HELLO and welcome to the first in our new series of walking tours with former librarian and Chad blogger Bill Purdue.

1) From the car park, walk through the gate and take the left hand path past the Green Man wood sculpture and across the footbridge. Turn left and go through the metal stile, then turn right along a wide path towards a bridge over a road. At the bridge take the steps leading down on the right to the road and walk up the hill on the right hand side of the road towards Teversal village.

2) At the top of the hill keep straight on, passing through a gate (where the road bends sharply to the left, by the Manor Rooms). You will also see the entrance to Teversal Manor on the right. Teversal Manor is one of the locations in D. H. Lawrence’s ‘Lady Chatterley's Lover’, but is called ‘Wragby Hall’ in the book. The gardens are open to the public.

3) Just before another gate, turn left through the iron gates of the churchyard. Keep to the right of St Katherine’s Church, which has an interesting Norman doorway within the porch. The doorway is surrounded by carvings of patterns and symbols. Turn left at the junction with another path and proceed along the side of the churchyard to the gate leading to the road.

Turn left along the road and you will see a stile and footpath sign on the right – go over the stile and take the left hand path leading diagonally down across two fields. At the end of the second field, pass through a stile and reach the road. Turn right onto the road and walk up the hill. After passing two semi-detached white houses on the right, look for a footpath sign and track leading off on the left.

4) Follow this track between two hedges. After crossing over a bridge (above the Teversal – Pleasley section of the Teversal trails network), the hedges on either side move closer and eventually you reach an open field. Take the right fork and walk towards a road. At the road, turn left and continue towards the houses ahead.

5) At the second group of houses, note a footpath sign pointing to the left, and very soon afterwards, another footpath on the right that appears to lead through someone's garden. Take this path past a white house on the right and through a gap in a wall. Walk straight across a field to a wood. This is Norwood, which is well known locally for its bluebells in late April, early May.

6) The following section of the walk can be very muddy at times. Walk through the wood on a path gradually going downhill towards a footbridge. Cross the bridge and walk up a short slope towards some trees and the Rowthorne Trail. This is the trackbed of an old railway that once connected Pleasley with Bolsover and Staveley.

Turn left onto the trail and walk on a path gradually curving towards the right, following the track of the old railway line, until you reach the car park on the left. Somewhere to the left of the car park, the old railway line entered a tunnel. The small village of Rowthorne can be seen through gaps in the trees to the right. Rowthorne village holds and annual well dressing: the 2009 event is in mid-July. The car park is an ideal place for a break and can also be used as an alternative starting point.

7) Cross the car park and turn left onto the road. Where the road swings round to the right, take a left turn towards Hardwick Hall. At the gatehouse, please make sure that dogs are kept on leads as there may be sheep grazing. Go through the gate - you are now on National Trust property. Walk straight on, along the road up a gentle slope and, after another road joins from the right, beware of traffic approaching from behind: this is a one way road (except for estate vehicles) for Hardwick Hall visitors.

8) Walk past the visitors car park on the left and along the front of the wall surrounding the grounds of Hardwick Hall. Notice the initials ‘E. S’ at the tops of the towers. These are the initials of Bess of Hardwick, or to give her her full title Elizabeth Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury. 2008 marked the 400th anniversary of her death. Hardwick Old Hall to your right was also built by Bess of Hardwick, on the site of a building where Bess grew up, but is now a ruin.

9) Just before the road begins to go downhill (signposted Stone Centre), turn left through an archway into the Stable Yard. (The Stable Yard is only open from 9 am to 5 pm. If you are walking outside these hours, follow the road down the hill until the road turns sharp right. Go through the gate on your left and cross the field towards some trees and climb to the top of the hill. You can then rejoin the walk).

Keep to the left hand side of the yard and go through the archway at the far end. Bear right and walk along a path between tall trees. This is Lady Spencer’s Walk: an information board explains the origins of this woodland walk. Follow the winding path through the trees and eventually down some steps, ignoring the path leading to the left. Continue down to the small stone bridge over a brook and ascend to a small gate at the end of the wood. Go through the gate and turn left towards Norwood.

10) Pass the entrance to Hardwick Park Farm on your left. The farm shop is open on certain weekends throughout the year. Continue as far as the footpath sign pointing to the right across a field, which is only a few metres after the path to the left between two gardens which you took earlier. Turn right and take the wide path across the field and which, on reaching a hedge, bends round to the left. Continue until you reach the path between two hedges, which you came along earlier.

11) Walk as far as the bridge, but do not walk over it: instead take the steep steps down to the Teversal trail and turn right at the bottom. Continue for several hundred yards eventually crossing the bridge over the road leading to Teversal village. In a few yards turn left, then immediately right and the car park is in sight.