Find the colours of Autumn on these five walks
Put one foot in front of the other and go walking this October and November across the Harrogate district. The autumn months and the coming of winter paints fabulous colours across all of Yorkshire and you can explore it all in the Harrogate district.
THE YORKES OF BEWERLEY
Explore the history at the heart of Nidderdale and around the parish of Bewerley, once a country estate and before that part of the land that belonged to Fountains Abbey.
The monks established a grange at Bewerley and during that time built Bewerley Grange Chapel, which still stands today. After the dissolution of the monasteries, much of the estate came into the ownership of the Yorke family.
The Yorkes left many marks on the landscape and shaped much of the village as we know it today, including the landscaping of the popular Fishpond Wood. The Yorkes also built a folly that bears their name and is visible on the skyline above the village.
A popular local classic, this walk tours much of the estate and the parish of Bewerley, and as it does so takes in several woodlands, some natural and some landscaped, all of them offering spectacular autumn colour.
The Yorkes of Bewerley Trail
NIDD GORGE, HARROGATE & KNARESBOROUGH
As the River Nidd leaves Nidderdale and approaches Knaresborough it enters a steep-sided ravine, thick with woodland and thriving with wildlife. Five different woods make up the Nidd Gorge woodland as managed by the Woodland Trust.
Among the climbs and the ruins of past industry, visitors can explore a network of footpaths stretching from the Bilton Viaduct to Scotton Banks where the river reaches the outskirts of Knaresborough.
THE VALLEY OF THE SEVEN BRIDGES, RIPON
This dramatic walk cuts through a steep and often sheer-sided valley as the River Skell leaves the Studley Royal estate and heads towards nearby Ripon.
The hills that surround the valley floor are topped with trees and at the furthest end of the valley, the woodland follows the contours down to the valley floor as the momentous rocky cliffs give way to open fields.
In the autumn months, this makes the valley particularly atmospheric as you walk the path that crisscrosses the eponymous bridges surrounded by autumn colour on all sides.
The Seven Bridges Valley walk
VALLEY GARDENS TO RHS GARDEN HARLOW CARR, HARROGATE
Two astonishing gardens and one beautiful woodland, what more could you possibly want? Harrogate’s Valley Gardens have something to offer at all times of the year and the park is home to some immense trees that turn magnificently from green to ochre and sienna before their leaves finally drop.
The woods this walk passed through are mostly pine and so untouched by the changing seasons but at the far end you will emerge by the RHS Gardens of Harlow Carr, where the seasons are embraced and celebrated, with planting to offer interest all year round.
Walk from Valley Gardens to Harlow CarrHACKFALL WOODS, NR MASHAM
These luscious and far-reaching woods hold many surprises, with countless follies and water features, Hackfall Woods is a lifelong favourite for many.
The woodland follows the River Ure with shale banks and sandy beaches that make for great picnic spots. The trees reach up the surrounding hillsides, with curious and castle like follies hidden away amongst the ancient trees.
The undulating landscape and views across Masham and the Ure Valley mean that come autumn the rich and rusty colours that consume the woodland frame the surrounding countryside with a bright and vivid palette.
Hackfall Woods
