Start: Goosnargh Village Green corner of Church Lane and Goosnargh Lane.

 

From Junction 32 M6join the A6 heading north. At Broughton turn right at the traffic lights towards Longridge on Whittingham Lane. When you reach Goosnargh turn left into Church Lane.

Fact file: Distance: 9k 5 1/2 miles
                Time: 2 1/2 - 3 hours
                Summary: Easy walking but with a high stile count.
               Map: OS Explorer 286 Blackpool & Preston

 Map by kind permission of the Blackpool Gazette

 

Directions. Walk along Goosnargh Lane with the Green on your left. After 300m the road bends to the right. Here keep ahead on a narrow footpath between houses.

 This leads around the back of properties to a stile (the first of many).

Cross this and turn left following a brook to a second stile.

Over this turn right onto a track leading back to Goosnargh Lane.

 Cross the lane and follow a farm road

which soon swings left

 taking you after 600m to Middleton Hall.

Under normal circumstances the most obvious route would be to keep ahead. Unfortunately at the time of writing and for some time to come the footbridge over Westfield Brook

is severely damaged.

 

When you reach Middleton Hall turn right on a farm road that takes you through the farm

 

 and then onto Cross House - 400m away. At Cross House turn left past Millbrook Barn

and drop down towards a wooden gate.

Just before you reach it turn right over a stile and continue to a footbridge.

 After crossing this keep ahead in the next pasture. Cross a stile on the left and continue now with hedgerow on your right.  Now in a vast field aim for a hedge before you

and when you reach it turn left. Near the corner cross a stile

and aim for the corner of a wood.

When you reach it a more definite track leads onto Goosnargh Lodge.

Through farm buildings turn right when you reach the main drive.

 This soon leads to Langley Lane. Turn left.

After 200m turn right

onto a drive leading down to attractive cottages. The footpath leads left in front of them to a rather forbidding side door

that required a degree of manipulation to open when the route was tested. Around the house to the right cross a stile to enter a huge field.

 Keep ahead and after another stile and entering another huge field drop to a footbridge across a brook.

The path now gently climbs to Lotus Hall Farm. Cross a stile close to a pond

to reach the drive near the farm house.

Keep ahead on the drive to reach Bilsborrow Lane.

Turn right for Inglewhite.

Pass the Green Man (recommended) and turn right into Silk Mill Lane.

Pass the Congregational chapel and then cross a stile on the left next to the drive of a large property.

Cross the stile to the rear of the grounds

and drop to a dip. Bear right through a wide gap and then keep ahead to cross a footbridge.

 Over the next field you arrive at Inglewhite Lane. Turn right. After 50m turn right again onto a bridleway before a large white house.

Follow the track past Colbourn House

to continue on a grassy track over  a ford.

Keep ahead to reach Langley Lane opposite a large farmhouse.

 Turn right and then immediately left into Curwen Lane.

Where the lane turns sharp left cross a stile on the right

and then almost immediately turn left over another in the midst of a holly bush.

Beneath pylons cross a footbridge

and then a stile to enter a large field. Keep ahead to a stile with two waymark signs.

 By now you surroundings may seem vaguely familiar.

 For the next section of the walk to Cross House you are on the outward leg. At Cross House continue towards Middleton Hall but then turn left onto a farm track in front of a metal gate.

 After 100m turn right over a stile onto a footpath that leads over fields to Goosnargh.

Keep ahead to a gap

and continue over fields until you reach a property on your right. Here cross a stile on the right,

 follow a narrow path to reach the drive.

Turn left to arrive in Goosnargh opposite the green.