This is a really rewarding walk.

Pretty much every time we head out of Newark, we go past Kelham Hall, and I'd always thought it merited a bit more exploration. Having found this walk, I then hesitated... A lot of it is through fields, and though it was a pretty dry January, mud can be an issue for people who a) are utterly unco, and b) have to avoid falling over.

This calculus changed, however, when I was recently offered the loan of some wellies. Thus shod, I thought, the track must be eminently doable. As it turned out, I could probably just about have managed with walking boots, but without the wellies I might not have had the courage to tackle it.



So what's to like?

Well, the route takes you up into some of Nottinghamshire's surprisingly rolly countryside, and the views over woods and fields are all very pretty:






It is constantly borne in upon me that I'm an incorrigible towny, so I found Averham Park Farm, with its strongly equestrian focus, quite interesting. I'd never seen "horse walkers" (carrousel-like objects, housing a horse in each compartment, and slowly rotating so that the animals are led round in a circle). And I'd never seen the odd substance with which you carpet a galloping track:



After the farm, you get more open views, and then a stretch of woodland:






Finally, you approach Kelham Hall:


The building we see now is actually the third Kelham Hall, all of them originally built as residences for the Manners Sutton family. The first two were destroyed by fire, while the current exemplar was designed by Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, and completed in 1863.

In the early years of the 20th century, the family moved out, for financial reasons. Until the early 1970s, the building served as a theological college for the Society of the Sacred Mission, an order of Anglican monks. The only interruptions to this function occurred during the World Wars, when Kelham Hall was used by the military.

The complex was then sold to the Newark & Sherwood District Council, and used as an administrative headquarters for a while, after which it was converted into a luxury hotel. In 2021, the business went into liquidation, but later the same year was taken over by another team, and relaunched as an events venue. The public are free to stroll the very picturesque grounds:














Great walk. Thanks, wellies!