Join the D.H. Lawrence Society, Haggs Farm Society and Five Leaves Bookshop for a guided tour of D.H. Lawrence’s Mapperley. The walk will start at 10.30 am at 28 Victoria Crescent, close to where Lawrence’s wife, Frieda Weekley, lived at ‘Cowley’. It was here that Lawrence and Frieda met for the first time. And it was from here that Frieda left her husband and three young children to elope with Lawrence to Europe. After some short readings we will then walk to Breck Hill Road, pausing for a comfort break at the Woodthorpe Top (Wetherspoons).
On arrival at Long Acre we will re-enact the famous fight between Paul Morel and Baxter Dawes which Lawrence vividly described in Sons and Lovers. We will continue down Breck Hill Road to number 43, where Jessie Chambers lived with her husband Jack Wood. Jessie was Lawrence’s first serious girlfriend, and lived at Haggs Farm, close to Lawrence’s home in Eastwood, before moving with her family to Arno Vale farm in the valley between Mapperley and Arnold. There will be readings by the Haggs Farm Society before we return up Breckhill Road to the Woodthorpe Top for optional refreshments.
The walk should take around 90 minutes and is on flat paved surfaces but Breck Hill Road is quite steep in parts.
The walk is free of charge but please book
Meet outside 28 Victoria Crescent, off Private Road in Sherwood (NG5 4DA)
Public transport – there are many buses going up Mansfield Road, stopping at the stop before Sherwood Stops. Cross the road and walk up to the top of Private Road, the meeting place is on Victoria Crescent, just before the barriers on Private Road on the right.
By car – go up Private Road from Mansfield Road and turn right at the top before the barriers, there’s some on-street parking as you go round Victoria Crescent. There are no parking places on Private Road.
We advise parking in Sherwood and walking up.
