Blaby Heritage Trail and a Sence Valley Walk

A coronavirus walk

I have often seen signs around Blaby, a large village just outside Leicester, for a Blaby Village Heritage Trail, but I cannot find any information about the route on the internet. I have often thought I must see if I can follow the trail and now I am able to wander around Blaby looking for the signs that indicate the route. There are places on the internet that mention the Blaby Heritage Trail starts in Bouskell Park and beside the entrance gate is a number one so there I confidently entered the park and began the trail. The park was formerly the gardens for Blaby Hall and the building can clearly be seen to the north as a circuit is taken around the edge. On the eastern side a number two can be seen next to an old Ice House where ice in winter from a nearby pond was packed into an underground chamber so food could be preserved in the days before refrigeration. As I continue around the circuit I have not been able to find the number three signpost before returning to the entrance despite looking everywhere over the last couple of weeks, however a noticeboard at the entrance points out that the park contains traces of a medieval village in the undulations of the grass.

On the inside of the entrance gate is the number four so I headed out of the park along the trail on the pavement beside Sycamore Street past Blaby Hall and turned right into Church Street where a number five indicates that the trail heads up this leafy lane past the old school and up to All Saints Church. A number six below the fourteenth century church indicates that the trail turns left down an alleyway to reach Wigston Road where the fifteenth century Baker's Arms with its thatched roof dominates the view beside a number seven trail sign. Turning right the trail passes the old village green to the corner of Chapel Street where a number eight directs the route into the narrow road. I was now on a route that I created in 2012 when the summer was very wet and I was looking for a local walk that wouldn’t be too muddy. My Sence Valley Walk coincides with the Heritage Trail down Chapel Street to a number nine outside the Baptist Church and directs the trail down a narrow, but short path into Northfield Park. In better weather I have wandered around the park noting the short railway viaduct over the River Sence and the war memorial beside the path.

Following the main path across the park leads to the exit onto Leicester Road and a number ten signpost that directs the Blaby Heritage Trail back into the village centre to end a short but interesting walk that I wish had more information available. When I originally devised my Sence Valley Walk I crossed the Blaby By-Pass onto Winchester Avenue passing through Blaby Industrial Park until I reach a cyclepath that goes under the railway line past the floodplain for the river and during the wettest times this path would disappear under water. In these drier days I turn right out of Northfield Park following the main road under the railway line and immediately turn left off the road onto a path that keeps to the edge of the stony embankment. It is fortunate that this path is not very busy as it is so narrow I wouldn’t be able to keep more than two metres away from someone while passing them. The field to the right is sometimes used as a fairground and contains an old steam locomotive that is being used to publicise a campaign to re-open Blaby railway station, which used to be at this point.

Eventually the path moves away from the railway and crosses into fields that are usually being grazed by horses, but are otherwise excellent wildflower meadows, when not flooded by the River Sence. Although the path splits at this point it is irrelevant which one is taken as they both end at the cyclepath where a right turn takes me across the floodplain and over the river by an old bridge and onto New Bridge Road. Directly opposite is Cork Lane as it passes over the Grand Union Canal and then climbs steeply up to the Glenhills estate of Glen Parva. This is the steepest gradient in the area and on occasions I have used it to improve my fitness by running all the way up and my legs are usually screaming before I reach the top. A path crosses the road at this point and I turn right onto an increasingly overgrown lane between Wharf Way Industrial Park and the backs of the houses on Glenville Way. This is the only place on my original route around the Sence Valley where my shoes could potentially get muddy, and then only briefly.

It is a magical place, but all too soon I emerge into the bleak reality of the industrial park at the end of Rowlands Way that leads to Leicester Road where I now have three different options. The driest route follows Little Glen Road to the Glen Parva Manor while another option is to drop down onto the canal towpath, however I do not like that idea at the moment as the path is rather narrow. The best choice turns into Woodbank, a quiet cul-de-sac, and through an alleyway into Sonning Way at the end of which a narrow gap in the trees leads into Featherstone Drive Open Space. This is a bland name for a delightful area of mixed grass and woodland between the canal and Eyres Monsell estate and I have always called it Queens Park after the nearby street, Queens Park Way. A lovely walk through this open space delves into thicker woodland where bluebells grow until eventually I reach a low tunnel under the railway line that takes me into Hampton Close and over the canal to the Glen Parva Manor. This fifteenth century building is now a pub-restaurant and the road past leads to the ford over the River Sence. There is a path that diverts off taking its own bridge over the river and along a narrow alleyway that Google calls the Jitty, which is a local name for (to quote Wiktionary) “the narrow passage between rows of terraced houses or a fenced or hedged pathway linking two areas of a village”.

This is a fabulous path that is bejewelled with celandines and cow parsley in spring and I have walked along countless times but it is far too narrow for these times so I have been avoiding it. Instead I have been taking the bridge beside the ford that leads to Mill Lane and there a right turns takes me past the exit of the Jitty and back to Wigston Road in Blaby. My Sence Valley Walk is an excellent little walk that crosses both the River Sence and the canal while exploring the area between Blaby and Glen Parva. Since coming up with it in 2012 I have followed its route many times and although there are places where it is too narrow for these difficult times I still find myself wandering its lanes dreaming of the days when I can walk further afield.