Not really a walk as we were thwarted by the weather and didn't do our intended walk. We drove around for a while and ened up at Rivington, as the weather was poor it was quiet and we set off to explore the gardens.
The gardens were laid down by one of the Lever brothers of soap manufacturing fame (later Lord Leverhulme) . I believe the gardens are all that remains of Lord Leverhulmes home and are now owned by United Utilities along with a lot more land around Rivington village.
The gardens which lie on the side of Rivington Pike have been mostly left to nature but along with ruined buildings a lot of features still exist.
We parked in the car park at the bottom of the hill and set off walking up a broad track through woodlands, lots of swallows were swooping around, always a nice sight. as we walked we caught glimpses of the paths and steps leading of the main track and soon reached a seven arched bridge which spanned the path. We had no idea where the paths led to so decided to follow the main track as far a we could.
After steadily climbing we reached a group of ruined buildings and as we looked around spotted a pool down though the trees, there were steps leading down sowe followed these and reached the pond, there appeared to have been a series of small waterfalls leading down to this pool but little water was visible, we guessed this watercourse was man made and with lack of maintenance had dried up. The pool at the bottom was quite tidy except for some rubbish at on end.
We retraced our steps back to the main track and it soon turned with another track leading off onto the open slope of the Pike itself, with a square building on the summit. We were xploreing the gardens so we ignored this route and followed the main track.
As the track rounded a sharp bend we could see a building, a pavilion of some sort, across what I guess was once a lawn, and as the track continued we saw steps leading towards this building so we wandered down to have a look. This pavilion had a wonderful view across the nature reclaimed lawn and face roughly southwest and although it was very cloudy we could see the shapes of hills on the horizon, North Wales perhaps? also through binoculars I could make out a building in the distance which had the shape of Liverpool Anglican catherdral, it was in the right direction but whether it was or not I dont know. A path led around a bend and on exploring fould another pavilion similar to the first facing north west, with another overgrown lawn I guess in front of it. Again I imagine the view from here would have been wonderful, although trees had grown at the far side of the lawn and now somewhat obscured the view.
Between these two pavilions was a flight of steps which led from an arch we had send earlier back up to the main track. We returned to the track, which continued upwards until it reached a wall with dove perches set into it and leading to the Pigeon Tower a tall thin building which is visible from the valley below. Again ther view from here was fantastic, looking out towards the Ribble estuary and to Blackpool where we could seI am surethat on a clear day the Lake District fells would also be visible.
This was about as far along the track we wanted to go, so we descended steps in front of the tower past a series of arches. I paused here to watch a falcon hovering in the air quite close by, it was too big for a kestrel and I guess it was a peregrine but I couldnt be certain despite watching it untl it folded it's wing and dropped to presumably take some small animal it had spotted.
We then spotted a lily pond and took the path that led alongside it, tits and blackbirds were flying between the bushed and I spotted a small mammal as it disappeared into the undergrowth. although were were walking on a stone path we noticed at one point there were spaces between the stones, which looked as if they could have been put there as an overflow for the pond, as one the other side of the path there looked to be a man made watercourse going down the hill.
A little further on and another set of steps appeared leading up th a pair of arches where the steps split to go both right and left the steps also led down the hill and this was the way we went The steps led down over various pieces of stonework and we found ourselves on the top of the seven arched bridge. This seemed a got point to rejoin the track we had walked up and we follwed it back down to the carpark.
It turned out to be an enjoyable afternoon after the disappointment of not being able to walk where we had intended.
I did wonder why the gardens had never been restored to their former glory, but I think the wildness of it added to the experience, after all there any plenty of tended gardens that can be visited.
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