Derbyshire walk: Kirk Langley and Nether Burrows

Summer is here, daylight stretches out long into the evening, and there’s nothing better than a late afternoon or evening stroll when the air is cooler but still pleasantly warm.

It’s even better when there’s a pint – or evening meal – to look forward to towards the end of your walk.

This ramble in the Amber Valley Borough is a tranquil one that meanders through an undulating rural landscape of gentle charm.

Enjoy handsome country houses, pastoral ponds, intimate pathways tucked between hedgerows, fields of ripening crops, hay meadows and quiet country lanes before stretching out on a deckchair in the Bluebell Inn’s beer garden.

1. Starting out from St Michael’s in Kirk Langley, head west along Church Lane, admiring the fine country houses and pretty cottages along the way.

On reaching the first lane on your right (signed for Nether Barrows Farm and Mile End), gently ascend the quiet country road fringed by hedgerows and wildflower verges.

Country lane to Nether Burrows (Image: Helen Moat)

2. At the first farmhouse, keep right to continue to Nether Burrows. Turn left then right to proceed between the large white house and the converted barn. Follow the sign to cut across a field to a bamboo grove (yes, really). The path slices through the bamboo shoots to a stream and continues up through vegetation, opening out into a field.

Follow the left-hand field boundary round the field, veering right with it until it eventually reaches Burrows Hall Farm.

3. Go through the driveway, then turn left onto Burrows Lane. Look out for a green sign at a metal field gate signed ‘Public Bridle Road.’ Head down through the field, keeping the hedgerow on your left.

Cross the footbridge over the stream and continue uphill along a narrow path enclosed by hedgerow and fence. On reaching a metal farm gate, go through it and turn immediately left to head through another gate and field (following the hedge boundary on your right). At its end, you’ll reach a metal stile.

4. Climb over it onto Petty Close Lane, crossing the road to follow the green ‘Public Footpath’ sign adjacent into shrubs and trees. The path emerges at a field. Go down this field to the far-left corner and continue along the grassy path in the next field, following hedgerow and stream to a lane of country cottages.

5. The driveway leads to Church Lane. Cross over the road and follow the public footpath sign into the field adjacent. Passing a pond on your left continue into the next field, veering right to climb up through the field.

Follow the hedgerow on your right until you come to a four-way junction of paths. You’ll see St Michael’s Church in the distance on your left. Ignoring your end point for the moment, turn right to climb the stile by the gate, then immediately left through fields (signposted the ‘Derby Nomad Way’), keeping the field boundary on your left.

The path squeezes through shrubbery into the last field. Follow the path that cuts diagonally across the field to Moor Lane.

The Bluebell Inn's beer garden (Image: Helen Moat)

6. Turn right onto the road and follow the footpath to the Bluebell Inn. The beer garden is a delight with its lawned areas of deck chairs (on sunny days), comfortable seating and dining pods between sculpted topiary, shrubs and decorative miniature trees. It’s a very welcome fuel stop after a long tramp through quintessentially English lanes and meadows.

7. From the Bluebell Inn, drop down along the footpath beside Moor Lane (B5020) until you reach the 30mph sign for Kirk Langley. Cross the road here and follow the green public footpath sign through the wicket gate into the field.

At the end of the second field, turn right into the cricket grounds. Follow the lefthand perimeter, then the path that cuts down the side of St Michael’s, emerging at Church Lane again and your starting point.

Church Lane, Kirk Langley (Image: Helen Moat)