Since damaging my foot a week ago I’ve been resting it as much as possible, meaning the dogs haven’t been out properly for several days, however yesterday’s hot and sunny weather was just too good to resist so I decided to take them to somewhere local and almost on the doorstep – far enough to give them a good walk but not far enough to aggravate my foot. Smithills Hall was my choice so I set off across the field at the end of the street, through the nearby housing estate and into the bottom end of the park closest to home. And to say that it’s a bank holiday weekend there was hardly anyone around so I had the place almost to myself.

From the park I went into the nearby woods – the last time I’d been in there the leaves were falling off the trees and things were looking rather bare but now there was green everywhere I looked, with the added bonus of several colourful rhododendron bushes appearing here and there. A tall tree had fallen across the stream from the opposite side and when I looked over I could see where the bank had come away with the movement of the roots as the tree fell. Further on is an old stone bridge and the stream at that point was little more than a trickle so Sophie had great fun running across and back along the bridge.
Not far past the bridge the path turned uphill for a short distance and wound its way through the trees and bushes, emerging onto the tarmac lane leading to Smithills Hall, a Grade l listed manor house and one of the oldest in the north west of England. With the oldest parts dating from the 15th century it has a lot of history behind it and I did indeed go in to look round, but I ended up with so many photos that I’m keeping them for another post and concentrating on the outside instead.


As I emerged round the back of the building and onto the terrace my vision was assaulted by a view which I thought was truly beautiful – a huge expanse of lawn bordered by colourful flowers and shrubs, surrounded by trees and rhododendrons and with benches dotted here and there. With very few people around the place was very quiet so with no-one to get in my way I wandered round at leisure and got several good shots of the building and gardens.







Back on the lane I retraced my steps, this time passing what was once Smithills Coaching House. Originally built in the 17th century as a stable block for Smithills Hall it was converted to a restaurant in 1966 by two local brothers, Alan and Donald Clarke. The brothers, two of three triplets, were born in 1931 – Donald became a trained chef and between them they co-owned Percival’s catering firm originally set up by their father in 1939. Percival’s had a wonderful cafe in the old town centre Market Hall and I remember going in there many times for a meal when I was a kid. Alan Clarke was the local mayor from 1972 to 1973 and died in 1979 at the relatively young age of only 48; Donald was Bolton’s mayor from 1977 to 1978 and died in 2005 at the age of 74.
A four-sided building with an attractive central courtyard, Smithills Coaching House operated successfully as a restaurant for 46 years before finally closing down in August 2012 – in spite of many local objections it was eventually sold to a developer and is now several luxury houses and apartments, with a dozen or so modern town houses built on what was once the restaurant car park. The courtyard entrance is now private, protected by huge double gates operated by key pad, but I was able to get the camera lens far enough through the bars to take a quick snap of what it looks like now the place has been modernised.




Further along the lane, and past where I’d come out of the woods, is Smithills Open Farm, a working dairy farm open to the public with lots of different animals to see, hold and feed. With various activities including donkey rides, tractor rides and bouncy castles it’s a very popular place and with no time limit once in there it presumably makes a good few hours out, but when I saw the admission prices I was just glad that I don’t have any young kids!

Through the farm and past the car park I reached the top end of the park I’d walked through earlier; I’m not sure if it’s the local council’s way of saving money or if it’s supposed to be like that but a lot of the land had been left to grow wild, with large clumps of spiky grass growing all over the place. From the path nearest the farm the view down the park was quite extensive, and when I got down to where the playground used to be at the bottom of the slope I turned round to call Sophie and there was my old friend the Winter Hill tv mast, standing tall on top of the nearby moors.


This was a beautiful walk, Eunice. You got a lot of postcard pretty photos. Thanks for sharing. Sorry to hear about your foot. I went over and read what happened. Wowza! I’m impressed with your tolerance level for pain. I’d be yelping loudly to no end. May the mending go quickly and easily.
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I’m glad you like the walk Susie, I think I got some quite pretty photos on this one 🙂 The foot is taking its time with the healing – I didn’t yelp when I did it but I did rather swear a lot! 😦
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We have some wonderful old buildings in this country, don’t we, Eunice? This one looks lovely and the setting is simply gorgeous. 🙂 🙂 We were at a hot air balloon festival, so many more people but fun to see.
Thanks for limping along with me, and I hope the foot is soon much better.
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Smithills Hall is a fascinating place with a very long history – I’ll be writing about it in another post as there’s far too much to include in this one. It’s situated close to the moorland and the gardens, although a bit ragged and unkempt in places, are lovely at this time of year. Your hot air balloon festival sounds like it was very colourful, I look forward to seeing some of your photos of it 🙂
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I love moorlands, Eunice. We were up at Cragside on Thursday and it was glorious up there. The Balloon event was a bit stop/start but I love them. Mick not so much. No idea when I’ll have time to post again but I’ve put a couple on Instagram/Facebook, which I do occasionally.
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I’m glad you were able to get out for a lovely walk without any pain from your damaged foot. Beautiful photos, I really like the third one down in the woods with the shadows from the trees. Lovely gardens to wander round. I see what you mean about the prices for the farm, I suppose they’re high to keep the animals but off putting for many families I expect which is a shame. We had a thunderstorm yesterday and were caught in a terrific downpour. I thought about you and glad you weren’t camping in it this weekend.
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After not having been anywhere proper of all week I really enjoyed that walk even though it’s one I’ve done many times before, and best of all, I didn’t have to drive anywhere to do it. I remember that farm from when I was a kid, if I ever went through there with my parents my dad would lift me up to look through the shippon window at the cows being milked.
About 15 years ago my partner and I were looking for somewhere to store our vintage tractors and tried there as it’s the nearest place to home – the guy was struggling financially but still turned down our offer of rent for a corner of his yard. He eventually secured some funding from the local council on condition that he allowed the public to look round and the place has grown into what it is now. It’s very popular with families though not exactly cheap if there’s mum, dad, and a couple of kids, but as you say, the animals have to be fed.
Weather-wise it clouded over a bit here in the early evening yesterday and there was a faint rumble of thunder about 8pm but it didn’t amount to anything and stayed dry. It’s glorious again today so I might just take the dogs out again 🙂
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Beautiful pictures of what looks a very beautiful place for a walk. 🙂
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It’s a lovely area Sharon. I consider myself to be so lucky living where I do at the northern end of the town – countryside, parkland and moorland on the doorstep and just a short walk away, and so many lovely places to go to without the need to drive 🙂
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Wow, that’s amazing to have on your doorstep! Lovely walk, and glad the foot is recovering.
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The grammar school I went to is just down below Smithills Hall, in fact the school playing fields adjoin the Hall’s lower gardens. We used to have assembly services in the chapel a few times a year – part of the Hall was a retirement home back then and the school choir, of which I was a member, used to go up each year just before Christmas and sing carols to the residents. I remember doing art and history projects there too, and although it didn’t mean much to me back then I’ve appreciated it more as I’ve got older, especially as it’s only a relatively short walk from home.
The foot is very so-so at the moment, fine when I’m walking around and I feel like I could go for miles, but if I rest it for a while the first few steps are agony when I start walking again. Another trip to the doctor’s methinks 🙂
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Having been blog-AWOL I didn’t realise you’d had an accident, hope all healing well now. That’s a super walk and the hall is a lovely looking place.
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It was a very enjoyable walk Jayne, steeped in history inside the Hall and very photogenic outside it. I must remember to do it again when the leaves start changing colour, it’ll be nice on a sunny day 🙂
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