path walking in the villages we’ll visit. The terrain is quite hilly at times so it’s a good cardio workout. There’s also numerous stiles to negotiate

Parking: Park in the main street in Eastcote just outside The Eastcote Arms

Public toilets: The Eastcote Arms in Eastcote

Map of the route: 

So then what can we tell you as a summary of this short walk…

Well it may be short but we’ll visit 3 quite different Northamptonshire villages in Eastcote, Astcote & Pattishall. They’re all individual of each other &, whilst we didn’t explore in detail, we’ll give you an overview of each as we go

Eastcote is one of 5 villages being Foster’s Booth, Pattishall, Astcote, Eastcote & Dalscote that together are referred to as Pattishall. Many of these villages have an association with Northamptonshire’s shoe industry

We did this walk in March 2014 with the fields drying out & the Oil Seed Rape blooming early

Anyway…we’ll expand more en route so come on, let’s stop wasting time &…

Let’s Walk!

1. We park up outside The Eastcote Arms at about 2pm on a Thursday afternoon. To be honest it wasn’t inviting as all the curtains were drawn & it was definitely shut!

The Eastcote Arms is a 17th century pub that has a connection with the Battle of Naseby in 1645 when Oliver Cromwell‘s men relaxed here on the way to fight

2. With our back to the pub let’s head right down the street

3. We keep heading on down & love the raised pavements where people used to mount their horses from (saw those on our Higham Ferrers walk)…

4. Eventually at the end of the village there’s a footpath sign pointing us right over a stile & down the left side of a building that used to be a pub

5. We now head down the hill, through a kissing gate to the bottom where we find a bridge across a stream…

6. Fancy a climb? Unlucky if not as we climb up a steep field heading to the right of the red barn

7. Right…that’s got a sweat on so let’s pass through the gate below…

…& head down diagonally to the corner where our exit onto the road lies

8. So welcome to Astcote where we turn left on the road & head up into the middle of the village

On the right is the Methodist Church…

…& just slightly further on is the lovely typical English village green

9. Ahead of us on the green is the former shoe factory…

…but we need to about turn & go left between 2 houses…

10. It always feels a bit like we’re trespassing, but this is a public footpath so don’t worry & just stick to where we’re supposed to. It’s simply a case of following the large leylandii hedge round to the next stile

11. There…that wasn’t too scary was it & after crossing the stile we head over the paddock & over another stile to exit into a narrow woodland path..

…& at the end turn sharp left & into another field through the gate below…

…& then over another stile into the next field & exit via a bridge…

12. This really is a winding little path as we turn sharp left & then right after the hedge. Now at last we get a long straight uphill stretch…time for that cardio again keeping the hedge on our right – next stop Pattishall!!

13. Eventually we come to yet another stile…

…& on reaching the road cross with care & head up the alley ahead to enter the village…

14. At the road ahead we need to turn left…this part of Pattishall’s lovely!

There’s some interesting signs around here…

15. After about 50 yards we come to the small village green…

…& it’s time to go & have a closer look at that church by heading down Church Street

16. Finally just around the corner we arrive at The Church of Holy Cross…

 

See this link for details of the church as unfortunately it was closed as well!! Shame as it looks very nice…

17. Right as we can’t do much more here let’s move on & head down past the church, round the bend & down towards the crossroads…

…& carry on straight over & up School Road

18. Eventually at the top of the hill we come to the footpath sign below where we head over a stile & into the field (with more sheep)

The field we’re now standing is has a place in history. It was the site of a World War I naval prisoner of war camp. Apparently the prisoners constructed a model harbour on the brook

This link gives a fascinating insight into life there…Also have a look for the plaque that’s been put in place showing it was here

19. The exit out of the field is diagonally right over another stile (careful crossing the road) & then over another one into the next field

So a final field of our woolly friends & we head down to the well constructed bridge over the brook…

…where we encounter one last steep climb to the top right of this field near the farm buildings

20. And…relax that’s the end of the stiles & hills!

After crossing the stile turn left up the lane, but stop a while outside the house called Barton Mead on the right

Here we can see a mounting block (for horses) & a tying up ring (also for horses)…

21. At the top of the lane we turn left & retrace our steps to the Eastcote Arms where we left our car

So…that’s the end of this little lung-buster around the group of Pattishall villages & it’s a great little bit of exercise. It’s ideal for a quick weekend afternoon walk & with a bit of luck the pub might be open when you go.

We fancied a quick thirst quenching shandy at the end of our walk today…but went home for a cuppa instead!

Go Walk!