A lovely write up about our Wellbeing Walk to Cheswick Village
Six of us were delighted today - 21st November 2023 to have what amounted to a personal tour of the most scenic parts of Old Cheswick village led by Jonathan.
Damp and a small amount of drizzle were to be felt in the air on a cloudy late Autumn morning as we headed off from the Hub building up Romney Avenue, past The Vench and the building sites where many new homes are going up - but luckily it did not come to anything so we stayed dry throughout.
We first walked though part of the modern Cheswick estate, offering our guesses as to how long it had been there as a new town (first homes built in 2008 according to Wikipedia info provided by Jonathan, also passing the purpose-built Wallscourt Farm school, before branching off to the more rural part of the walk.
We saw the first of 2 ponds on the walk and were rewarded with the sight of a heron on the far side, then continuing to bear left we skirted past UWE student accommodation giving onto a large and lush green space leading down to outbuildings of the original Wallscourt Farm which now house a small museum of agricultural implements.
We were able to identify a hand powered plough but other items such as fabric belts hung from the rafters and large round bobbin shaped metal structures were less identifiable. We also enjoyed looking at the Secret Garden also located there and the other much larger and wilder pond – I particularly enjoyed seeing all this again as last time I did this walk it was high summer so a nice seasonal contrast.
We passed by the farmhouse building which had since been converted into a very prosperous residence in the style of an Alderman’s house - and were rather surprised upon enquiry to find out it was part of UWE now and had been a reception building but now it seems totally empty and no longer used.
Jonathan then guided us round part of the UWE campus by-passing the Engineering Building, then back out to the more modern part of Cheswick Village, after which we all opted to cut through Barn Wood en route back to the Hub, delighting as always in the sculptures we can across on the way, then out onto the new accessible path exiting onto Romney Avenue and back to base.
After what we calculated to be a walk of around 3.5 miles we then enjoyed a very welcome and well-deserved cup of coffee back at the Hub where we filled in our feedback forms and enjoyed some final chat before leaving to bus back to Horfield
Thank you Jonathan once again on behalf of the group for leading and sharing your local knowledge which always adds extra interest to a walk – see you in December to explore around the MOD.
- Anna George, local resident.
