Coxwold, Beacon Banks and Kilburn
10.5 miles Fine, mostly sunny
Part of today's walk is south of our North Yorks OS map but if you should require it, as we did, you can download the appropriate map free of charge from this North Yorks web site.
Tom Scott Burns starts his walk in Kilburn but our preference is to begin at Coxwold, where parking is easy on the High Street.
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| Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills |
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| Coxwold |
We parked next to the pub, booted up and walked along the High Street to the crossroads, admiring the attractive houses. At the crossroads we turned right to commence a steady climb out of the village, passing the old railway track where the signal box has been kept in its original condition.
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| The railway crossed the road here |
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| The old signal box |
After half a mile we entered a field at a wooden sign and continued to climb following field paths until we reached a stile and High Leys Farm.
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| Male Orange Tip butterfly, females have black wing tips |
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| Leave the road at this sign |
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| ... and enter fields |
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| Field paths to High Ley farm |
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| Looking back we see the White Horse |
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| Approaching High Ley Farm |
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| Guinea fowl in fields near High Ley |
At the farm we turned right onto the farm track for 100 yards or so, before returning to fields at a sign, and then followed the ridge of Beacon Bank Wood. This provided fine views in TSB's day but now there is no view whatsoever, the whole ridge being covered with gorse and bushes. We passed by a trig point and came to Beacon Bank's alpaca farm.
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| Follow the sign to reach Beacon Bank |
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| Trig point on Beacon Bank |
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| Alpacas |
We walked down past Lists House into Husthwaite village where we paused on reaching St Nicholas' Church. The village of Husthwaite dates back to the period of Scandinavian settlement in Northern England during the 9th century. The name comes from the Norse for 'houses in a woodland clearing.' The core of the church is Norman. We had a look around the church and then took advantage of a bench in front of the building to sit and enjoy a coffee and scones.
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| List House |
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| Looking down on Husthwaite |
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| Red Horse-chestnut tree |
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| Houses in Husthwaite |
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| St Nicholas' Church |
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| The Kilburn Mouse is seen throughout the church |
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| The porch dates from 1140 |
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| Coffee al fresco |
After Husthwaite we passed through the remains of an old railway embankment and entered Ings Lane, which we followed north for a mile. We passed by a tractor garage and shop with an enormous selection of farm machinery.
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| Leaving Husthwaite |
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| Turn right towards Rufus's Roost |
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| Clive holds back a branch that was hiding the stile |
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| First walkers this year! |
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| We pass a small aerodrome |
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| Ings Lane |
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| The heat gets to Clive |
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| New tractors for sale |
We followed Ings Lane to the village of Carlton Husthwaite and walked along its high street, passing a blacksmith's and later, a metal sculpture that was obviously his work.
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| Blacksmith |
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| Sculpture on High Street |
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| Timber framed house |
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| Carlton Hall |
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| Don't weaken, keep on! |
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| The Old Hall in Carlton Husthwaite |
We left Carlton Husthwaite turning right into Croft Lane then left to join Common Lane. For the rest of this walk we had the White Horse in view as we approached Kilburn.
Turning off Common Lane we paused to chat to the owner of a large pigeon loft. He warned us that a bridge farther down the field was insecure and the Council had inspected it but weren't planning to return until October. We found it was fine for anyone on foot but might be dangerous to horse riders.
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| Common Lane |
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| Pigeon talk |
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| Large pigeon loft |
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| Back in fields |
Saying cheerio to the pigeon fancier we walked on through fields to reach Kilburn. Tracks for the last half mile have been badly chewed up by horse riders making the going awkward.
On arrival at Kilburn we took a lane to High Kilburn, half a mile further uphill.
Leaving High Kilburn we passed an old barn with a curlew weather vane and reached Fox Folly Farm. After the farm we crossed several more fields using waymarks as guides, to reach the road just outside Coxwold.
Entering the village we passed by author Lawrence Sterne's cottage and Coxwold's fine church where Sterne was once the parish priest.
We soon we found ourselves sitting in the afternoon sun outside the Fauconberg Arms where we discussed today's walk, which we agreed is lovely for a summer's day.
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| Shandy Hall |
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| Fauconberg Arms |
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| "To summer walks!" |
