Handforth to Styal Village

This walk is 5 miles return, starting and ending at Handforth Station. Allow a minimum of 2 and a half hours for the return as detailed below. The route is moderate, with some rough paths – and expect some muddy patches after heavy rain.

Before starting your walk, take a look around Handforth Station to admire the multi-award winning ‘Platform for Art’ or spot some of the (more than) 20 nationally renowned ‘foreign’ railway signs. Both projects are courtesy of Friends of Handforth Station, who also supplied this walk information. More at Handforthstation.org.uk

1. Turn left as you leave Handforth Station, onto Station Road. Walk towards the traffic lights.
2. Cross Manchester Road. Continue straight ahead onto Bulkeley Road. At the hammerhead at the end of Bulkeley Road turn right and follow the short path between the trees (known locally as Wig’s Way) which will bring you onto Sagars Road. Turn left.
3. Continue along Sagars Road until it becomes a shady, wide, rough track. Continue straight along the track. (There is a housing estate beyond the hedge on the right and a wooded area followed by fields on the left)
4. When you reach the fork in the track (note the house with the tall aerial within the fork), take the right hand path. Follow the bend to the right. The track then straightens out. Continue along the wide track with the housing estate on the right (Styal Golf course is just visible through the greenery on your left). When the newer housing estate ends the track becomes Clay Lane, a more formal road. Follow Clay Lane, noting bungalows on the right and a hedge on the left.
5. At the end of the hedge turn left onto the rough path and go through the pedestrian gate within the wide steel gate. (There is footpath sign on the left as you turn onto this track and a black refuse bin for convenience). Follow the rough path, keeping the boundary hedging, wall and fencing to the right and the undeveloped green area to the left.
6. When you reach the signposted fence DO NOT go through the gap. Turn left, (signposted Styal) keeping the wooden fence to your right. Take care as the path is uneven in places and gets very muddy in patches after heavy rain. This rough path leads to the remains of a broken stile where the path continues slightly left and becomes grassier within a pretty area of trees and brambles. The route continues through Styal Golf Course property from here.
7. Follow the grassy path until the wide wooden gate with the golf course beyond is reached. Do not go through the gate but turn left and follow the short stretch of narrow path between the trees.
8. The path takes you onto the golf course. Follow the route/path along the edge of the golf course, keeping the dense hedging to your left. (Please be respectful of golfers, keep noise to a minimum and stop to allow shots to be taken, when necessary)
9. When a formal, paved path is reached follow this to the left and carry on past metal sheds on the right until you reach the tarred driveway.
10. Cross the tarred driveway. Continue straight ahead and follow the route to the left of the hedge, passing a pond on the right.
11. Head towards the wide, bushy hedge dividing the fairways. The footpath continues along both sids of the wide hedge.
12. Route to left of hedge – staying close to the hedge on your right, fairways on your left, continue ahead to the end of the golf course. Follow the narrow, grassy path up a slight incline, leaving the golf course. Go through a gap and across the railway bridge.
13. Follow the path through two kissing gates to reach the road (Hollin Lane). Turn right and follow the footpath a short way until you are opposite a kissing gate on your left. Carefully cross the busy road and go through the kissing gate into a field. (Docile horses sometimes graze here)
14. Follow the path through a shrubby field to a kissing gate, keeping the hedge to your left. Go through the kissing gate into a grassy field and follow the path, again keeping the hedge to your left. (There’s a lake surrounded by trees in the middle of the field)
15. At the end of the field, take the left path through yet another kissing gate into a grassy field. Follow the path as it curves slightly to the right to another kissing gate. You have reached Altrincham Road, Styal.
16. Turn left at Altrincham Road to enter Styal Village where you will find a community shop and cafe, a pub, restaurant and plant nursery.
17. Retrace your steps from point 16 to point 1 to return to Handforth Station

OR

If time is limited, pass through Styal village to the junction with Hollin Lane. Cross the road, turning right into Hollin Lane and then immediately left into Station Road. Continue along Station Road passing Styal Station and the entrance to Styal Golf Club. At a sharp right-hand bend leave the road to follow a wide rough track to the left of Eden Mansions Care Home. Carry on ahead following a slight bend to the right, keeping the house with the tall aerial to your left (last seen at point 4). The track straightens and you will soon reach Sagars Road. Carry straight along Sagars Road. At the T junction with Manchester Road, turn right and then left onto Station Road. Handforth Station is on the right.