Let’s Stumble!

Here’s our favourite local Stilton walk; it’s only 6 miles, but full of surprises! If you’re new to Stilton, or just visiting, why not try it? See you in The Bell afterwards?Download this walk. A printable A4 guide in Acrobat pdf format.
Open in Google Earth.
Find this walk on the Walk4Life website
Disclaimer: As always, you follow walks like this on your own responsibility. Stilton Stumblers do not guarantee that any walk described on this site will be accessible by all persons at all times of the year. Use your judgement. And be sure to follow the countryside code.

1. Starting at The Bell inn, turn South and follow the High Street. Passing Stilton Pavilion on your right, continue ahead through a gate. This is the line of the original Great North Road.
2. At the end of the paved roadway, turn right onto a footpath. Note the pond to your left, which was a ‘borrow pit’ dug during the construction of the A1(M) and attracts a variety of wildlife. Follow the path between hedges across the golf course. (Caution: may be muddy.)
3. Cross a small timber bridge into a field, turn left and follow the field boundary on your left, passing through three new kissing gates.
4. When the path meets the old tarred road, turn right and follow the road to Denton. Ignore footpath signs off this road.
5. As you approach Denton, look for the ruined church on the left, almost completely hidden by trees. The church is still consecrated, and a service is held there once a year. Follow the road, bearing right, through the village to Caldecote.
6. At the crossroads (care) bear ahead left around Manor Farm and up a cul-de-sac lane between houses, passing a converted church (now a private house.)(Note: to shorten the walk, turn right at these crossroads and follow the road (care) over Caldecote Hill to Stilton, passing a covered reservoir on your right at the top of the hill.)
   After the track bears left, in front of a stable block with a distinctive clock tower, leave the track, turning right onto a grass bridleway, passing along the left side of the stables. (Follow the hoofprints!) Turn left at the trees and right over a wooden bridge into the copse.
7. Pass a large fish pond on your left, continue through the trees, up a slight incline and over a stile. You are now on the site of a mediaeval settlement; look for the remains of a motte & bailey on your right and an interpretation board where the path continues through a gate. Cross the road (care) and continue ahead on the bridleway, keeping the field boundary on your right. Pass another interpretation board at the site of the medieval village of Washingley on the right. Cross a small bridge and continue ahead up the hill.
8. At the top of the hill turn right over a small timber bridge and then left following the well-marked track going around a copse on your right. Upon emerging from the woods continue following the marked track with a brook on your right until reaching a fence. Turn left and follow the fence up the hill.
9. At the top of the hill, turn right though a gate, following the bridleway through two more gates. Enter The Paddocks in Folksworth, approaching the village duck pond. Turn left past the duck pond and bear right past a pretty Victorian schoolhouse on your left.
10. At the road junction turn right along the road through Folksworth. Turn left into Townsend Way and bear round to your right.
11. Go through a gate ahead, between houses, and follow the well-trodden path diagonally left across a large field (caution: may be muddy), through a gate into a pasture. You are now coming down Caldecote Hill into Stilton. This high ground gives a good view of the fenlands stretching away into the distance. Go through a kissing gate to join Caldecote Road and turn left. Turn right at the T junction with St Mary’s Road and follow Church Street past St Mary’s Church back to your starting point.

If you wish, you may walk through the churchyard, entering through a small gate opposite the school and following the gravel path to a kissing gate. In the grass by the end of the choir, look for the grave of Cooper Thornhill, formerly innkeeper of The Bell, and now known to have been the originator of Stilton cheese.