HPB Bell End Farm, Rosedale: Abbey & Lastingham

1. Leave the village of Rosedale Abbey via the road to Pickering. Soon you turn right to Chimney Bank, crossing the river at Grid Ref. 725 958.

2. Continue steeply up the road for about 200 yards until you reach the White Horse Farm Hotel - turn left and walk along past the front of the hotel, then continue along the track, passing Newlands Farm on your left and a couple of fine sandstone houses on your right.

3. Approximately one mile on from the White Horse Farm Hotel you arrive at a bridleway sign near Hollins Farm (Grid Ref. 733 944). Follow the track as it bears up and right of the farm passing between two old gateposts. Where the path forks, ignore the track leading steeply up the hillside on your right but follow the narrower path that hugs the dry stone wall on your left.

4. Continue to follow this path on ahead - it more or less runs parallel with the river, which is down in the bottom of the valley to your left. Parts of this path can become a bit boggy after wet weather.

5. About one and half miles past Hollins Farm, look for an information plaque just to the right of the path denoting the former presence of an Elizabethan glass furnace - a reconstruction of the furnace can be seen at the Ryedale Folk Museum in the nearby village of Hutton-le-Hole.

6. Continue ahead along the path which soon begins to climb steadily up the side of the moor, away from the river valley. It eventually reaches the brow of the hill before gently descending towards some stone walled fields and a farm beyond.

7. Keep just to the right of the stone wall and soon you will reach the access road to High Askew Farm which you will see on your left (Grid Ref. 744 912).

8. Continue up and along the road for about three hundred yards then bear off on the path to the right just before cattle grid and before a wooden gate. On reaching a stone wall, follow it for a while (keeping just to the right of it) then it bears very sharply left, leave it and head straight on down the side of the valley, very rough and deeply rutted grass track in a south westerly direction to Tranmire Beck.

9. Cross the beck (where there are a few stepping stones - good luck!) then climb up the other side of the valley on the path towards a dry stone wall and follow this to the right. Continue on ahead along the pleasant grassy track hugging the wall on your left.

10. The wall bears round to the left - keep on following the path, which continues to run more or less parallel with the wall. Approximately ¾ of a mile after crossing Tranmire Beck you eventually arrive at a crossroads of tracks at Grid Ref. 729 909. Standing close by, you will see the Lastingham Millennium Stone. At this point our route continues by turning right along a wide track leading north on to Spaunton Moor. If you have time, turn left to visit the picturesque village of Lastingham, famous for its three holy wells dedicated to St Cedd St Chad and St Ovin, and for the Norman crypt beneath St Mary’s Church.

11. The wide track climbs gently up onto Spaunton Moor - follow it for about a further 1½ miles then leave the track to join a new wide bridleway up to Ana Cross.

12. From Ana Cross, continue along the bridleway down to the T-junction, turning left along a sandy track for about 0.5 miles until you reach the surfaced road. (Turn right to descend Chimney Bank, it is worth crossing over the road about 150 yard down the road to visit the remains of a set of old mining kilns, which stand about 100 yards from the road).

13.On descending Chimney Bank, note a viewpoint seat not far from the top on the right. (Beside the superb views from here across Rosedale, you can also see the route of a steep inclined railway to the right which ran down to the Hollins Mines).

14. Continue on down the steep road as it twists and turns to help ease the gradient. At the bottom, turn left at the junction to return to the centre of the village of Rosedale Abbey.

Click here for further details about the Holiday Property Bond's award-winning holiday cottages with stunning views across the North Yorkshire Moors, HPB Bell End Farm, Rosedale