Cheshire


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-bells-of-peover-knutsford"><a href="https://thebellsofpeover.co.uk/">The Bells of Peover</a>, Knutsford</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1088" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/292052248_5776516632376696_6629735423715868064_n.jpg" alt="the exterior of the Bells of Peover in Knutsford" class="wp-image-410" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/292052248_5776516632376696_6629735423715868064_n.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/292052248_5776516632376696_6629735423715868064_n-276x300.jpg 276w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/292052248_5776516632376696_6629735423715868064_n-941x1024.jpg 941w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/292052248_5776516632376696_6629735423715868064_n-768x836.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Sitting pretty opposite St Oswald’s Church, this crooked countryside boozer is smothered in gnarled branches of wisteria with a sprawling garden out the back. And although it’s a gorgeous place to get piddly after a walk, you might want to come in from the cold and curl up next to a smouldering fire, feasting on elegant and seasonally-led dishes that’ll turn your cheeks pink.</p>



<p><strong>The Walk</strong>: More a gentle dawdle than a proper huff-and-puff walk. Wander away from the pub and through the car park of the tiny school and you’ll find yourself in a vast verdant field that towers with wheat during the summer months. Scramble over a stile on your left and you’ll eventually wind up on the banks of the Peover Eye where you can whoosh over the rushing water on a rope swing (go on!). Then it&#8217;s a nip over the bridge and through another field and you’ll arrive at the Tree of Imagination – a fantastical carved tree with doors and windows to gaze through, before the pub re-emerges.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-ship-inn-styal"><a href="https://www.theshipstyal.co.uk/">The Ship Inn</a>, Styal</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/459103311_1098273235512613_8067713794935790176_n.jpg" alt="food at The Ship Inn, Styal" class="wp-image-412" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/459103311_1098273235512613_8067713794935790176_n.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/459103311_1098273235512613_8067713794935790176_n-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/459103311_1098273235512613_8067713794935790176_n-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/459103311_1098273235512613_8067713794935790176_n-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/459103311_1098273235512613_8067713794935790176_n-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>A crumbly-round-the-edges pub with roaring fires squirrelled away and plenty of nooks for resting weary legs. It’s a proper old school hangout with a kick-your-shoes-off vibe and a crowd-pleasing menu, where a scattering of locals nurse pints on the bar and kids dart outside to the garden, covered in a tipi marquee.</p>



<p><strong>The walk</strong>: The pub sits on the fringes of Styal Woods where you can lose yourself along the riverside trails skirting the Bollin – look out for buzzards overhead and herons standing in the shallows as you scramble between wooded slopes and bends in the river. Stop by at Quarry Bank Mill if you have time to wander around its achingly pretty gardens.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-pheasant-inn-peckferton-hills"><a href="https://thepheasantinn.co.uk/">The Pheasant Inn</a>, Peckferton Hills</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="665" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-14.51.30.png" alt="The Pheasant Inn in Peckferton Hills" class="wp-image-414" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-14.51.30.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-14.51.30-300x200.png 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-14.51.30-768x511.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>A traditional tavern pitched in the Peckferton Hills with views views views of the Cheshire Plain and North Wales beyond. Diners huddle inside beneath the beams on sturdy wooden tables or on the suntrap terrace. And you’ll want to work up an appetite thanks to its generous plates of in-season dishes, plucking the very best from its surrounds (fish from the trawlers in Lancashire, brie from Tarporely), from steaming bowls of beef bourguignon to haunch of venison.</p>



<p><strong>The walk</strong>: Stroll in the shadow of two of Cheshire’s castles, Beeston and Peckferton, on this ramble following the Sandstone Trail, starting from the car park at Beeston. You won’t be starting at the pub, but making a pit-stop, so make it worth your while for a long, languid lunch before picking up the trail and onwards to Peckferton, where you’ll eventually arrive at a kissing gate and the path back to your car.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-nag-s-head-haughton"><a href="https://www.nagsheadhaughton.com">The Nag’s Head</a>, Haughton </h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1250" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/452821031_17969753630757731_14852931888519576_n.jpg" alt="the exterior of The Nag's Head in Houghton" class="wp-image-415" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/452821031_17969753630757731_14852931888519576_n.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/452821031_17969753630757731_14852931888519576_n-240x300.jpg 240w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/452821031_17969753630757731_14852931888519576_n-819x1024.jpg 819w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/452821031_17969753630757731_14852931888519576_n-768x960.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Conjuring some of the best food in the county from the team orchestrating the wildly popular Altrincham Market and Macclesfield’s Picturedrome, this 16th-century creaky-timbered pub (and former smithy) focuses on simple food cooked really well. Sustainability is huge to the team too, and the kitchen sources meat from ethically-minded Jane’s Farm – just two miles down the road; veg from regenerative market garden, Cinderwood, dairy from Peckferton and herbs from its very own kitchen garden. All in all, this black and white boozer is a thing of beauty. &nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>The walk</strong>: Head away from the pub and walk through patchwork fields and past cottages towards Windmill Bank, where you can catch your breath and gaze across miles of Cheshire countryside. Along undulating paths you’ll reach Spurstow Lower Hall Farm and eventually, following hedges, footbridges and tracks, The Nag’s Head will reappear.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-church-inn-mobberley"><a href="https://churchinnmobberley.co.uk/">The Church Inn</a>, Mobberley</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="563" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-14.58.49.png" alt="cosy interior of Mobberley pub, The Church Inn" class="wp-image-416" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-14.58.49.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-14.58.49-300x169.png 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-14.58.49-768x432.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>A dapper institution in Mobberley where countryphiles travel from far and wide to gorge on its hearty, sophisticated dishes championing British ingredients. The bar is stacked with local gins and craft beer made down the road and there’s endless proper pub charm, from the drooping beams to burning candles on each table.</p>



