(S/E) From the front entrance, turn left and walk down the A56 towards Helsby. Cross the Hornsmill Brook then turn right into Primrose Lane, signposted to Alvanley and Manley. After 300 yards turn right into Towers Lane (signposted “Helsby Golf Club”). Follow the road for ¼ mile to the golf club entrance and a further ¼ mile beyond, to a T-junction.
(1) Turn right into Peck Mill Lane. At the end of the lane, go through a pedestrian gate to the right of the main gate and pass to the right of the property ahead of you to a wooden gate. Keep to the right of the next field to a sometimes rather overgrown footbridge. Beyond the stream, keep on in the same direction, looking out for a gate in the hedge on your right. Go through this hedge and follow the two right-hand sides of the next field to reach a field gate in the far left-hand corner. Follow the attractive track beyond to reach the A56 next to Wood Farm.
(2) To explore the intriguing village of Dunham-on-the-Hill, with its old farmhouses and cottages and rock-cut roads, optionally turn left along the main road for a quarter of a mile, and then bear left along the main street (Village Road) to Dunham Hall and beyond, returning the same way when you have had your fill. Beyond Wood Farm on the A56, continue away from the village for a further quarter-mile, then turn left into Hapsford Lane. Follow this quiet winding lane for a little over half a mile, crossing the railway along the way.
(3) On reaching the A5117 cross carefully, walk across the grass and join the main street in Hapsford (Moor Lane), passing Hapsford Hall on your right. At the end of the metalled road, just beyond the entrance to Moor Court, pass a gate onto a track and follow it to a pumping station, where you bear right then left.
(4) At a further gate (beyond which are several large boulders) turn right through a metal kissing gate onto a footpath. Follow this hedged path until it opens out, then walk up through the woodland ahead of you.
Once out of the wood, bear right and follow an attractive grassy path through trees and scrub, with glimpses to open fields away to your left. At a wooded corner the official right of the way keeps on ahead of you, dropping through the trees to a hand gate overlooking the sewage works, and then turns right along a track to reach the road (Cash Lane); a better-used if unofficial alternative bears right before the trees along the top of a grassy ride, to reach the road via a stile on the left. Whichever route you choose, follow Cash Lane to the right to return to Moor Lane in Hapsford village.
(5) Turn left and pass Hapsford Hall again, turning left before the main road to pass an ornate brick barn converted into dwelling accommodation (like Hapsford Hall, a Grade II Listed Building). Leave the village along the metalled footway of the A5117 and follow it until it crosses the railway again, continuing beyond for a short distance back to the Hornsmill.(S/E)
