Merin's Mediocre Guide to....Wincle.
#1 in my series of 'places I drive through and think are nice'
Wincle is a small village in the Cheshire Peak District. It's mostly farms but also has a church, a school, a pub, a brewery and a trout farm. What more could you ask for? Well, a shop. I love a little shop for all my disorganised needs.
I'm a sucker for a country church and this is a nice one indeed.
St Michael's is a traditional parish church with a Norman Tower. It looks very pretty in the Autumn when the ivy (Virginia creeper? I don't know, some climbing plant) turns vivid red. A church has stood here since at least the mid 17th c; the current building was completely restored in the 1880s.
There are lots of higgledy-piggledy graves in the church yard and there is a fantastic view back across to Hanging Stone (a local landmark) and general pretty Peak District countryside. (You can't actually *see* the Hanging Stone in this photo, but it's there and you can in real life.)
The church stands next to its associated CE Primary School. A cute and traditional looking little school. This building dates from 1865 though there has been a school here for a lot longer than that, apparently.
How cute is that little Spire? Anyway, unlike many rural primary schools (locally, this includes the schools at Wildboarclough, Flash, Meerbook and probably others I can't remember right now), this one has so far escaped the fate of closure.
Since they're completely surrounded by farms, these kids get to look at sheep and cows during their play times. Plenty of tractors rumbling past too. Can it be smelly? Almost certainly. Does anyone care? Unknown.
Wincle also boasts a traditional pub called The Ship Inn. I've never been in but my mum has and she was very complimentary. I was once told that the Ship Inn was named after local legend Sir Philip Brocklehurst, who went on a jaunt on the Nimrod with Ernest Shackleton in the 1900s (Good for him.) ship, The Swythamley, but since the pub has been named The Ship Inn for far longer than that, sadly that must be false. Maybe the picture on the sign was The Nimrod or The Swythamley? (It's a coat of arms now, but used to be an actual ship) Something to investigate. (Full disclosure- I didn't take this photo, I just got it from trip advisor.) Anyway, this place is popular with walkers and day trippers and it looks cosy.
While there is sadly no village shop, Wincle is also home to an award winning brewery. In 2019 it was named in the top 5 most scenic breweries in the country by The Guardian. Admittedly, when you consider where most breweries are located, this isn't too hard a list to top. However, it IS extremely picturesque, set in the valley at the bottom of the village, on the banks of the River Dane. The Dane forms the border between Cheshire and Staffordshire here, which begs the question (to me)- the houses on the other side of the river- are they still Wincle? Are they still counted as Cheshire? I know not.
Walks along the Dane Valley itself are very pleasant. Plenty of pretty pastoral countryside to see and in the Springtime, the forest is carpeted in bluebells. My photography leaves much to be desired but trust me, it's very pretty.
In conclusion:
What a lovely little village! Could I live here? No, I couldn't afford it. Also, there's no shop unless you drive to Macclesfield, and there's lots of snow in the winter and I hate hate hate snow.
Tune in next time for my medicore guide to.... FLASH!
