Bus Out, Walk Home 4 Sutton Fields
Summary. The route is approximately 5.9 km or 3.7 miles back to the Bears Paw and mainly downhill. The field footpaths can be uneven and muddy with nettles and brambles. There are yellow footpath signs on most of the stiles. There are views over the Weaver Valley to Frodsham Hill.
Bus Out
Catch the Arriva X30 towards Runcorn and Warrington. The bus runs through Frodsham on the A56. Times are given below for the stop near the Bears Paw as of August 2021 but it may change in November so it is worth checking on the internet.
Monday to Friday 7.59, 9.05, 10.05, 11.03, 12.03, 13.03, 14.03, 15.03, 16.09, 17.14, 18.10, 19.20
Saturday 7.58, 9.03, 10.03, 11.03, 12.03, 13.03, 14.03, 15.03, 16.05, 17.05, 18.05, 19.15.
No Sunday service.
Sit on the bus as it crosses the Weaver and climbs the hill through Sutton Weaver. Ring the bell as you cross the motorway and get off at the next stop. It is at the junction with Station Road and still called “Post Office” even though that was closed long ago.
Walk Home
Set off walking up the hill towards the railway bridge. On the other side of the road is one of the cast iron mileposts installed by Cheshire County Council in 1898. This shows you are 2 miles from Frodsham. The last house in Sutton Weaver is an example of 1954 modernist design. Cross the road to the right into the entrance to Sutton Fields Farm, this is a private drive but a public footpath.
As you walk up the drive the railway on the left is the line from Liverpool and Runcorn to Crewe and London. Carry on, crossing the bridge over the M56 motorway and beside grass fields. Ahead of you are the Sutton Fields Farm livery yard for horses and Early Paws dog boarding centre.
Just before the first hedge on the right is a stile, cross this into the grass field, follow the hedge and cross another stile on the left just before the horse training arena.
Follow the hedge on the left and when it turns sharp left bear left at 45 degrees for another stile. Cross this onto the farm track and go straight ahead to another stile beside a gate.
Go straight on, pass under a barn canopy to a field gate with an arched kissing gate. Then walk 45 degrees to the right and through a kissing gate in the middle of a shaky looking wooden fence.
Go left to a stile in the hedge. Cross over and turn right and walk beside the hedge through two fields. Please avoid damage to the crops. After two fields there is a stile onto Aston Lane which goes from Aston to Sutton Weaver.
Turn right on the lane for about 100m and then left over another stile. On the right is control equipment for some of the many chemical and fuel pipelines that run under this part of Cheshire. This is the nicest part of the walk as the path runs downhill in a wide reserve between Beckett’s Wood and sheep grazed parkland of the former Sutton Hall golf course, with views over the valley to Frodsham.
The footpath turns right at the top of the steep fall to the river plain and descends to the tow path where you turn right. There is a large area of reeds in the river which conceals a boat graveyard where old wooden boats were abandoned, one was selected for restoration using millennium funding but was burnt out by vandals. Protected by a wooden fence are the remains of Sutton Locks that connected the river to the Weaver Canal to Weston Point docks before the Weaver Navigation was upgraded to take 1000 Ton boats.
When you get to Sutton Bridge (swing bridge) you could look at the mechanism underneath or just turn left to cross it and walk along Sutton Causeway towards Frodsham.
Look out for the remains of a small bridge. This is where the water was channelled from above Frodsham Weir to feed the water wheel at the cornmill by the river. The route alongside the road is now covered by Gleaves car park.
There is a kink in the road, the straight on route is the old road to the old bridge, the left route is the new road to the 1850 built Frodsham Bridge. Below the bridge was once busy with shipping where imports and exports were transferred between Weaver flats and coastal vessels.
Bridge Lane leads back towards the Bears Paw. If you want to return to Overton / upper Frodsham turn left off Bridge Lane up Townfield Lane using Pear Tree Close or the bridle track just beyond it.
