The Two Parks of Dunham

Distance 5km; with Isabel

See route in new window

The band of rain decided to move a bit slower than originally forecast, so it was a pretty miserable morning outside in Stockport; therefore we delayed our morning walk until the afternoon when it was forecast to be drier.  We had been to Dunham Massey many times with Isabel but we had always stayed inside the deerpark for our walks.  I had recently noticed that there was another neighbouring park called Dunham New Park that I decided to go and explore today with a walk taking in it together with Dunham Park.

I set off walking from the main NT carpark at around 2:30pm with Isabel in the rucksack carrier to avoid having to lift the pushchair over the stiles on the north edge of Dunham Park, which I thought would be quite tricky to do on my own!  It was dry but overcast as we walked past the front of the Hall and out into the deer park; however we didn't have to walk far to see deer as there were some right in front of the Hall!

Deer outside Dunham Massey Hall

We walked along Smithy Drive to the edge of the deer park, crossed the stile and wandered along the quiet roads towards Dunham Town from where we picked up a public footpath heading east through fields and scrubland.

The track to Dunham New Park

After around half a mile we reached the edge of Dunham New Park, which contained a golf course.  There were handy warning signs asking you to stick to the footpath due to the danger of flying golf balls, however they failed to actually signpost where the footpath actually went!  As the footpath wasn't evident on the ground, I decided that I would just head towards the next signs in the distance that looked like the blue warning signs, which did eventually lead to the edge of the golf course and the footpath through the woods back towards Dunham Park.

Handy warning sign!

Trees in Dunham New Park

We re-entered Dunham Park at the end of Charcoal Drive and then followed the path along the eastern edge of the park through the fenced-off areas, where the young trees were thriving out of reach from the deer.  It was turning out to be quite a pleasant Autumn afternoon and the oak trees were laden with acorns, which Isabel seemed interested in whenever I pointed them out to her!

Acorns in Dunham Park

Leaving the enclosed areas, we headed along Farm Walk to reach Island Pool where few ducks.  We then headed back past the Hall to return to the car shortly after 3:30pm.

Island Pool in Dunham Park

Dunham Massey Hall