With our newfound summer freedoms being thrown suddenly into question by the spread of new lockdown measures across the country, we might soon be limited once again to picnics and walks in the great outdoors.

How lucky, therefore, that Frodsham marks the beginning of the Sandstone Trail, which provides a varied array of beautiful walks ranging across the county.

Over the next few weeks, Frodsham Nub News will be exploring some of the different routes that this Trail has to offer, beginning today on Beacon Hill, Frodsham.

This four mile walk, which moves across glittering woodland, rolling fields and quiet country lanes, is a great way to soak up the local scenery, while keeping away from the noise of the M56.

• Begin at Simon's Lane car park, which has space for about 10 cars and leads to a gate and a sign which reads, 'Access to the Beacons'. Once upon a time, an Armada beacon stood here, to warn local people of an imminent Spanish invasion.

• Turn right out of Simon's Lane car park and then left onto a wooded path dipping down towards Frodsham Golf Course.

• Walk across the course (watching out for stray golf balls!) towards the point where the woods begin again. Enter the trees and follow first some wooden, then some metal steps down into Dunsdale Hollow.

• As you move through this depression, the golf course to your left, the sheer sandstone cliffs of the forest to your right, you will come across Jacob's Ladder. These steps, named after the biblical 'stairway to Heaven', were carved into the rock in Victorian times to help people negotiate the steep scramble of the woodland.

• Follow the Sandstone Trail sign to the left and continue along the path, until the Trail draws you up over another set of carved stone steps and back onto the golf course boundary (which will sit to your left).

• As the path wends its way through the rich woodland, it suddenly opens out on a stunning view of Helsby, the Mersey estuary and Liverpool in the distance.

The Mersey basin, and the sandstone ridges which you see before you, were formed during the last Ice Age. As you continue on your walk, you might spot ice-rounded boulders, glacial erratic which were deposited by ice sheets moving down from north-east Ireland and Scotland over 20,000 years ago.

• After perhaps taking a minute to enjoy the scene, veer off to the left and over Woodhouse Hill. With a summit of 137m, this hill is the highest point on the walk, and is crowned by an Iron Age hillfort, which was built by the Celts of the Cornovii tribe around the first century BC.

• As you descend from the top of Woodhouse Hill, turn right to rejoin the Sandstone Trail, keeping fields on your left. You are now entering the Snidley Moor area, which was formerly known as Frodsham Common and used to graze sheep. However, the woodland has now grown back to form a light and graceful forest.

• Take another right onto a path overhung with trees. This will soon sink down so that you are walking through the tree roots, with banks rising on either side.

• Eventually, you will need to turn left through a metal kissing gate to leave the Sandstone Trail and enter a small field. If you reach a pond and static caravan site you have missed it.

• Continue to the left through another kissing gate, following the path through a small valley, with fields rising on your right. After a few minutes, you will come across a fallen oak tree and fallen gate, at which point the path begins to rise.

• Take the first available left up a steep sandy path, which will bring you out onto an open field. Look behind you for beautiful views over the hills.

• Go through the kissing gate and cross Manley Road to climb up the lane opposite, following it to the left towards Newton and Kingsley.

• After dipping down and then rising to the right, turn left down Dober's Lane, continuing until the road bends to the right, at which point you should carry straight on down the 'Restricted Byway'.

• Emerging onto the road, turn right and then, after about 200 metres, enter a field on the left of the road, with a sweeping view of the estuary to enjoy as you walk.

• Going through a kissing gate and across a single track road, enter a narrow path which will eventually bring you back to the golf course boundary.

• Turn left onto Simon's Lane, and walk past the Golf Club entrance to arrive back at the car park.