WALK: Seatoller to Keswick, Cumbria
Golden Borrowdale
The virtues of Britain’s villages are accentuated in autumn’s grasp, when chilly, gilded walks can be capped off with a warming pub meal or a night at a cosy inn. Vivienne Crow reveals a few of her favourites in the heart of the Lake District
Slender ribbons of woodsmoke rise from chimneys hiding among the ephemeral dawn mist. Cottage gardens, full of summer’s primary colours just weeks earlier, have been turned gold, ochre and umber by the falling leaves. In just a few hours, fires will be lit in woodbeamed pubs and hungry walkers will be tucking into bowls of warming soup in cosy cafés.
While autumn performs its annual miracle on our natural surroundings, the UK’s villages absorb and reflect these changes, helping nature turn November into “the year’s last, loveliest smile”.
No matter where you look – from Shetland to Cornwall , Fermanagh to Norfolk – the season is casting its spell.
AUTUMN VILLAGES
As the beech woods bring a coppery crown to the Chiltern hills, Buckinghamshire villages such as Fingest and West Wycombe are at their glorious best.
Perthshire has long been famed for its autumn displays, and now is the time to head for Killin, where the Falls of Donart come thundering through the tree-lined valley while rutting stags still bellow from the surrounding hills.
Cushendon, on the Antrim coast, is a wonderful place to watch autumn storms rolling through the straits separating this tip of Northern Ireland from the Mull of Kintyre. And if things get too wild, you can always sit it out with a glass of Irish whiskey in Mary McBride’s, a traditional pub loved by visitors and locals alike.
Tune in
Join poet Helen Mort as she climbs up Middle Fell Buttress in the Lake District in Slow Radio, BBC Radio 3, available on BBC Sounds.
HUNKER IN THE LAKES
In the Lake District, the fells, too, are taking on a new look.
The grasses and sedges have lost their luscious greens, while bracken bronzes the lower slopes, redeeming itself for the way it chokes the countryside in summer.
The villages of Borrowdale are among the best places to experience the national park at this time of year. Slate-built farmhouses and white-washed cottages sit surrounded by walled enclosures grazed by traditional Herdwick sheep, down from the fells for tupping. Rugged slopes rear up on either side of the valley, while oak, birch, ash, larch and wild cherry each contribute a different hue to the woodland kaleidoscope.
A great way to experience Borrowdale is to catch the 78 bus from outside Booths supermarket in Keswick to the tiny hamlet of Seatoller, near the valley head. Having gaped at the vibrant display through the bus windows, enjoy it at a more leisurely pace by walking back through ancient woods beside the River Derwent and the shores of Derwentwater. The friendly pubs and cafés of Rosthwaite and Grange offer opportunities for refuelling and warming up along the way.
“ WALK BACK THROUGH ANCIENT WOODS BESIDE THE RIVER DERWENT”
TRAIL THROUGH THE DALE
9.1 MILES/14.7KM | 4.5 HOURS | MODERATE
1 SEATOLLER START
Start from the far end of the National Trust’s Seatoller car park, where a track leads uphill and through a gate. At an early fork, stay on the lower path, weaving in and out of tranquil oak woods, where wrens ‘tic-tic-tic’ from moss-draped walls, and liverworts and lichens drip from the tree trunks. At the edge of the River Derwent, the route turns sharp left and negotiates
2 RIGHT AT WAITE
Follow YHA Borrowdale’s access lane over the river. As this bends right at Peat Howe Barn, take the path on the left, across the fields. On the edge of Rosthwaite, turn right and quickly left along a lane, emerging opposite the Flock In tearoom, which serves homemade cream teas, as well as pasties and stews from the farm’s Herdwick meat.
3 BRIDGE THE FLOW
Turn left along the track, later recrossing the Derwent via a humpback bridge. Turn right and select the right-hand of two gates.
4 REDS AND ROES
After entering atmospheric woods along the base of Castle Crag, watch for roe deer and red squirrels, which are busy preparing their food stashes for the coming winter. The clear path winds its way beneath small crags as well as caves and piles of slate, both remnants of former quarrying operations. Soon after one such quarrying area, bear right at a fork, climbing to a junction to go right again.
5 GORGEOUS GRANGE
Dropping to where Broadslack Gill enters the River Derwent, cross the footbridge over this tributary stream, followed quickly by a second. Turn right along a rough track and right again to follow a lane into Grange, a village that owes its origins to the monks of Furness Abbey, who built a grange (a farm belonging to a monastery) here in medieval times.
6 DERWENT VIEWS
Turn left, walking along the road for two-thirds of a mile, and then take the clear path, signed to Lodore, through the gate on the right. After two more gates, the heathland near the southern end of Derwentwater opens ahead. Keep left and then fork right.
7 SHADOW OF SKIDDAW
Reaching a gravel path near the lakeshore, turn left. Go right along a narrow lane at a woodland cottage. Bear left at a fork and then, just after a small bridge, bear right. With mighty Skiddaw putting in frequent appearances, the path hugs the lakeshore and re-enters the woods near High Brandelhow pier. Tired walkers can catch the boat to Keswick from this pier or from any one of three others on this side of the lake: Low Brandelhow, Hawse End and Nichol End.
8 WOODLAND WAY
From this first pier, keep close to the water as far as Low Brandelhow pier. Then go left, right, and right again in front of Hawes End outdoor centre. A woodland path is joined via a gate on the right soon after the path down to the Hawes End pier is passed. At Lingholm’s driveway, cross the lane diagonally left and then continue on the path towards Keswick.
9 ON TO KESWICK
Go left along Nichol End Marine’s access lane and turn right at the road. At a left bend in Portinscale, take the lane on the right. Soon after the suspension bridge, turn right along a path between fields. Go left at a lane and then right at the road into Keswick.
Vivienne Crow is a photographer and writer who specialises in the outdoors.
FOUR MORE LAKELAND VILLAGES TO VISIT THIS AUTUMN
ELTERWATER
The warm colours of Lakeland slate blend perfectly with the autumn countryside around Elterwater in Langdale. Stroll along the accessible riverside trail to the excellent café, Chesters, at nearby Skelwith Bridge.
GRASMERE
Grasmere is the starting point for dozens of walks and bike rides. If the weather turns, sit it out in one of its many pubs and cafés, or wander around a gallery or bookshop.
GLENRIDDING
Glenridding’s hotels, B&Bs and campsites shelter beside Ullswater’s wooded shores at the foot of craggy Helvellyn. Climb the mountains or catch the boat to explore the arboretum beside Aira Force
BOOT
Boot offers tranquillity in the less-visited western valley of Eskdale. Walk up to the tree-shrouded waterfall in Stanley Ghyll and then tuck into tasty pub grub at the Brook House Inn.
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