Walking in North Yorkshire: Old Byland to Nettledale and Scawton

Old Byland to Nettledale and Scawton

7.5 miles Warm and sunny

In The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills, Tom Scott Burns describes this walk as embodying all the charm of Ryedale as it passes through the villages of Old Byland, Scawton and Cold Kirby.

We approached Old Byland from the B1257 Bilsdale road via Rievaulx village and parked our cars in the village, at the roadside close to the green.

Today's walk fromThe Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills

TSB relates that in 1143 the Norman Baron Roger de Mowbray granted land in Ryedale to some wandering monks from Furnace Abbey in Lancashire. They moved about the dale for a few years before finally settling on a site they called Bellalanda, or Byland.

We walked through the pretty village and saw the C12th Church of All Saints almost hidden from view behind houses in the north west corner of the village. We found that the church, like all churches today, is closed because of the virus, and so we made our way past the green and turned left through a gate into the woods of Low Gill.

Weather vane in Old Byland

All Saints Church

Imposing property on the High Street

Old Byland Hall

Through the gate into Low Gill

The track was little walked and overgrown with nettles, a test for Clive who was wearing shorts. There is a steep drop to the right and the path is narrow so care must be taken with this stretch.

Mind the nettles!

Steep drop to the right

Low Gill gradually descends to Ashberry Pasture, a wild-flower sanctuary maintained by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and we walked through a mass of bluebells and other blooms.

Ashberry Pasture

Trap, set but not baited

Bluebells in Ashberry Pasture

We joined the Rievaulx to Old Byland road just below Ashberry Hill and followed it to a junction next to picturesque Ashberry Farm.

Wild garlic

Looking over to Hagg Hall

Ashberry Farm

We turned right over the bridge at Ashberry Farm and followed the Scawton lane past Hagg hall. We left the lane at Bradley Bank and followed a woodland track as it meandered through Nettle Dale. Three large man-made lakes were to our right and stretched along most of our track through Nettle Dale. We paused and watched a fisherman for a while and to our surprise, and his, he suddenly caught a large fish, which he quickly returned to the lake.

Hagg Hall

Large fungus near Hagg Hall

Longhorn cattle

He's caught something!

Putting it back

We reached a footbridge and Cleveland Way sign on our right. There were diggers and improvement work going on at the last pond which had been drained. We tuned left here and walked uphill into Spring Wood.

Walking through Nettledale

Fish ponds

Work ongoing

We leave the Cleveland Way...

... and turn left through the gate to Spring Wood

Our path climbed through Spring Wood until it reached a tarmac road which we followed into Scawton, which is Norse for farm in the hollow.

Spring Wood

Must be time for coffee?

Vicarage Farm House

St Mary's, Scawton

Drat!

We passed the locked church gate and made our way to a bench on the green where we enjoyed coffee and scones. As we sat there a smartly dressed lady strode purposefully towards us and we wondered if we were going to be told off for sitting on the same bench. She stopped opposite and said, "It's very nice to see someone using that bench. Have you noticed the date inscribed on it?" We looked and saw that the gentleman it was in memory of had died on 21st May 2009, and today was also the 21st May.

The lady went on to explain that she had arranged for the bench to be dedicated to the memory of her husband, and that she had returned to the village today to lay flowers on his grave.

Church weather vane

A picnicker in Scawton

View from our bench

We chatted for some time about walking in the area before the lady went on her way and we packed our flasks away.

We crossed the green to an overgrown path behind the village telephone box. This box isn't operational and is in poor repair. Some time ago we were curious to discover why it has a wooden door and I did a Google search for further information, discovering it to be an early K6 model which apparently always had a teak wood door.

Next to the box is a wooden gate which we went through into a very overgrown path.

Old telephone box and our route gate...

... "oh eck, any dockleafs about?"

We exited into a farm field and were surprised to come face to face with several alpacas. They seemed friendly enough so we pressed on across their field.

They're not sheep!

Handsome is as handsome does

Caesarean sheep

Where's the exit?

We crossed several fields, keeping to our path by using the yellow way-marks posted on field boundaries until we descended back into Flassen Dale, which has recently been deforested.

On reaching the valley floor we turned left onto a broad path, then almost immediately right to climb up the other side of the dale.

We now crossed more fields to reach the village of Cold Kirby.

Limestone fields

Descending into Flassen Dale

Cross the dale bottom and...

... straight up the other side

Cold Kirby and the Church of St Michael

In Cold Kirby, almost the first building we encountered was the Church of St Michael, which Tom Scott Burns explains was rebuilt in the 1800s. It originally dated back to the 12th century when the parish was administered by the Order of Knights Templar.

St Michael's Church, Cold Kirby

We looked into the village briefly and then followed the Cleveland Way sign to rejoin the path for the steady descent back to Nettle Dale.

Heated pens, game or turkeys?

Down into Nettledale

Wild garlic everywhere

At Nettle Dale we parted from the Cleveland Way as we reached the lakes, turning left into a field and crossing to a gated bridge over a stream. We now had a steep climb out of Nettle Dale through Calister Wood, until we reached fields on the other side.