Walks around Grosmont

Walks & Trails – 10 Walks Around Grosmont

All walks start at the Castle. Be advised that in wet weather many of these walks require wellies. And in the summer some stiles become tangled in greenery and secateurs come in handy!

Walk 1 (Approximately three quarters of an hour)
Through the field beyond the castle to the far corner on the left (just after the last bungalow). Over the stile and slightly left across the road to continue up steps (sometimes obscured by an open gate) on a public path through a private garden to an open field. Cross this diagonally and over a stile at the bottom. Cross a wooden bridge and turn right passing through several fields always with a hedge and gully on your right. Shortly after passing farm buildings on your right (Mill Farm) cross the stile to the right, through the field and arrive at the road (turn right) that leads back up the hill to Grosmont.

Walk 2 (Approximately three quarters of an hour)
Follow the instructions for Walk 1 until you have crossed the wooden bridge. Here turn left and through the field keeping the farm house (Kingsfield) in front of you until, at the house, turn left, and not many yards on, take the stile on the right into a large orchard. Go through this and onto a track that leads to the old Hereford-Abergavenny road. Straightaway, passing a white house on your left cross the stile into another orchard. Go through this and across a final field over a couple of stiles onto the road (turn left) that leads back to the top of the village.

Walk 3 (Approximately two hours)
Follow the instructions for Walk 1 until you have Mill Farm on your right. Here turn left to the river weir. Pass through a number of fields (in several the waymarked path goes straight through the middle, but you are asked rather to keep to the river bank to avoid damage to crops). The path leads eventually to the busy main road (A465): DO NOT enter this road but keep in the field with the hedge on your right until you come to a stile taking you onto the minor road in the hamlet of Llangua. Turn left and go up the hill until you reach the white house on your left mentioned in Walk 2, from here follow the instructions for Walk 2 to get back to Grosmont.

Walk 4 (Approximately three quarters of an hour)
Leave the castle and come back to the road. With the Post Office in front of you, turn left and very shortly right: the road leads to a rough and steep lane (Sally Rucks). Go down this lane and start on the metalled road that leads steeply upwards but in a few yards there is a wooden bridge on your right. Go over the bridge and go through the field, then over a stile into another field. Keep the hedge on your right and you are led almost imperceptibly into a third field where you need to find a gap in the hedge almost at the right hand corner. Here, over a couple of stiles you find another wooden bridge, which leads you onto a small road. Turn right and back into the village.

Walk 5 (Approximately two hours)
Follow the instructions for Walk 4 to the first wooden bridge but instead of crossing this, keep on the roadway up the very steep hill. Keep looking back because there are splendid views of the village and further afield. Pass a farm on your left (Barns Farm) and keep going upwards until you find a wide opening on the right with a clear path leading slightly downhill. Follow this path through numerous fields (passing a ruined farm house on the right) with glorious views on the right all the way. You come to a small road (Beech Hill) where you turn right and return to Grosmont. There are few, if any, waymarks on this walk.

Walk 6 (Approximately one to one and a quarter hours)
Leave the castle and come back to the road. With the Post Office in front of you, turn right and at the top of the hill (at the Old School) turn left. Continue until the T-junction and turn left again. After passing the entrance to Point Farm (on your left) look out for a rather hidden stile on the left, just before you reach some farm barns. Cross the stile and straight across the field, turn left with the hedge, then on your right, and Point Farm ahead of you. Walk through this and the next field and, after leaving the farmhouse, continue with the hedge now on your left. Continue through several fields eventually descending to a small stream. Cross this and go through one more field onto a farm track that leads to a small housing estate. The road (Poorscript Lane) leads you back to the village.

Walk 7 (Approximately two hours)
Follow the instructions for Walk 6 but after passing the entrance to Point Farm keep going on this road until you reach another farm (Little Marlborough). Between the old farm house and a new bungalow there is a waymarked footpath that leads you into and through a field, downhill to a stile and then uphill to another stile (there is a large pond and the stile is at the left hand corner). Cross the stile onto a metalled roadway and turn left. As you approach farm buildings and equipment you will see a stile on your left. Go over this and follow the path through several fields, keeping the hedge always to your left. This takes you to a small road (turn left) that leads you back to the village

Walk 8 (Approximately one and a half hours)
Leave the castle and return to the road. With the Post Office in front of you turn left down the hill, over the small bridge at the bottom and bear left on the road until after some 100 yards you find a stile on the right. Go over this and through the field to another stile straight in front of you. Go over this and, with the hedge on your right, you come shortly to another stile. Over this and keep the hedge on your left. Keep close to this hedge because the next thing to watch out for is stile and small wooden bridge on your left slightly obscured. Go over this and through four fields until just before the woodland begins there is a bench where you can recover and admire spectacular views. Then return the way you came.

Walk 9 (Approximately two and a half hours)
Follow the instructions for Walk 8 to the bench. When you have rested (!) continue on the waymarked path through the wood, over a stile and through a field at the end of which turn right (as waymarked). Go through several fields, keeping the hedge or fence on your right until you reach a farm lane. Not many yards on turn right over a stile onto a footpath that leads you all the way downhill (and then up Sally Rucks) to Grosmont.

Walk 10 (Approximately three to four hours)
Follow the instructions for Walk 9 until you reach that point where, by going over a stile on the right you would take the path downhill to Grosmont. Instead of doing that, turn left on the metalled roadway for some 100 yards until you find a large gate on your right. Go over this and follow the path for some three quarters of a mile. Watch out for a waymark pointing down through the wood. Take this and go over a stile into a field. Immediately in this field on your left is a bench where you must sit and marvel at the view of the Black Mountains and, on a good day, a glimpse of the Brecon Beacons. Walk down the field to the small road at the bottom, turn right and return to Grosmont.

(There is a walk right round the crown of this hill, which is well worthwhile but poorly signed and too difficult to describe!)