Outdoor Breaks

Walking

You can walk all day in the North Pennines without seeing more than a handful of other people, and what's more, there is an infinite variety of walks from which to choose, from a gentle riverside stroll to a strenuous walk over the fell tops. Leaflets are available from the tourist information centre promoting some of these walks from our cottages:

• You can take a leisurely four mile walk along the Nent Valley to the hamlet of Blagill, stopping at the nearby Gossipgate packhorse bridge to view the Seven Sisters waterfall and returning via a secluded little waterfall - Skelgill Force back to Gossipgate.
• Alternatively starting from Gossipgate, you can head up the hill to get a birdseye view of Alston.

Head downhill from our cottages to the Tyne Willows playing field adjoining the banks of the River South Tyne and follow the river upstream towards Garrigill following the Pennine Way. There are various permutations of this walk so you can make it as long or short as you like. You can turn off at Bleagate and head back to Alston via picturesque Nattrass Gill and Annat Walls, or continue to Garrigill returning on the opposite side of the river, crossing back over at the footbridge towards Bleagate, before you get to the Black Burn tributary, to join the return walk described above. From Garrigill:

• Walk up onto the moors following the South Tyne Trail to the Source of the Tyne, or
• take a riverside walk to Ashgill Force. Experience the exhilaration of walking behind this impressive waterfall as it tumbles fifty feet over a rock shelf into a gorge below, framed by an attractive stone bridge.

For a real walk on the wild side, follow the Pennine Way to the top of Cross Fell, the highest point in the Pennines Elsewhere in the area:

• Five woodland walks at Allen Banks and Staward Gorge (near Allendale), particularly spectacular in the autumn.
• Hay Time Walks: 3 walks from Allendale, Ireshopeburn and Baldersdale introducing some of the best hay-meadows in the North Pennines AONB.
• Upper Teesdale: walks to Low Force, High Force and Cauldrons Snout

Trails:

• The Pennine Way
• South Tyne Trail
• Isaac's Tea trail

These all pass through Alston so you can choose to do different sections of them on different days. Open access: Large swathes of moorland are now accessible where you are allowed to roam freely, but there are restrictions, so ask for a leaflet and get details from the tourist information centre. These are just a selection of the many walks available.