Sunny return to Cuerden Valley

It may have been Royal wedding day, but the sun was set to shine again so it seemed a waste to spend the day indoors. With the ceremony taking place early in the day we did catch the key moments over an early lunch, but for the afternoon we'd planned a walk in the sunshine with a return to Cuerden Valley Park, this time with Jean and Kevan.

There were plenty of people out enjoying the glorious spring weather and it was amazing to see the difference in the trees and landscape a few short weeks had made since our last visit.






Jean and Kevan hadn't been here before so we followed a similar route to our last visit to show them round. The cafe wasn't open when we last came here so we were keen to try it out, however even though it was a bank holiday the place was shut. Not to be downhearted, we made our way down to the main picnic area where a man was doing a roaring trade selling ice cream from one of those old-fashioned bikes with an ice box on the front.


Suitably refreshed, we then visited the lake before heading back towards the car through the woods, with bluebells again out in force.

On reaching the car park, we noticed the signs pointed out an extension to the walk in the opposite direction to Lower Kem Mill, an old printing and dyeing mill on the River Lostock. The walk there was a little further than the maps suggested, at least as far as walking to the lake from the car park initially, and once there the site was just ruins, most of the mill having long gone.





The mill was built in the 1700s and operated on a grand scale for such a rural spot, drawing water from the river to run the machinery. However a serious fire in 1914 put the mill out of action, and the land was sold back to local farmers and the stonework was soon used in other buildings. Now all that's left is some interesting information boards explaining how the printing and dyeing processes worked here.

All that was left was to retrace our steps back to the car. In total we'd probably covered about 4 miles, a reasonable walk on a warm day, and we were all ready for a evening meal at the nearby Hoghton Arms.