Rosliston And Rosliston Forestry Centre

Walk Information

Walk Area:RoslistonOS Map:Explorer 245

Distance:3.25miles (5.2 km)National Forest

Start Point:Beehive Farm, Rosliston1:25000

Map Ref:SK 249 161

Post CodeDE12 8HZ

General InformationAltitude Data

Parking:Free Off RoadStart:291 ft(89m)

Tea Shops:TwoMinimum:216 ft(66m)

Duration:1 Hour 35 Min Maximum:305 ft(93m)

Altitude Profile



The Honey Pot Tea Room
At Beehive Farm / A fairly easy South Derbyshire walk over undulating farm land and along permissive paths of the Rosliston Forestry Centre in the National Forest. The section through the Forestry Centre is well maintained, and the rest of the route is well marked with well maintained stiles and stock gates.
Getting There:
From the north (Derby) take the A38 south towards Lichfield, from the south (Lichfield and Birmingham) take the A38 north towards Burton Upon Trent. Leave the A38 at the

B5016 junction for Barton-Under-Needwood and Walton-On-Trent, head into Walton-On-Trent passing over a rather narrow (watch your door mirrors) and weight restricted Bailey bridge across the river Trent. On entering Walton-On-Trent turn left at the island and take the first right, after around a quarter of a mile bear left onto Roslison Road (signed Forestry Centre). At the top of the road turn right and drive into Rosliston, turn left onto Main Street (signed Beehive Farm) and drive through the village. Where the road turns sharp left at the edge of the village, continue down the lane directly ahead, and Beehive Farm is almost immediately on the right. If you have a vehicle wider than say a Land-Rover, or is fairly heavy then you will need an alternate route, I suggest departing the A38 at Alrewas and heading toward Tamworth, then follow the signs for Walton-On-Trent (1st left after crossing the river), please consult a map of the area.

Whilst there is no direct public Transport to Beehive Farm there are buses to both Rosliston and the Forestry Centre, both of these locations could be used as alternate start points if required. Please see the Derby Bus Info web site for details.

Tea shops and toilets for this walk are located at Beehive Farm and the Rosliston Forestry Centre. The Honey Pot Tea Room at Beehive Farm is located at the start/finish of the walk (see Beehive Farm website) is open Wednesday to Sunday during the winter period, and daily at other times, for details of "The Hub" café at the Forestry Centre, please visit their web site.

The Walk:
From the car-park at Beehive Farm walk back to the road then turn left and walk back towards the village. At the road junction turn right and walk up the Linton Road for just over a quarter of a mile then take the footpath on the left down the drive towards Cinderlands Boarding Cattery. It is worth nothing that most of the section of the walk along Linton Lane has no footpath, so please be aware of traffic on this stretch of the route.
Continue past the cattery and into a field, walk the /
National Forest Ahead

length of the field keeping the fence line to the left and exit through a gap in the hedge onto a tarmaced farm drive. On reaching the driveway look to the right for a metal vehicle barrier, this is the entry point to the Forestry Centre, walk around the barrier then take the public footpath to Caldwell keeping the farmland to the right and the woods to the left. After about a quarter of a mile the wide footpath reaches the edge of the grounds of the forestry centre, the public footpath continues ahead along a field edge to Caldwell, but our route stays with the permissive path as it bends left and continues along the woodland edge. After a distance wide path turns left, but is waterlogged, cut the corner (as many others have done by the looks of it) and rejoin the track, take the single plank over an ditch through the hedge to pick up another wide path on the other side. Turn right and once more follow the edge of the woodland in the same general direction as before. Continue along the boundary path to a point where the path splits, keep right and again follow the edge of forestry centre woodland until the path approaches Greenheart lake where the path narrows and becomes more well maintained.

At the lake there is an option to take the bridge across the middle of the lake, this route assumes that you choose to continue around the edge of the lake, but the bridge may well be worth a visit during the summer months. Continue to follow the path around the edge of the lake to a wooden seat


Monument To South Derbyshire Mining, Rosliston Forestry Centre.

carved into the form of a giant dragonfly, again keeping right walk around the smaller lake past the carving of a giant snail to the large monument to South Derbyshire Mining. There are also picnic tables around this point should you choose to take a break.

From the mining monument follow the winding path past the children’s activity areas until it approached the visitors centre. Here there are located a cafè and a restaurant, but you may well have to pay a formal admission charge to the centre to access these. As you approach the visitors centre exit into the car park (right) through a leaf shaped arch made of logs and bear left to the car park exit. This car park could form an alternative start point for the walk, but is pay-and-display location. At the exit from the car-park to the road do not leave the forestry centre, instead take the driveway to the left that runs parallel to the road. Follow this path to a point where a signed footpath to Rosliston bears off to the right, take this narrower trail and continue forward until it reaches an open field on the opposite side of which stands the Church of St Mary's in Rosliston. Walk across the field diagonally left then pass between the church yard and the houses to exit onto Main Street in the centre of Rosliston village.

Turn left and walk towards the village shops, on reaching the post box cross the road and take the unmarked footpath between the houses to enter onto a cul-de-sac of bungalows and houses, continue directly ahead to the bottom of the cul-de-sac and enter into a field over a low wooden step-stile. Keeping the hedgerow to the left walk the length of two fields before entering into a third over another step-stile. The plantation of Thompson's Wood should now be to the left, continue forward towards farm buildings ahead. Cross a way-marked step stile onto the farm premises then walk forward to another step stile and exit the property by walking down the drive to Coton Lane. Turn left and walk up Coton Lane (no footpaths so take care of any traffic that you may encounter) fro just under a quarter of a mile then take the footpath to the right into a field. Cross the field diagonally left to exit at the road junction near the start of the walk, turn right and walk the short distance down the lane to beehive farm and the end of the walk.

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