Miller's Walk - Hollies Farm variation

On a muddy Saturday morning a nice group of 10 of us plus two small dogs all met at Hollies Farm. We were doing the Miller's walk from the Erewash walking guide. However we started the walk from Hollies Farm as it has a brilliant cafe and would give us a really nice finish to the day.

Usually on these walks we go wrong somewhere along the way but it never normally adds much to the walk, well this was slightly different. Walking out of the farm we took the wrong path from the start and after trudging through mud for a kilometre we found a more stable path. This little diversion actually ended up adding a mile to the route. Luckily most people on the walk knew the local area so it never really mattered, we all knew roughly where we were so we just enjoyed the walk and the fresh air.

The route covered some similar paths from previous routes this year but it was nice to retrace our footsteps with all the leaves falling with a nice autumnal feeling. On a previous walk we went into Hermit's Wood however we turned the other way and entered Ockbrook Wood this time and it looked beautiful with all the different colours. 

Ockbrook Wood

Ockbrook Wood

In the end the walk was just under 9km (5.5miles) and ended with a really nice bite to eat in Hollies Farm Cafe. After a cold walk enjoying a nice warm meal was perfect. If you know the area and just fancy a walk with a warm drink at the end I recommend this as a start point as you could do so many different routes from around 2 miles to 7 miles depending which routes you follow. We will definitely be back in 2015 on a made up route using our local knowledge.

There's just one walk left this year and it will be a nice post Christmas walk on Saturday 27th setting off from Nutbrook CC at 10am. There's no set plan for this walk so technically we can't go wrong. It's all about getting some fresh air and burning off a bit of the festive food.