Tourists drawn to Audlem's locks and paths

Despite it being the depth of winter, the last few days have seen numerous visitors in the village and the surrounding countryside carrying a variety of guidebooks and maps. Some have said they came to Audlem after reading the article about Audlem's locks in this month's Cheshire Life. Others were in large parties on organised walks in the area. One man, who had travelled from Runcorn, was following a walk described in the book 'Short Circular Walks in Cheshire' by John N Merrill. This took him from the village car park past St James' Church and the Buttermarket, down Vicarage Lane to the Vale and along the footpath that rises to the Canal. The walk then heads north for a mile to Bennett's Bridge, turns east to descend to Hankelow Mill before returning over the fields to Little Heath and the village. It is four miles in all and, he said, very pleasant indeed.

An alternative headline to this story about the quiet success of local tourism was suggested to the webteam – 'Runcorn man visits Audlem'. We felt, however, despite it having the great virtue of accuracy, it didn't quite set the pulse racing or have the ring of a major journalistic scoop!

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