A sunny Jervaulx Abbey and Thornton Steward circular walk

At last we had some sunshine this weekend for our walking adventures and we headed to Jervaulx Abbey for a circular walk of approx. 7 miles. Great to get outside when it’s not blowing a gale.
We started from the Jervaulx abbey tearooms carpark, putting our £1 in the honesty box for the parking and crossing the road to start our walk. What struck me immediately was the serenity of the gorgeous parkland…well it would have been without my two running around! The abbey grounds are beautiful and apart from a photographer who quickly beetled away and a few cyclists we had the grounds to ourselves. As we followed the track through the park we noticed some hilly mounds that my son decided were from the Hobbit and from a small copse we could hear the hammering of a woodpecker. He didn’t make an appearance for the camera though!
Having walked through the parkland we emerged on to a small road and for a while we walked along here until the next footpath took us across some fields. The weather was glorious but the rain in previous days had meant lots of water had collected in the most inconvenient of places…. right under the stiles we had to cross over! I’m not scared of a bit of water and mud but up to our ankles and with two kids who are even shorter certainly isn’t great. A few gates later and my son was once again dancing from foot to foot ankle deep in mud and not helping himself by trying to get to drier ground.
Eventually getting him out of the mud we arrived in the historic village of Thornton Steward which can be traced back to 1041, it’s a quiet village with picturesque views and I spied a gorgeous cottage I wouldn’t mind spending a weekend in.
At the far end of the village and through woodland we reached the church of St Oswald’s said to be the oldest church in Wenslydale. We had worked up quite an appetite and stopped for snacks and to shed a few layers – the thermal base layer had seemed like a good idea early that morning.
After the church, we had a stroll along pastureland and through fields of sheep and little lambs. I could have watched the lambs in their baggy skin all day, so cute! We walked past the gorgeous Danby Hall that I’ve put on my house shopping list and eventually alongside the River Ure.
We stopped for a quick drink in the Coverbridge Inn whilst the kids played on the swings before crossing the bridge and following the river back to the abbey.
A gorgeous walk although not suitable for pushchairs or if you have very small children as there are some points you need to walk on roads. You can follow the route we took here on the viewranger website it took us just under 4 hours but we did have a stop in the pub and some trouble getting over flooded stiles!
For a glimpse of what we got up to check out our video!

 

All views are my own and we received no incentive to write this.

Country Kids
18 comments Add yours
  1. Isn’t it lovely to see all the lambs in the fields. 🙂 Its so great to get outdoors but as you say got to watch out for the flooded areas. Definetly a welly boot walk. #countrykids

  2. It’s always fun when you discover a new walk to explore isn’t it? It sounds like it’s a very peaceful walk with loads to discover, it’s great you all braved the ankle deep mud for a walk. I’m sure you’ll be exploring the walk again but maybe when it’s been brighter for longer with less mud?
    Thanks for linking up with me on #CountryKids.

    1. I love discovering new places and yes it’s on the list to go back to in the summer when (hopefully) there’s been no rain!

  3. What a beautiful day, spring lambs, daffodils and sunshine plus I’m sure I read of a tea room – this is my kind of walk. Good luck with your fitness challenge and recovery #CountryKids

  4. What a beautiful, calming, and tranquil walking route! So lovely to see all the signs of spring #countrykidsfun

    1. We are very lucky to have an area of outstanding natural beauty not too far away. Thanks for popping by!

  5. That looks like a really wonderful walk even with the flooded stiles. Glorious views #CountryKids

    1. It was a great walk and we’re all laughing about the stiles and getting stuck in the mud now!

  6. Lovely post – what a wonderful weekend for walking! Sunshine, spring flowers, new lambs – perfect 🙂 #countrykids

Leave a Reply to Maz HopwoodCancel reply