Stapleford Wood and the Lancaster Bomber Sculpture, 8th November 2026

Today's 8¾ mile, Remembrance Day walk was organised and led by Sleaford Ramblers and attracted an impressive 41 members from all over Lincolnshire including six from VBR.  It started in the Stapleford Wood car park, Coddington Lane, just over the Notts/Lincs boundary, and took us east towards Danethorpe Hill before turning north towards Brough.  After a stop at 11:00 for a minute's silence, we continued on field paths and roads to the site of the On Freedoms Wings sculpture of a Lancaster bomber where we stopped for lunch.

The return took us past quarries, a common site in this part of Lincolnshire.

Setting off in Stapleford Wood

Remembrance Day Exhibition - On Freedom's Wings
The structure, a life-size model of a Lancaster bomber, was unveiled in September 2025 next to the A46 in Norton Disney near RAF Swinderby, a former RAF Bomber Command station

It was erected by the Bomber County Gateway Trust, formed with the object of designing, procuring, constructing and installing an iconic landmark art installation on the county border of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

First view of sculpture

Close up - on a better day

One of seven custom-built memorial seats honouring the four airmen who lost their lives and the three who were injured when their plane crashed near RAF Swinderby in September 1942

 Norton Bottoms Quarry - sand, gravel and readymix

Keyworth Wolds and Widmerpool, 1st November 2026

Starting in the car park off Elm Avenue in Keyworth, Rab and Jan took 12 of us on an 5½ mile morning walk across rolling fields past the new Wolds Wine Estate near Stanton to Widmerpool for a drinks stop before returning to the start over Keyworth Wolds and along Wolds Lane and Lings Lane.

The start in the car park off Elm Avenue

Wolds Wine Estate - Artisan Vineyard and Luxury Glamping Pods

St Peter's Church, Widmerpool - drinks stop

The leaving of Widmerpool

Back in Keyworth - Attenborough's Yard

Framework knitting (the making of stockings and other knitted goods on frames) was first carried out in people's homes and later in workshops, with each workshop containing several frames. The workshops can be distinguished by their long windows to let in maximum light for the frames.

The cottages were squeezed into spaces between farmhouses, often confined within the strips of land, and fronted onto yards. Most of the cottages have been demolished or modernised and enlarged by joining together two or more adjacent houses.

St Mary Magdalene Church

Information board showing Keyworth's history and many sites of interest

10, The Post House; 11, The Courtyard (Factory Yard); 12, Attenborough's Yard; 13, The Salutation Inn; 14, Framework Knitters' Workshop; 15, The Old Barn and Cottage; 16, Tinsley's Farmhouse; 17, 19 Main Street; 18, Martyn's Barn; 19, The Old Forge

A taste of things to come? Ladybower Reservoir and Chatsworth and the River Derwent

VBR hope to return to the Peak District in 2027, so here are a couple of shortish walks which have been recced and which we might like to do.

The first is a 6½ mile walk from Fairholmes round the Ladybower Reservoir. Of particular interest were the low water levels after the dry summer which revealed the remains of the drowned village of Ashopton.

Derwent Dam near Fairholmes

Derwent Resevoir

The location of the drowned village of Ashopton, 2026

Ashopton, drowned in 1944

Ashopton Viaduct

View looking east towards Derwent Edge

East Midlands' water supply

Relief valves connected to the aqueduct to prevent damage due to pressure surges

Chatsworth and the River Derwent

The second, 8-mile walk starts in Calton Lees and, after a climb past Calton Houses, drops down to Edensor and Chatsworth Park.  After a walk up the River Derwent towards Baslow, the route takes us up to Stand Wood behind Chatsworth House, down sharply past the house itself and then back along the river to Calton Lees.   A longer (10½ mile) route stays higher up on a path to Beeley Moore and then follows a stream down to Beeley Village.

