Woodland Walk at Chirk Castle

Some of my recent blogs have concerned walks that can be completed during the winter when much of the ground is completely sodden. I recently completed the Woodland Walk at Chirk Castle, a 2km circular walk starting at the visitor car park, and I heartily recommend it for such a purpose.

This is a National Trust diagram, and I followed the red route. It is slightly disorientating because the map is not aligned North - South.

The surface is generally good and acceptable for pushchairs or cycles. It is also well way-pointed with stakes marked in red.

There is a good variety of woodland, and these larch trees were particularly impressive.

This is the Chirk MDF factory - a reminder of an area which was once quite heavily industrialised with coal mines and gypsum factories.

The parkland is beautifully grassed. Offa's Dyke runs across it and there are some wonderful specimen trees. 

There are snowdrops in certain areas, which looked great when I visited.

I think everyone knows this view of Chirk Castle. It is impressive the way that it has been converted into a stately home, now owned by the National Trust. What is often forgotten is that it once looked similar to Beaumaris Castle. The round towers were much taller and there was also an outer curtain wall which is now demolished. it was knocked about a fair bit in the Civil War, when the Myddletons changed side at the wrong time.