Perfect Blanchland
Distance: 3.5 miles,
Minnimum Time: 1hr 30mins,
Difficulty: Easy,
Description:
While you're there: Derwent Reservoir, east of Blanchland, is second in size only to Kielder Water in the north. It has a surface area of 1,000 acres (405ha), and was completed in 1967. The activities it offers include sailing and windsurfing, as well as fishing. The Northumberland and Durham county boundary goes through the middle of the lake, following the old river course.
What to look out for: The roadside wild flowers in and around Blanchland are worth seeking out. You are likely to spot creeping buttercup, with its large yellow flowers, rough leaves and creeping stems; germander speedwell, which has spikes of bright blue flowers and hairy leaves with serrated edges, and greater stitchwort, which has a profusion of white flowers with ten-lobed white petals, that are produced from April to June. In other places you may see the fairy flax, which has white flowers and elliptical leaves, and the brightyellow heads of the birdsfoot trefoil. Most common of all is cow parsley - sometimes known as Queen Anneâs Lace - with its delicate array of tiny white flowers set on long branching stalks.
Where to eat and drink: The Lord Crewe Arms offers fine eating in its restaurant, as well as meals in its atmospheric bar. It has a childrenâs room next to the bar and dogs are welcome. The cloister garden is pleasant in warm weather. The White Monk Tea Rooms in the village square provide homemade cakes (dogs and children welcome), and there is often an ice cream van in the square in the summer months.
Directions:
From the car park turn left up the road. This was once a drove road, used to bring cattle from Hexham over Blanchland Moor. Higher up the road are the remains of lead mines and a ruined engine house - a reminder that Blanchland was home to several generations of miners in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Go left up the walled track towards Cote House.
As the track bends right towards a farmhouse, go left through a waymarked gate and cross the small field to go over a ladder stile. Bear half left down the hillside on a faint track to a ladder stile on to the road. Turn right into the hamlet of Baybridge. As you approach the stone bridge you enter County Durham - the boundary leaves the River Derwent at this point to take in Durham County Councilâs Baybridge picnic site.
Cross the bridge over the river. Opposite the road to the right, go left on a signed footpath through a gateway. Shortly, just after crossing a stream, turn right up the hill. Climb the hill to a waymarked stile. Cross the field beyond then bear right to follow the fence. At the top, go left through a gateway and follow the track, which bears right round a wall. Go through a gateway, keeping with the righthand wall where the footpath has been diverted from the one shown on OS maps. When you reach a gate on to a minor road, go through it and turn left along the road. Walk past the farmhouse, taking a signed left turn by a barn on the far side and following the wall on the right to a ladder stile. Turn half left to leave the field by a gate near the house. Turn left down the lane. Turn left at the T-junction and cross the bridge into Blanchland. The view of Blanchland, as you descend to the 18th-century bridge, is of a pretty stone-built village that clusters around the church, backed by woodland and moors. Much of the village was rebuilt in the mid-18th century for Nathaniel, Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, who owned the estate. Many of the buildings, though, have medieval monastic origins. The inn, the Lord Crewe Arms, was once the lodge of the Abbot of Blanchland, and the garden was the abbey cloisters: the boundary with the abbey churchyard is actually the south wall of the monastic church. The inn is said to be haunted by the ghost of Dorothy Forster, Lord Creweâs niece, who rode in disguise to the Tower of London to rescue her brother, imprisoned for his part in the Jacobite uprising of 1715. The village square was the abbeyâs outer courtyard, and was originally entered through the arched gateway at the north end, which now incorporates the village post office. The fountain - locally known as a âpantâ - was put up in 1897 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
At the end of the bridge go sharp right, between the bridge and a stone building, to the riverside. Follow the riverside path for a mile or so. At a signpost turn left, signed âBlanchlandâ. Follow the track, which rises and bends left. When you reach the road, turn left, cross over and join the footway back into the village, past the abbey.
This was a Premonstratensian monastery, with white-robed monks - Blanchland is their âwhite landâ. When Lord Crewe took over the estate, the abbey building was a ruin. He arranged for the chancel, crossing and north transept of the monastic church to be roofed and repaired, so today the church is L-shaped - you enter under the tower into the transept, and turn under the crossing into the main body of the church. On the floor there are grave slabs to some of the abbots, carved with mitres, and foresters, with horns.
Turn right back to the car park at the start of the walk.
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