Pub Walk: Hesket Newmarket
Last updated 12:14, Thursday, 10 July 2008
Enjoy a Sunday morning stroll before a spot of lunch at the pub. With Vivienne Crow
Map: OS Explorer map OL5.
Parking: Public car park in Hesket Newmarket, next to Denton House B&B (GR NY341386).
Public transport: Buses 73/73A, 605, 620, 961 (telephone 0871 200 2233).
Refreshments: The Old Crown pub in Hesket Newmarket; teashop at Fellside Stores.
Distance: 2.35 miles
Total ascent: 350ft
Time: Approximately 60 minutes
Grade: Easy
Overview: How Beck rises on the north-eastern slopes of High Pike, entering a lovely, wooded ravine as it passes just to the east of Hesket Newmarket before meeting up with the River Caldew. This short, well signposted walk does a neat little circuit of the ravine, keeping close to the beck on the way up to Wood Hall and then branching off across fields to return to the village and the welcoming pub. It makes for a lovely, pre-Sunday lunch stroll.
The Walk: From the village car park next to Denton House B&B, drop back down on to the road and turn right. Walk along the road for about a third of a mile - until you come to Howbeck Lodge’s driveway on your right.
Turn right here (signpost reads: “Public Footpath Wood Hall 1 mile”), but instead of bearing left along the track leading to the B&B, go through the large metal farm gate in front of you. Head straight up the track, passing one building on your right, but then keeping most of the farm buildings on your left. You go through a couple of gates before you reach the fields. Cross the first stile you come to and continue with the fence on your right. When this fence ends, swing round to the right to cross to a waymarker at the top of the How Beck embankment (0.6 miles from the start). From here, bear left to walk with the fence and the woods on your right. You quickly cross another stile and then briefly lose the line of the fence. Keep to the top of the embankment and you will soon pick it up again.
(If you look at your map, you will see that the next short stretch of path – opposite Stott Ghyll – is a permissive route, which means that the landowner has the right to close it. If this ever happens, the true right of way is actually closer to the beck.)
You soon walk with a denser area of woodland on your right. Cross one narrow bridge and a stile and then emerge from the fields close to Brackenriggs. Don’t go right up to the building; instead, bear right immediately after the gate/stile to head down the embankment and cross the beck via a small clapper bridge (1.15 miles from the start). Keep close to the woodland on your right at first, along a grassy track. This soon swings away from the trees and up towards some farm buildings. Where the track dips slightly, before it reaches the buildings, swing slightly left – as indicated by the waymarker – to make your way towards some trees hiding another small ravine.
Walk with the trees on your right and you will soon see a group of buildings straight ahead of you. When you are about 80 yards from these buildings, you will reach another waymarker. As indicated, head steeply down the embankment on your right to cross the beck via a mossy wooden bridge. Now, bear half-left to clamber back up the slope to a fence.
Cross the stile and turn right along this quiet road at the very foot of the Northern Fells. You can follow the road all the way back into Hesket Newmarket if you want, but it’s nicer to go cross-country. About 250 yards beyond the farm at Wood Hall – and soon after the road crosses the beck – go through the farm gate on your right. It has a footpath sign beside it (1.55 miles from the start).
The route as far as Wood Hall was a steady, albeit very gentle climb, but it’s all downhill from here. Head down the field, keeping close to the fence on your left, and then cross the step stile in the fence at the bottom. Continuing in more or less the same direction, you now aim for the next stile, which is about 30 yards to the left of a small shed. Cross straight over the track to reach another stile, beyond which you bear half-left (NW) along a faint line in the grass towards another stile in a fence. The faint line on the ground swings half-right (N) after this stile to exit the field via a stile in the bottom left-hand corner (two miles from the start).
Cross this stile and turn sharp right towards a new wooden farm gate beside a large tree. Go through the gate and cut diagonally across the field (NNW) towards a gate in the corner. Once through this one, keep close to the fence on your right and then cross another wooden stile. Head down the muddy field with the fence on your left and out through a tiny wooden gate in the wall at the bottom. You can now see the car park on the other side of the area of grass in front of you.
Points of Interest: Jim and Liz Fearnley opened Hesket Newmarket Brewery in 1988. When Jim retired in 1999, villagers feared the business would be swallowed up by a larger brewery or even closed down, so 58 of them got together and formed a co-operative. They bought the brewery, which is still a successful business, producing popular ales such as Great Cockup Porter and Doris’ 90th Birthday Ale.
When, a few years later, the Old Crown was placed on the market, locals again feared it could be taken over by a large brewery or pub chain, so 125 regulars clubbed together and bought it. It is thought to be Britain’s first co-operatively owned pub.
