Last updated 17:05, Tuesday, 08 July 2008

A weekend walk with Vivienne Crow

MAP: OS Explorer map OL5.

PARKING: In Dacre. There is a tiny parking area just to the south of Low Bridge (GR NY460262).

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: None.

REFRESHMENTS: Horse and Farrier pub in Dacre.

DISTANCE: 3.7 miles

TOTAL ASCENT: 390ft

TIME: Approximately 90 minutes

GRADE: Easy

OVERVIEW: This week we enjoy the views from farmland to the north of Ullswater, an area that has a fascinating past. Starting from Dacre, we tread little used rights of way to reach a high point of 780ft near Hutton John. A short section of road walking and a rough farm track then bring us to Hesket Farm, from where we have to cross muddy fields to reach a quiet lane that will take us back to Dacre. As well as good views, there should be plenty of opportunity to spot wildlife, particularly buzzards and herons.

THE WALK: The walk starts from the Horse and Farrier pub in Dacre. With your back to the pub, turn left and walk up the road for about 150 yards. Now climb the stone stile in the wall on your left (signpost reads: “Public footpath Penruddock 2 miles”). With Great Mell and Little Mell forming a pleasant vista ahead, walk straight across the field in the direction indicated by the signpost and then cross a step stile next to a gate. There isn’t a path on the ground, so you will need to pay close attention to the route description and the Explorer map, which shows field boundaries.

You now bear half-right to walk with the hedge on your right. When, in about 70 yards, the hedge begins to thin out, leave it by striking out diagonally across the field – in the general direction of Blencathra in the distance. As you top the rise, you will see a ladder stile in the wall. Cross this and then, as indicated by the yellow waymarker on top of the stile, head slightly to the right of the small, roofless building. When you reach another waymarker near a fence on the other side of the field, turn right to head downhill to cross the wall via a stone stile (0.5 miles from the start).

Turn left to walk with the wall on your left, following a rough track. This climbs to a gate and ladder stile, beyond which you continue in roughly the same direction – across a muddy field – keeping the fence on your right. When you encounter a fence running perpendicular to the one you’ve been following, cross the step stile to the right of the gate and then continue in the same direction with the fence now on your left.

Having crossed another two stiles and passed an area of woodland on your left, you can see down to the pele tower of Hutton John. As you continue with the fence on your left, the going gets easier and the views south begin to open out – towards the fells around Ullswater.

Cross a ladder stile to the right of an old stone barn and then head to the top left-hand corner of the next small field, aiming for a gate and wooden stile just to the right of a small copse (1.4 miles from the start). There’s a very good chance that, if you haven’t already spotted one, you will see buzzards in this area.

Cross the stile and turn left along the quiet road, watching all the time for wrens flitting in and out of the walls and hedgerows. Follow the road for just under half-a-mile, ignoring a turning to Penruddock on your right along the way. Immediately after crossing Dacre Beck via Calley Bridge – where you can sometimes see herons and the occasional red squirrel - turn left through a metal farm gate.

Follow the wide track all the way to Hesket Farm. As it tops a small rise, you can see the Pennines in the distance. Follow the track through the farmyard (2.4 miles from the start) and out the other side. Just before it becomes a surfaced lane near a cottage, go through the metal gate on your left (no signpost) and carefully cross the slippery bridge over the beck.

Once through the gate on the other side, make your way up the slight slope towards some power lines. Follow these briefly to pick up the line of a fence, heading in a SE direction.

About 200 yards after the bridge, go through a small gate in the fence on your right. A sign indicates that the path, not visible on the ground, has been diverted. Aiming just to the right of the farm buildings, you will eventually come to another small gate beside a larger farm gate. Go through it, turn right along the farm track and then left along the minor road.

Crossing back over Dacre Beck along the way, you follow this road for three-quarters of a mile until you reach a T-junction in Dacre village, from where you can see Dacre Castle. Turn left here, towards Keswick and Penrudduck, and the pub is about 200 yards ahead on your left.

POINTS OF INTEREST:Hutton John’s pele tower was built in the mid-14th century, on the site of the original moated homestead, to protect the Hutton family from the marauding Scots. It passed into the hands of the Hudleston family in 1564, when Marie Hutton, a god-daughter of Queen Mary Tudor, married Andrew Hudleston.

Firm Catholics, the Hudlestons produced several priests who lived secretly in Cumberland and Lancashire, having been educated illegally in France and Spain. Father John Dionysius Hudleston, grandson of Andrew, hid Charles II after the battle of Worcester in 1651, when acting as chaplain at Moseley Hall in Staffordshire.

The 17th century wing of Hutton John contains many Catholic emblems including the Cross of Constantine and the Sacred Heart. Hutton John remained the home of the Hudlestons until the 1970s.

Dacre Castle, another pele tower, was built around the same time by Ranulph Dacre. Its walls are 7ft thick and 66ft high. The castle was made more habitable in the 17th century when the fifth Lord Dacre added the large windows. It is now part of the Dalemain Estate.