The view from the terrace outside the Pheasant pub stretches west across miles of russet, green and gold. I am deep in rural Cheshire, roughly halfway between Crewe and Chester. The pub sits high on the Sandstone Ridge, a distinctive feature in an otherwise level landscape – one that is being considered for an area of outstanding natural beauty status (AONB) by Natural England. The Sandstone Trail runs past the pub, on its way from the market town of Frodsham on the Mersey estuary south to Whitchurch in north Shropshire. Two of the trail’s most impressive castles are close to the pub, linked by a five-mile ramble from the door.
I set off around midday along country lanes, past old ivy-covered barns and mossy walls sprouting ferns. A cobbled track takes me under a stone archway, flanked by silver birches and bronzed oaks, bright holly trees and conifers. Coming out of the woods, huge views appear ahead. I am looking eastwards now across gently sloping wintry fields to the village of Bunbury.
