Hanbury, Tutbury & Fauld

1. From the Cock Inn in the middle of the village of Hanbury turn left out of the car park. When you reach a road junction turn left and follow the road until you reach a farm lane just before the village hall. Turn left and follow the lane across fields and past a manure dump. At the corner style turn left within the field until you reach a hand gate beyond a concrete bunker. Turn left and continue through more hand gates to reach a wooded area. At a junction take the left hand path and continue along the edge of the huge crater until you reach the Fauld memorial. This memorial recalls Britain’s largest explosion on 27th November 1944 when thousands of tons of ordinance accidentally exploded and 70 people were killed.

2. Retrace your steps and return from the crater to the hand gate near the bunker, then turn left over the brow. Follow well waymarked styles across a field track before turning right over a plank bridge towards a farm. Follow the track which winds left and look for a style in the hedgerow to the left halfway up the field. Cross the style and follow the path until you reach a large farm. Take the track to the left of the farm and follow the waymarked track as it winds to the right past the farm. At the fingerpost turn left crossing fields parallel to a farm road. Follow the path over a number of styles in the field until it joins the farm track. Follow this track as it turns into a concrete road and continue along the road until you reach a hedgerow. Turn right and follow the path.

3. Cross the ditch at a flat bridge and turn left keeping the ditch on your left. At a fork in the path take the flat bridge on the left and continue straight on with the ditch on your right until you reach a road. Cross the road and follow the path to the left of the cottage and head for Tutbury Castle. The path skirts the left hand side of the hill and then climbs to the right below the castle reaching a lane beyond some steps. Turn left, then left again, following the signs to reach the entrance to the castle  the castle. The west front of the castle is amongst the finest Norman architecture in the country. The castle was prison to Mary Queen of Scots on several occasions before her execution in 1587. Take the path from the castle entrance past the side of the church and continue on straight past the church until you reach the road. Turn left and continue to keep left through Tutbury until you reach the roundabout .

4. At the roundabout turn left past the weir and continue on into the country park. Follow the grassy path with the Castle and mill stream on your left until you reach the weir. Turn left and cross the sluice, then turn right and follow the River Dove upstream. At the ruined barn head for the tall scots pine beside the farm ahead. Pass left of this and walk along the drive to the road. Turn right to reach the road into the industrial estate and turn left. Follow this road past houses and premises as it follows the tracks of a tramroad (this linked the gypsum mines in the hills to the main line railway and was abandoned in 1949). Pass the orthotics works on your right, then cross the style on your right into a field edge path. At the far side of the field turn left continue up the enclosed footpath. Continue ahead to another style and then follow the steep slope to the left edge of the hollow heading towards the concrete posts at the top of the slope. As the path levels follow the waymarked posts through the grassy hummocks of the Stonepit Hills.

Join the wide woodland track and turn right at a T-junction. At the fork by a quarry building go left and in another 150 yards go left at the fork up a rising woodland edge track. Where this bends sharp right, turn left on the waymarked woodland path, which parallels a boundary fence marked by ‘Danger Unexploded Bombs’ signs. Continue up large steps to reach a hand gate in the corner of the field. Continue ahead beside the woods. At the mobile phone mast turn left and continue left to another gate. Turn right then walk along the enclosed path to the road where you will reach the Cock Inn for a much needed pint (the pub has a walkers bar, an outside drinking area and is dog friendly).