Have you heard about the Delph Donkey Scarecrow Trail? We decided to check it out over the bank holiday as it was another glorious day and we do love a trail. This is the eleventh Delph Donkey Scarecrow Tail organised by the Delph Community Association, but it’s the first one we’ve even been too!
We parked in the centre of Delph, in a free council car park. We put the double pram up and headed into the little village where we bought a trail booklet from a local craft shop and cafe. There are posters displayed around the village with where to buy the booklets from and the booklets are £2. All the proceeds go back into the community to help with the running costs of Delph Library, Chapel Gardens and other community projects.
The scarecrows are life-size and each represent famous women, there are 24 to be identified along the trail. There’s even a competition that you can enter once you have found them all. The trail is running between May 25th-June 10th, which is great for the half term!
We headed to the start of the trail which from the map showed that number 1 was at the library. We decided to follow the circular trail suggested in the booklet, hoping it was pram friendly. It was and what a lovely walk it was. After leaving the village centre, we headed to the A62 crossroads where we found a couple of donkeys. We also found ‘Delph Donkey’, the old train station and a footpath which is great as we have already started planning future walks.
The trail took us to one of our favourite pubs, The Old Bell Inn. Me and my husband love the food there and they have a lovely beer garden. So you can imagine how happy we were when the trail took us into the beer garden! One of the donkey’s (one of my favourite ones) was actually in the garden, so it would have been rude not to stop for a drink and a toilet break!
After a 20 minute break we continued on our trail and headed down Rumbles Lane onto Hillend and up Delph Lane. Rumbles Lane is a nice and quiet footpath, where my son found one of his favourite donkey’s.
The trail continues onto Hill End Road and Denshaw Road, passing the White Lion, another pub. As it was a beautiful day their beer garden was really busy, this would also be a great place to stop for a drink or some food. As we walked down the road, we saw a fab little playgroup close to Delph primary school.
We then turned off Denshaw road unto Clifton Homes, a lovely cul-de-sac, to find some more donkeys. The trail took up down a path to Pingle Mill and over a footpath leading to Swan Meadow Play Area. My three loved it, we had a little break there so they could play. What a lovely park, there was a wooden climbing frame, slide, roundabout and a fab little sandpit with diggers.
From leaving the play area and heading down Gartside Street, we managed to find the remaining donkeys in the centre of the village. As it was a lovely afternoon, there was plenty of people enjoying the weather sat outside pubs and cafes. We walked over a little bridge over the canal and saw a footpath signpost to Uppermill, a walk we hope to do soon.
We had a fabulous day! We enjoyed the trail but fell in love with Delph! We will definitely be back to do the circular walk again, we will be back to play in the sand pit at Swan Meadow Play Area and we can’t wait until we can book a table at The Old Bell. We just need a babysitter now…..
I’d love for you to follow our family adventures on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! Don’t forget to let us know if you follow the Delph Donkey Scarecrow Trail, I’d love to know what you thought!
Out and about mummy 
It looks like you had a great afternoon 😊 lovely family!
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