Calton Houses

One of many fine stone houses in the estate village of Edensor

Paine's One Arch Bridge (1760) over the Derwent

Looking up the Derwent

Hunting Tower completed around 1582 for Bess of Hardwick

Water flowing from the end of the Chatsworth Aqueduct used to supply water to the Chatsworth Cascade below - currently being restored

Chatsworth House and the River Derwent

No shortage of water here

Nottinghamshire History Walks

 

VBR members might be interested in a new, illustrated book by Adrian Gray, a Nottinghamshire historian who has published more than thirty books. He is also a tour guide, and with ‘Pilgrims & Prophets’ has been leading history walks in the local countryside over many years.

The book makes a personal selection of some of the best walks for exploring the Nottinghamshire historic landscape including some rarely visited but distinctive locations. Every walk is accompanied by an historic map and a detailed commentary, enlivening every step of your way through the county, making this a unique companion or those who enjoy the outdoors but want to understand where they are.

The walks are short (see below) but could be included in a longer one for our next programme.   Let me know if you want to borrow the VBR copy.  Adrian has also created a discount code (available from me) for our members so they can save nearly £2 if they want to purchase their own copy.  They can also use the following direct link:

https://trentwithambooks.com/discount/NHWRA?redirect=%2Fproducts%2Fnottinghamshire-history-walks

The walks

The North
Carlton in Lindrick( (5.5 km); Cuckney (4 km); Creswell Crags & Holbeck Woodhouse (5 km); Misterton (6.5 km).

The Central Area
Pleasley Vale (6.5 km); Carlton on Trent (2 km); Eakring (4 km); Meering & Besthorpe (5.5 km); Sherwood Forest (7 km); Fiskerton & Rolleston (5.5 km); Robin Hood's Hill & Rob Lane (6 km); Bennerley Viaduct & Cossall (12 km).

The South
Kinoulton & Owthorpe (8 - 9 km); Hickling Standard (10 km); Aslockton & Whatton in the Vale (4 km); Wysall & Willoughby on the Wolds (9 km); West Leake Hills & East Leake (11 km).

Ticknall and Calke Abbey, 18th October 2026

Starting in Ticknall Village Hall car park, Dave's varied, undulating, 8.7mile walk first took us through the village to enter the grounds of Calke Abbey by way of limestone quarries and the old Ticknall Tramway with its bridges and tunnels.  After a coffee stop near the Abbey, we walked along the side of Staunton Harold Reservoir to the Visitor Centre before passing what's left of the Staunton Harold Tower.  We then followed good tracks to Robin Wood for lunch and returned along the National Forest Way to Ticknall.

Limestone quarry

Location of old lime kiln

End of the long tramway tunnel under the main access road to Calke Abbey

Side view of Calke Abbey

Mere Pond - one of several feeding water into the reservoir

Staunton Harold Reservoir, planned by the River Dove Water Board in 1955 to provide drinking water for Leicester and completed in 1964

Remains of Staunton Harold Tower Windmil built by the first Lord Melbourne in 1798

 St Bride's Priory (attached to Repton) from the 12th Century until its dissolution by Henry VIII in 1538. The present building was never an abbey and was remodelled between 1701 and 1704. The house was owned by the Harpur Crewe family for nearly 300 years until it was passed to the National Trust in 1985 in lieu of death duties.

St Bride's Farm converted from the knave of the Norman Chapel

"This bridleway is part of an ancient route between Melbourne and Repton, crossing the uncultivated heathlands between Stanton and Ticknall. About a third of a mile to the east it crosses the old Derby to Oxford road, which is now the bridleway running north-south by St Bride’s Farm, beyond the present A514. The route originally entered Melbourne via High Street, formerly known as Bride Street, and leads down to the Parish Church, which was once at the main crossroads in the village.

If you are travelling east along the bridle path, you will soon come to St Bride’s Farm. The farmhouse (private) appears to be converted from the nave of a Norman chapel. St Bride, harassed by a persistent suiter, is said to have plucked out her own eyes, later restoring her sight with the water from a spring. There was once a spring to the east of the farmhouse, which was perhaps considered holy, and may explain the presence of the chapel and its unusual dedication."

Robin Wood - lunch stop

St George's Church, Ticknall (1842), next to the Village Hall, and the remains of the old church dedicated to St Thomas Becket and blown up with gunpowder in 1841!