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Walk 3 - Repton Shrubs - Repton Common

Distance: 6 Miles.  Time: 3 Hours 

Please follow the country code:

Guard against fire.

Fasten gates.

Keep dogs under control.

Keep to paths.

Avoid damaging fences, hedges, walls or growing crops.

Leave no litter.

Do not pollute streams, ponds or cattle troughs.

Protect wildlife, plants, trees.

Respect the life of the countryside.

Park in front of the Church and walk along the High Street and past the Bull’s Head public house. At the Square (interior decorator’s on the right) continue into Main Street and after about 300 yards turn left down a footpath between a house and a bungalow. Go over a stile. Note the butter burr, lesser celandines and alkanet on the left in season and cross another stile into the field where Repton Mill once stood. Cross the field, turn right at the hedge and ascend the slope to another stile and cross over. Note the remains of the mill on the right, also the mill leet or cutting through which the water was channelled to drive the mill-wheel. Keep on ahead over the next five stiles, following the footpath which runs above and beside Repton Brook. Look out for kingfishers, siskins, and many other species of birds. As you walk notice the undulating rounded hillocks on your left which were shaped by glaciation in the last ice age. Note the alder, ash and hawthorn trees on the right and, later on a row of large pollarded willows by the water. There was once a thriving industry of basket and hurdle making based on the osier beds in this area. 

The path emerges on to a lane called Robin’s Cross Lane. Cross over and walk up the lane opposite, called Red Lane, which has a stone wall on the right. The locked gate once led to a large house called Repton Park  which was owned by the Harpur-Crewe family. The house was demolished in July 1893 following a violent quarrel between Sir Vauncey Harpur-­Crewe and his relative, John Edmund Crewe, who was the occupant at the time. If you walk back down the road to Lawn Bridge you can see the lake and cascades in the grounds. 

Continue up the steep lane between the rocky outcrops of Bunter sandstone on pebble beds until you reach Loscoe Farm on the left and the entrance to Repton Park Farm on the right. Continue straight ahead along a bridleway passing the wood called Repton Shrubs on the right. Under the trees adjacent to the track you will see bluebells in season. At the top of a hill turn left and follow the road towards Fairview Farm (formerly Waste Farm). Just before the entrance to the farm drive turn left and go through a gateway down a track pointing towards Willington Power Station. Over the hedgerow on your right there are good views of the Foremark Reservoir. In the fields you may see hares, pheasants, partridges and also many birds in the hedgerows, especially yellow hammers, blue tits, hedge sparrows, wrens and chaffinches. Occasionally buzzards may be seen overhead. The track leads down to Brookdale Farm and then to Brookdale Barn, now converted into a house. Just past the Barn turn left over a flat bridge at the footpath sign and walk uphill going diagonally over two fields on a path leading to an opening between two trees in the corner of the second field. Turn back and you can see a distant view of Ticknall Church spire. 

Go through the opening and cross the next field keeping close to the hedge on your left until you reach a road (Robin’s Cross Lane again). Cross over and squeeze through the pinch stile. Keep straight ahead over three fields on a path until you reach the yard of Ridgeway Farm. Walk through the farmyard and down the lane, which leads to Mount Pleasant and the pub of the same name. Walk down the road, with a good view of Repton Church spire ahead, and follow Pinfold Lane, which goes over Repton Brook and note the chapel (United Reformed Church) on the left-hand side. At the Square turn right and go back down the High Street to the Cross and the Church.

This “Repton Rambles” leaflet is one of a series of three guides published in May 1995 by the Repton Footpath Group under the auspices of the Repton Parish Council. The Repton Footpath Group walkers were Alan Webster, Sue Ellis and David Guest. The support of the Repton Village Society and the Repton Village History Group is also acknowledged. 

©The Repton Footpath Group 1995.

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