On Saturday 15th June, at 8.30 a.m., eight people from St. John’s joined the Liverpool Road Methodist Church
Rambling Club once more. They travelled by coach to Blakemere in Cheshire. We arrived at about 10.30 a.m. - a good time for a coffee!
I had never heard of Blakemere so looked it up on the internet (http://www.blakemerevillage.com)! The website tells us about the History of the "Village" as follows -
"Blakemere Hall and its stable block were built in 1878. King Edward VII, then the Prince of Wales, often visited and apparently enjoyed notoriously wild parties here, according to local joiners who repaired the furniture!The premises were commandeered during WWII and became home to Polish refugees and British troops and in the 1950’s the Hall was demolished so that only the stables and the Blakemere name remained.
The Gerrard family farmed at Blakemere until 1994, when they converted the buildings into the retail and leisure outlets you visit today. Blakemere is extremely proud of its boutique shops and the variety of unique ‘on trend’ and stylish products available, all set in and around our beautiful Edwardian stable block. The Gerrard family still own and run the business to this day."
After coffee, the walkers, led by David Wall, set off to join the Whitegate Trail whilst non-walkers enjoyed the shops and facilities of Blakemere Village.
In spite of the forecast, the day remained dry and we even had sunny interludes. It was a very pleasant walk through beautiful verdant countryside.
The Whitegate Trail follows a disused railway line and is ideal for casual walkers, joggers and cyclists.
David told us that the Whitegate line was opened in 1870 to transport salt from the mines and works along the west bank of the river Weaver. It took the most direct route, avoiding all villages of Whitegate and Sandiway, from Winsford to Cuddington where it joined the main Chester-Manchester line.
A passenger service opened a month later but closed after only 4 years because of competition with the main LNWR line. It was re-started in 1886 with three passenger trains a day. The journey was slow and uncomfortable because the trains were mixed and passengers had to wait while goods wagons were shunted on and off, into the many sidings. The line almost closed in 1958 but a joint arrangement between British Rail and ICI kept it in use to transport rock salt until 1966."
Now, but for the odd bridge, you would hardly know that it had been a railway line. Much of the trail is lined by beautiful silver birch trees.
We got back to the village in good time and had a couple of hours or so to enjoy the facilities before we all regrouped and joined our coach for the return journey.
