(S/E) From the car park in front of the Swettenham Arms, turn right into Davenport Park Lane (signposted as a no-through road). Continue past the last houses and follow the lane for half a mile down into the Dane valley. Pass a house on the left then continue along the drive past a second house by the gate into the Davenport Hall estate.
(1) Cross the River Dane and continue along the track across the valley and then up the far bank. Walk past a series of ponds on the left, ignoring the entrances to Davenport Hall off to the right. Beyond a gate, follow the road past Davenport House to the A54.
(2) Cross the main road carefully and follow the road opposite, signposted to Brereton Heath Local Nature Reserve. After 300m, turn left through a kissing gate and cross the grass to the surfaced path around the lake.
(3) Turn left and pass through a tree-lined section alongside a fence before emerging into grassland, where the path bears right to a woodpecker statue and birdwatching hide. Continuing round the lake, past a fenced-off area of heathland on your left before entering deciduous woodland. Ignore the waymark for the South Cheshire Market Towns Trail. Regain the lakeside and keep right at a stone marker. When you reach the car park, continue to the entrance and follow the path ahead and left of the visitor centre. Bear left at an interpretation board illustrating the butterflies of the reserve to return to the kissing gate.
(3) From this point on, you are retracing your steps.Turn right along the road and follow it back to the A54. Cross carefully and follow the driveway past Davenport Hall back to the bridge over the Dane. Follow the lane back to the village.(S/E)
