Trip 4:
Fortway Farm, Stoney Stanton, Leics
Stoney Stanton is a small village south of Leicester. It once was busy & productive with stone quarries. One of the quarries was formerly known as Lanes Hill Quarry or ‘Top Pit’ to the locals until it went out of use and filled with water. It then became the now famous Stoney Cove which is the UK’s National Diving Centre.There is also a bar & restaurant called Nemo’s which overlooks the water.
Fortway Farm is situated in walking distance of Stoney Cove and it is next to another old quarry which is now called Stanton Lakes. I don’t think we will be short of walks around the area.
After setting up and having lunch we decided to go for a walk. Firstly we headed for Stanton Lakes but it was only accessible if you ate there because you needed a ticket to walk around. There is a Radio Contol Car race track in the car park, mainly geared to stock stock racing.
We left Stanton Lakes and headed back to the camp to pickup another footpath which took us to Sapcote and we followed the road to Stoney Cove.
There were quite a few people who were changing after diving. We had a look around and it started to pour with rain so we went into Nemo’s Bar and restaurant for a drink. People on trip advisor had said it was quite dark but it was pleasant enough although in need of TLC.
We got back before it really started to rain and we settled in for tea and Hot Cross buns.
Tonight the Lionesses are playing but it is also MAFSAU so there is a dilemma on what to watch.
Tea is Fish Pesto,Broccoli and rice.
Day 2:
We walked to Sapcote to look at the site of the castle. All that is left is some earth works which are part of the village park.
We then headed out to Stoney Stanton where we found some trails around some Heath land , and from there we followed a path that took us to the village green.
There is a statue of a quarryman carved out of a tree, along with two benches again carved from trees. Behind the statue is the church and along a churchyard wall there was a collection of Yarn Bombers in the form of chicks and eggs.
Under a tree there was a collection of knitted rabbits. We left the village green and walked to the village hall that used to be a school. It was then on a circular route around a quarry lake and back to the village green.
We headed back across the heathland to the road which took us past Stoney Cove and on to the footpath back to the campsite. We got back just as it started to rain. Today we covered 5.8 miles.
Day 3:
Our final day so we went to Sapcote to get some hot cross buns, and we were then going to walk to Stoney Cove but we changed our plans.
On the way to Sapcote the footpath went through a farm. We had seen there was a coloured horse in a paddock next to the path, on the two previous days it had been eating from a bale of hay but today it was near the fence.
As we got level with it it came trotting up to the fence and we stopped to stroke it. Unfortunately it was very aggressive and lunged at me and tried to bite my arm. It calmed down and I scratched it head but it got aggressive again and went for me. I gave up and we continued our walk.
We passed a Methodist Church with more Yarn Bombs on the gate. We also passed the original Sapcote School which is now a house but it still has the sign “Boys” above one of the doors, carved into the stone.
After we had been to the Coop for the buns we decided to return to the campsite. Luckily the horse had moved away from the fence so we made it past.
Once back at the campsite I went to look at the ponds and then back to the motorhome for a cuppa and a bun. We spent the afternoon in the van reading.
Sue cooked a risotto for tea and we watched Married at first sight Australia which was one of the better episodes. Tomorrow we head home.
Iona’s Travels 