A visit to Caldbeck is a must for everyone

Park in the well-signposted free car park on the north side of Cald Beck, (cold brook), grid reference 324394.

1 Walk out the back of the car park, turn right to cross the road to the village green and its pond. This was once a claypit for the village’s brick and tile works and where, now, on the pretty pool the many ducklings are almost as large as the adults. Return to the road and cross. Walk right and descend to a junction. Continue left to cross the beck by the road bridge and pause to see the old brewery and its chimney, all pleasingly restored as housing.

2 Go back up the road and at the junction look left for the sign ‘footpath to The Howk’ high up on the wall of a sturdy dwelling. Walk the path between warm stone walls and then on into a clearing where trees soften the steep limestone cliffs - and a seat. Here stands a restored open-sided shed for drying coppice wood and, beyond, the remains of a bobbin mill. Up against the last wall of the building is the deep housing for ‘Red Rover’, a 42-feet in diameter waterwheel, which powered various lathes. Alas, it was dismantled during the 1939-45 war.

3 Carry on into woodland beyond the ruins into The Howk, a deep ravine worn by the Whelpo Beck into the limestone. Begin your climb of the large stone steps, partly railed. Pause half way to see great chasms in the rock and a dramatic waterfall. Then go on up to join a good path and walk left. Almost immediately wind left to descend to a fine wooden bridge over the great chasm. Pause half-way to really enjoy it. Once, long ago, you might have crossed the hurrying beck by a natural rock bridge – Fairy Bridge.

4 Go through the kissing gate and turn left to follow the hedge round and then up the large pasture to the B5299. Turn left to pass the attractive farmhouse, Todcrofts. Here Mary Harrison, nee Robinson, raised her family. She was better known as the Beauty of Buttermere. Cross the road with care and walk a few steps left to view an old one-up one-down building, once a school, then a map shop and picture-framing business.

5 Turn right up the lane soon to pass through the hamlet of Upton, where several 18th Century houses line the road. Then, after crossing the bridge over Gill Beck, take a rough track going off left for a few steps to pass through a gate on the left into a huge pasture. (Here a very large herd of cows was feeding placidly and took no notice of us or of a walker with a dog on lead). Keep beside the hedge on the left to a gate into woodland.

6 Beyond, descend a narrow mud path to cross a pleasing old bridge and continue through a wooded area to a gate onto a tarmacked cul-de-sac. Curve right to join the B-road once more. Stroll right to pass, on the opposite side of the road, the Oddfellows Arms. Cross and continue, ignoring the entrance gate to the church. Take the next left turn leading to Priests Mill, built in 1702 for grinding corn and now houses a craft shop and a cafe. Beyond, descend a short mud track to see, if the trees are not in full leaf, the old mill’s waterwheel, now restored.

7 Walk two or three steps back up the lane to take the first iron gate, on the right, into the churchyard where you may wish to visit the fine church of St Kentigern (also known as Mungo), which dates back to the 12th Century. After a quiet pause here, turn right out of the door and look ahead to see the splendid white memorial to John Peel. Set back and behind it is the headstone of the Beauty of Buttermere.

8 Leave the churchyard by the gate to the right of the two headstones to come to the start of the picturesque restored packhorse bridge over the beck. Here, to the left, descend steps to see the site of St Mungo’s Well where Kentigern baptised converts in the 6th Century before the church was built. Cross the bridge and walk left to return to the car park.

Information

Distance: 2 miles

Time: 2-3 hours – so much to see

Terrain: Mainly good tracks and paths

Map: OS Explorer OL 5

NB: Restrictions on space mean that this article provides a general summary of the route. It is advisable for anyone who plans to follow the walk to take a copy of the relevant Ordnance Survey map.