The Baker Way is a footpath running from

Chester railway station Chester railway station is located in Newtown, Chester, England. It was designed by the architect Francis Thompson and opened as a joint station in 1848. From 1875 to 1969, the station was known as ''Chester General'' to distinguish it from C ...

Delamere railway station Delamere railway station opened on 22 June 1870. It serves both the village of Delamere and Delamere Forest in Cheshire, England. The station is 9½ miles (15 km) east of Chester on the Mid-Cheshire Line. There is an hourly service e ...

within the English county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. The total length of the trail is . Its name commemorates the life and work of Jack Baker, a former footpaths officer for

Cheshire County Council Cheshire County Council was the county council of Cheshire. Founded on 1 April 1889, it was officially dissolved on 31 March 2009, when it and its districts were superseded by two unitary authorities: Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East. ...

The route

The Baker Way leaves

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

along the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, sometimes nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. It is the modern name for a part of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company network. In the leisure age, two of the branches of that netwo ...

until bridge 120 at Christleton, where it then heads for Brown Heath before passing straight through

Tarvin Tarvin is a village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It had a population of 2,693 people at the 2001 UK census, rising to 2,728 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census, ...

, along Hockenhull Lane and Tarvin High Street. It then crosses the A54 road and loops around the back of Ashton, just missing Mouldsworth. The path then crosses Church Road, Ashton, by the nearby St John the Evangelist's Church and then proceeds up Grange Road, which leads directly to the edge of

Delamere Forest Delamere Forest is a large Woodland, wood in the village of Delamere, Cheshire, Delamere in Cheshire, England. The woodland, which is managed by Forestry England, covers an area of making it the largest area of woodland in the county. It contai ...

. The trail then passes by Fox Howl, the Forest's education centre, and crosses the

Mid-Cheshire Line The Mid-Cheshire line is a railway line in the north-west of England that runs from Chester railway station, Chester to Edgeley Junction in Stockport; it connects Chester with , via . After Chester Northgate railway station, Chester Northgate ...

three times, the third time joining up with the

Sandstone Trail The Sandstone Trail is a long-distance walkers' path, following sandstone ridges running north–south from Frodsham in central Cheshire to Whitchurch just over the Shropshire border. The path was created in 1974 and extended in the 1990s. M ...

for several hundred metres. The route then meanders through the forest to its end point at

. The route is shown on Ordnance Survey Explorer Maps 266 and 267. Because the footpath starts and ends at railway stations, many walkers choose to park at one station, walk along the footpath to the opposite station and use the train to return. There are no waymarks from the start at

, along City Road and then along the

Christleton Christleton is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The Shropshire Union Canal (originally Chester Canal) passes through ...

. From bridge 120, where the Baker Way leaves the canal, the route is fairly well waymarked. Baker Way 1

Sights

Various sights are viewable along the Baker Way, such as

Beeston Castle Beeston Castle is a former Castle, Royal castle in Beeston, Cheshire, Beeston, Cheshire, England (), perched on a rocky sandstone crag above the Cheshire Plain. It was built in the 1220s by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester (1170–123 ...

and

Peckforton Castle Peckforton Castle is a Victorian country house built in the style of a medieval castle. It stands in woodland at the north end of Peckforton Hills northwest of the village of Peckforton, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Her ...

, which can be seen from the fields surrounding Christleton and Brown Heath, and Ashton's church spire, which is a good landmark for navigation. Between Tarvin and Christleton the route crosses over the

River Gowy The River Gowy is a river in Cheshire, England, a tributary of the River Mersey. It rises in western Cheshire in the hills near Peckforton Castle, very close to the source of the River Weaver. While the Weaver flows south initially, the Gowy ...

at Hockenhull Platts, where there are three old packhorse bridges and a nature reserve. A review in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' in 2024 summed the route up as having "stretches of open fields, stretches of middle-of-nowhere lanes and stretches of hushed forest" but "no real scenic climax"; the reviewer noted a section of exposed walking on a road near

References

External links

Discovercheshire website - local walking routes

Chester City Council Baker Way leaflet (outside sheet)Chester City Council Baker Way leaflet (inside sheet)Cheshire County Council: Baker Way (PDF)

External links

* The approximate midpoint of the Baker Way is at {{coord, 53.1968, -2.8798, type:railwaystation_region:GB_scale:10000, display=title Footpaths in Cheshire

The route

Sights

See also

References

External links

External links