<p><strong>The walk</strong>: You’re in Mobberley so whichever way you turn, you’re in bona fide rambling territory. You could walk along the fields skirting the runway at Manchester Airport for a spot of plane spotting (not as dull as it sounds when they’re this close), or through fields of farmland, winding up at The Church Inn for a pit-stop pint all the way through to kick-out-time.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-boathouse-parkgate"><a href="https://www.theboathouseparkgate.co.uk">The Boathouse,</a> Parkgate </h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-15.01.13.png" alt="The terrace at The Boat House pub in Parkgate" class="wp-image-417" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-15.01.13.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-15.01.13-300x200.png 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-15.01.13-768x512.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>Overlooking the flat and eerie expanse of the Dee Estuary, this popular hangout has a large terrace where hikers revel in the scenery after a wind-blasted walk. Expect pub classics and winter warmer-style dishes served to tables with a nautical theme inside. Our tip? Even if it’s chilly outside, try and stick it out on the terrace for the amethyst sunsets.</p>



<p><strong>The walk</strong>:&nbsp;You’re right on an RSPB nature reserve in the seaside town of Parkgate that no longer sits by the sea but a saltmarsh. Once donkey rides, ice-cream-licking locals and kids carting buckets and spades were here, though today you’ll find crop fields, the vast waters of the Dee Estuary and geese, waders and birds of prey. Follow the old sea wall which eventually morphs into a disused railway line before staring at it all from on high at the pub, wine in hand.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-swettenham-arms-congleton"><a href="http://swettenhamarms.co.uk">Swettenham Arms</a>, Congleton</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1243" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/455476816_483453504485937_927956104210359970_n.jpg" alt="inside the Swettenham Arms in Congleton" class="wp-image-418" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/455476816_483453504485937_927956104210359970_n.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/455476816_483453504485937_927956104210359970_n-241x300.jpg 241w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/455476816_483453504485937_927956104210359970_n-824x1024.jpg 824w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/455476816_483453504485937_927956104210359970_n-768x955.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>In summer, the pub’s adjoining lavender field blooms in a haze of purple (cameras at the ready people) though the surrounds of this archetypal English pub are just as beautiful in autumn, with the neighbouring Lovell Quinta Arboretum drawing walkers to work up an appetite. And inside? Low ceilings, heavy beams, that comforting pub-sort-of-smell which makes you want to curl up and hunker down for hours and hours with a warming bottle of red.</p>



<p><strong>The walk</strong>: Well, you could take the easy option and mooch about the Arboretum. But for a more challenging walk, take the circular route from the pub towards the Dane Valley, through woodland, past farms, over jagged paths and all the back to the Swettenham Arms.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-swan-inn-kettleshulme"><a href="http://www.swaninnkettleshulme.com">The Swan Inn</a>, Kettleshulme</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="663" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-15.07.31.png" alt="The Swan Inn pub in Kettleshulme exterior " class="wp-image-419" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-15.07.31.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-15.07.31-300x199.png 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cheshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-03-at-15.07.31-768x509.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>The term hidden gem gets bandied about a lot but in the case of The Swan Inn, it’s bang on. On first glance, it’s pretty old school with seats lining the walls and beams propping up the ceiling. But the kitchen is far more sophisticated than you’d expect, where seafood takes precedence with starters of oysters, josper-grilled prawns and scallops. My advice? Go for the bouillabaisse main, it&#8217;s sensational.</p>



<p><strong>The walk</strong>: You’re super close to the fringes of Derbyshire, yet have all the bucolic loveliness of Cheshire too so you can’t go wrong. You could pick up the Gritstone Trail and follow it north to the resplendent Lyme Park. Or take the circular walk from the village where killer views can be found from Windgather Rocks and Pym Chair and trace paths towards the valley of the River Goyt.</p>


8 cosy Cheshire pubs with gorgeous nearby walks

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