Around Baldersdale

Baldersdale is a wild and harsh upland dale, with only a hint of green that surrounds the river impinging on the remote brown ridges of the Cotherstone and Hunderthwaite moors. To the east the river empties into the Tees; to the west just the rocky pork pie-like summit of Shacklesborough breaks the monochrome monotony of the moors that rise to the Pennine watershed less than 5 miles (8km) away.

Unimproved fields

 Three things brought Baldersdale to the attention of the outside world. The first was the building of the reservoirs, which brought sailors, waterskiers and anglers here; the second was the routing of the Pennine Way to these parts. The third, and perhaps the most fascinating, was a 1973 television series that detailed the life of Hannah Hauxwell. Hannah’s family worked Birk Hat, the little farm down in the bottom of the valley by Blackton Reservoir’s northwest shores; the one surrounded by trees – you’ll visit it later on the walk.

When Hannah’s parents passed away she was left alone to work this isolated farm without the luxury of running water or electricity. She did so without the benefit of modern farming methods and without the use of artificial fertilisers. When Hannah retired in 1988, the Durham Wildlife Trust purchased her lands. They found the ