Clumber Park is a country park
in the Dukeries near Worksop in Nottinghamshire, England. avenue extends
over 4 km, and was created by the 5th Duke of Newcastle in the 19th Century.
It is over 3,800 acres in extent, including woods, open heath and rolling
farmland. It contains a serpentine lake covering 87 acres, and the longest
double avenue of lime trees in Europe. The avenue extends over 4 km and was
created by the 5th Duke of Newcastle in the 19th Century. This, therefore,
was the destination, a first, for the hiking club. Unusually, only a small
group of seven people made it up to the Nottinghamshire National Trust
retreat. The Basecamp isn't marked on the general National Trust brochure
map but is situated at the side of the Walled Kitchen Garden and is sign
posted once in Clumber Park. Following the route to Clumber Park from
Nottingham, on the A614, one enters Clumber through the Apleyhead Lodge
entrance, leading onto Limetree Avenue. This entrance is open at all times
as this is a public highway. At the crossroads, one turns left to enter via
a set of gates and then
second left, after which the Basecamp/Bunkhouse is sign-posted. If arriving
after 7pm the large cream gates at crossroads are closed but one is issued
with the gate code and a separate code to access the bunkhouse, an old
double-storey red brick building down a short tree-lined alleyway.
The park is an excellent place
for long walks and has several miles of paths and cycle tracks surrounding
the lake. The park has a range of bicycles available for hire including
tandems and adult tricycles from an estate building located by the main car
park adjacent to the Chapel and the Visitors centre in the old stable block,
where a range of facilities are located. Part of the old stable block houses
a visitor display on the history of the park, a National Trust Shop &
Restaurant, and toilet facilities. Off the main lime tree avenue are camping
facilities. Route 6 of the National Cycle Network passes through the park
linking it to Sherwood Forest and Sherwood Pines with only a few road
crossings necessary.
I arrived there by car
late Friday night after flying back earlier from Ireland, only to find that
the text on the print-out of directions had, here and there, extended off
the page where crucially, in one instance, contained the code to the house.
Driving around the park at night only served to draw the attention of the
security officials patrolling the park. The walking route on Saturday
extended beyond the confines of Clumber Park itself, bypassing Welbeck
Abbey. We set off from the bunkhouse and after exiting via the cream gates
and made our way down the road towards Truman's Lodge. Beyond the archway, a
path leaves the road and picks up on the Robin Hood Way leading through
woodland. At South Lodge we traversed a section of open ground, reaching the
grounds of Welbeck Abbey. The path does not allow access to the abbey, as it
is privately owned. We stopped for a short lunch. To pick up a return path,
it made sense to continue on towards Cresswell Crags, after crossing the
A60. At the top end of the crags, the town of Cresswell comes into view.
Turning sharply and up a short embankment, we picked up the path leading
towards Holbeck. At Holbeck Woodhouse, a hamlet which forms part of the
Welbeck Abbey estate and was built for the Dukes of Portland, we crossed the
A60 once more onto a tree-lined road on the outskirts of Welbeck Park.
Woodhouse Hall was the residence of Robert, first Earl of Kingston, who died
in 1643.
At the far end of the lane
near The Winnings, turning right, we continued on the edge of the Deer Park,
past the Park Lodge, towards the town of Norton. At the Main Road in the
town, following the signs for Carburton, we soon headed off the road and
into the woods once more near Bentinck Lodge, past a memorial marking the
spot where Lord George Bentinck died. At Hazel Gap near the A616, the
woodland path brought us to South Lodge. After turning left, we were soon to
reach Clumber Bridge, crossing Clumber Lake. At this point the park itself
was humming with day visitors enjoying themselves on the open expanses of
the parkland.
Back at the basecamp, a cider
went down a treat. We had covered about 16 miles. With no pubs in the park
to speak of, a drive to the Millhouse in Worksop (one of a chain of Sizzling
Pubs) guaranteed us what must surely rank as the most reasonably priced pub
food in the entire UK. Evidence from the Domesday Book of 1086 indicates
that Worksop existed before the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. Coal
mining provided thousands of jobs in and around Worksop for most of the 19th
and 20th centuries, but by the 1990s the pits had closed, resulting in high
local unemployment. A quiet stroll along the edge of the lake Sunday morning
accompanied by Pete Mathews & Bernard, who had organised the booking, saw us
reach Hardwick Village, characterized by red brick Neo-Elizabethan style
houses, before heading off down the highway. Though the weekend's walk had
been largely confined to woodland, it had been of sufficient interest and
beauty to make it worthwhile, made all the more pleasurable by the warm
weather throughout. |