Home Thoughts from Middle England: The Smisby Round anti-clockwise

Date: 6th March 2011
Distance: 6.5miles

The walk didn't start promisingly, the weather was grey and cold, but by half way the sun came out - huzzah. It was warm for the first time this year. I walked down Ashby Road into town past the bullocks who are quite a size now. They always look up and watch me go by and I'm glad there is a thick hedge between us. I once watched the farmer arrive to check them. The bulls charged along the fence following him; bucking and leaping as they went. That's a lot of animal throwing itself around. In Ashby I nipped into the Co-op for water (forget to bring some) and then headed up Smisby Road. The milk factory never stops. It can't be much fun living near it with tankers and lorries constantly entering and leaving.The old mental hospital's roof is still covered in tarpaulin since the fire a few months ago and over on the left the new industrial estate is still half empty. I crossed the bypass quickly - no strolling here - and headed up the b-road to Smisby. On the right is a small woodland owned and managed by the Woodland Trust and on the left a field with a heard of highland cattle munching hay and tossing their fringes out of their eyes. I had a close up view of a Buzzard. One landed in a tree just by the road and I hadn't realised quite how big they are - they're huge. buzzards
Smisby village is beautiful. There are some lovely old buildings - cottages, farm buildings and a good pub (The Smisby Arms). If you have too much of the hard stuff there is still a lockup. Then it was out of the village and by the Bluebell Arboretum. This is a great place if you love trees. They have a tree called the Honey Tree and, guess what, it smells of honey - lovely. The lane crossed over the bypass and then the road dipped down to The Tap House pub where the smell of the carvery dinners wafted over the fields. Then a right turn to Boundary - and across the fields to Blackfordby via the pig houses. No pigs out today.