Tollgate Brewery - Melbourne Circular

This 8.1 Mile walk will take you from the Melbourne Market Place to the Tollgate Brewery and Milking Parlour (3.6 Miles), and then returning back to Melbourne via a slightly longer path (4.5 Miles).

The Tollgate Brewery walks are available on the Komoot app and anyone looking for a more detailed map are suggested to use OS Explorer 245 – The National Forest.

The key highlights and points of interest on this route are:

• Melbourne
  • A Georgian town that was transformed from a small rural settlement when industrialisation hit the East Midlands.
• Staunton Harold Reservoir
  • Planned by the River Dove Water Board to provide drinking water for Leicester. It is now owned by Severn Trent Water and access around it is limited.
• Derby Hills
  • A now-dissolved agricultural parish.
• Broadstone Lane
  • A quiet backwater lane that used to cross the old road from Melbourne to Calke.
• Calke Abbey
  • Once an Augustinian Priory before its dissolution by Henry VIII, it was acquired by the Harpur Crewe family before becoming the National Trust’s ‘un-stately’ home.
• Ticknall
  • Once the estate village of Calke Abbey, the decline of the local brickmaking and pottery industries has gave way to Ticknall’s current quiet rural lifestyle. A lot of the land in the village is still owned by the descendants of the Harpur Crewe family in the United States.
• Robin Wood
  • A quaint wood that was once owned by the Foremark Estate and now belongs to the Forestry Commission. It once formed part of an old road from Melbourne to Milton.
• St Bride’s Farm
  • The site of a tiny Norman chapel, dedicated to St. Bride (also known as Bridget/Brigid).