PINT-SIZED WALK a Stroll in the Park

© MARK RICHARDS 2013 www.markrichards.info PINT-SIZED WALK The PUNCHBOWL INN Askham A stroll in the park 2.2 miles - 1¼ hours THE WALK IN A NUTSHELL A TASTE FOR THE FELLS By green lane, field-path, woodland way and grand parkland drive A most enjoyable clockwise wander, with two options in The Punchbowl Inn set on Askham’s picturesque lower green Lowther Park. Walk across the way from the pub following a drive and green lane, duly traversing a field into a wooded bank before crossing the River Lowther upon Earl Henry’s Drive. Now either follow the river meadow upstream to Askham Bridge, or holding to the drive, walk directly to the castle mansion gatehouse. Whereupon veer right into the wooded Lowther valley bearing downstream to Askham Bridge. 1 Wander across the road from the Inn following the service drive to the Café and Garden at the rear of Askham Hall (bridleway sign). Pass between the facilities barn and car park This PINT-SIZED WALK is part of a to enter a walled green lane. After a gate (normally left open) three-way harmony : Dent Brewery, glance right looking down on the duck pond with a menagerie the Punchbowl Inn and Cicerone Press, publishers of my of domestic livestock in various pens, including pigs and cattle LAKELAND FELLRANGER fell-walking guide series. in the dell below the grand pink sandstone Hall. CONTINUED BELOW ASKHAM lies at the eastern 2 The lane’s transition to edge of the Lake District flanking hedges coincides National Park, the River with a narrowing and a Lowther gathering its waters less tamed countenance. from The Far Eastern Fells. Watch for a tall stile on This is the local title in my the right with attendant eight-book series covering green footpath plate. the entire National Park... Take care it’s quite a you can acquire a copy at step down onto a stone, the bar in the Punchbowl Inn. If you feel inspired by this gentle and perhaps mud, where introduction to the delights of the area and wish to venture cattle have gathered and onto the fells proper, then you can do so from the top of the poached the ground. Take village. A green track leads easily onto Moor Divock, passing a long diagonal line across the Cockpit stone circle (above). From that point you can climb the pasture field. Notice with High Street Roman road to visit Arthur’s Pike, overlooking en route numerous erratic Ullswater (scarp cairn viewpoint below) and Loadpot Hill. This is boulders embedded in walking through history with fabulous views assured. the ground. Clearly the field was once a mass of stones, evidence the far wall leading to the ladder-stile in the corner, which is mighty thick, composed of rounded beck stone from the field (below). CONTINUED INSIDE >> 3 Entering Heining Wood the path heads in some 50m to a T-junction with a lateral path. Turn left and keep this one path company through a largely conifer wood. The path curves right and crosses the Castle Vista, a trifle untamed at the edge of Yanwath Wood. The path dips through a gill re-entrant and passes a wooden seat which, through tree-growth, fails to provide the intended long view of the castle. The path next curves downhill, awkward footing, soon leveling approaching a T-junction with Earl Henry’s Drive. Turn right crossing the old stone bridge spanning the peaty waters of the River Lowther, the river-name translates as ‘the lathering water’. 4 You have two choices. St Michael’s church and the Earl of Lonsdale 1863 mausoleum in Lowther Park From the stile either bear right and follow the river 5 If you relish getting up close and personal to the bounding meadow past the stone walls of Lowther Castle stride on up the Drive soon becoming barn beside an isle. Keep a tree-lined avenue. Cross the open road and continue with the your eye open for heron gravel track directly to the ornate gatehouse (no public access in this lovely passage. The at this point). You get an opportunity here to peer through meadow squeezes down at the ‘castle’ mansion. Works are in progress to transform it to a gate/stile. Gradually into the original gleaming sandstone mock fortress that Robert opening again, but with Smirke built for William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale between trees now shielding views 1806 and 1814. Years of neglect are being rolled back to make of the lovely river. Lowther a place of spectacle, public enjoyment and a family home. Church is up the bank to the left (above right). The 6 Follow the trackway right, by the battlement walls to reach meadow leads onto the a cattle-grid entering woodland by the adjacent gate. The track road heading straight on drifts easily downhill, watch for a track merging acutely from to Askham Bridge. the right, follow this lower track, which narrows above a river Earl Henry’s Drive crossing Low Garden Bridge cliff, duly coming down to the road at Askham Bridge. Castle Vista NNW 7 Downstream a weir - that once enabled a water-race to power Askham Mill - backs up water as a deep pool upstream of the bridge. Ascend the road by St Peter’s, Askham parish church quickly completing the round trip to the Punchbowl Inn. Should you wander up the lovely street - lined with vernacular cottages delightfully set back from the green - you will find the village shop, the Queen’s Head and Stuart Broadhurst’s ceramic studio. Also of interest to families are the delightful little local guides produced by Lowther Castle Anja Pheonix TaleTrails www.taletrails.co.uk..

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