For those seeking a bracing yet comfortable winter adventure, a new walking package along a prime section of Cheshire's Sandstone Trail offers the perfect blend of rugged scenery and cosy hospitality. The route, dreamed up by two historic pubs, covers a 14-mile stretch between Tarporley and Malpas, providing walkers with warm rooms, hearty meals, and seamless logistics during the shorter days of the season.
A Trail Steeped in History and Legend
The journey traverses the ancient Sandstone Ridge, an escarpment rising from the Cheshire Plain. Its history is palpable, from the two-storey cave known as Mad Allen's Hole on Bickerton Hill – once the refuge of an 18th-century hermit named John Harris – to the dramatic ruins of Beeston Castle, a former royal fort built in the 1220s. The trail's highest point, Raw Head on Bickerton Hill, stands at 227 metres (745ft), offering expansive views that, on a clear day, can stretch across nine counties and even spot the iconic Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank.
The Pub-Powered Walking Package
The concept is the brainchild of The Swan in Tarporley and The Lion in Malpas. The idea crystallised after a successful charity fun run between the two establishments. Recognising they were both popular with outdoor enthusiasts tackling the 34-mile Sandstone Trail in sections, the pub owners created a streamlined 'Walk, Dine & Unwind' package.
Priced from £199 per person, the deal includes dinner, bed, and breakfast at both inns, a luggage transfer, an optional packed lunch, and a taxi to return walkers to their starting point. One dog can also stay for free. This removes the typical winter walking hassles, allowing hikers to focus on the landscape.
From Open Fires to Ancient Forests
The adventure begins at the 16th-century Swan in Tarporley, where walkers can plot their route by a roaring fire. The trail itself leads through a evocative landscape. Country lanes give way to the Peckforton Hills, topped with towering red pines and hiding a Victorian castle folly. Walkers pass the iron age hill fort of Maiden Castle, built between 500 and 600BC, and forests of sweet chestnut trees whose nuts were once rations for Roman legionnaires.
The sandstone underfoot, formed around 250 million years ago in the Triassic period, is banded in hues of red and ochre by iron oxide. Despite the potential for winter rain and mud, the season brings a special stillness to the woods and ridges, with lowland heath and the chance of bilberries on Bickerton Hill.
A Warm Welcome at Journey's End
The welcoming lights of the 300-year-old Lion in Malpas signal the finish line, where staff are ready to commend weary walkers. The package is designed to prove that a winter hike need not be a Spartan exercise in endurance, but can be a sociable, gastronomic, and deeply satisfying escape into Britain's layered past and beautiful countryside.
The trip exemplifies a growing trend towards curated, accessible walking holidays that support local hospitality businesses and make the most of the UK's outdoor spaces year-round.
