St John’s Church, Helsington

Start: The Wheatsheaf Inn, Brigsteer Brow, Brigsteer, Kendal, Cumbria LA8 8AN Tel: 01539 266026

(S/E) From the front door of Wheatsheaf Inn, walk up the hill (signposted to Kendal) for 325 metres on Brigsteer Brow road. Go straight at the crossing with Crooked Gate and look out for a lane on the right then shortly afterwards, just after the entrance to Helsington Lodge, turn right onto a bridleway that descends initially then climbs gently.

(1) At the entrance to a house called Kistwells, take the left-hand fork, continuing uphill. Pass another house to a gate into fields. Follow the path along the bottom of the slope, with a stone wall and woodland on your right.

(2) At the top you meet a gravelly track; turn left and follow the wall to St Patrick’s, Helsington. Beyond the Parish church of Saint John Helsington, continue along the tarmac road ahead.

(3) Just before the cattle grid at the junction, leave the road at a footpath sign on your left and follow the fence steeply downhill. At the bottom of the field, bear left to a wooden kissing gate, through which turn right and follow a narrow path through trees which shortly drops down to join the bridleway you followed earlier.

(4) Turn right and follow the track for a little over 100 metres, before turning left at a waymark post through a squeeze stile and down stone steps into a field. Walk down the edge of the field to a hand gate and down a few more steps. Bear right along the top of the next field then bear left down the slope towards the village. Go through a narrow hand gate and down a few more steps and cross the last narrow field to a kissing gate into a lane.

Turn right on Parkend Lane and pass a house dated 1862. Keep right when the road forks and continue through the village. Ignore lanes to left and right and follow the village street ahead as it climbs gently back to the Wheatsheaf. (S/E)

Start: The Wheatsheaf Inn, Brigsteer Brow, Brigsteer, Kendal, Cumbria LA8 8AN Tel: 01539 266026

Notes: Wet grass after rain. One gradual climb and a steep descent. Cattle and sheep likely.

Find more information on Walks From the Door website.

• The Silver-washed Fritillary has a mostly southern distribution but there is an outlying population in this area. The High Brown Fritillary, Britain’s most endangered butterfly, is another local speciality.
• Notable wildlife of Scout Scar includes the declining Grayling butterfly and the rare Dark-red Helleborine, a type of orchid. More common, but no less attractive, is the familiar Harebell, confusingly known as the Bluebell in Scotland.
• Lime kilns are a common feature of limestone areas. Limestone (calcium carbonate) was burnt to produce quicklime (calcium oxide), used in mortar and also spread on the fields to neutralise acid soils.
• Sizergh Castle is operated by the National Trust. It dates from various periods but the most prominent part is the 15th- century tower. The gardens are renowned.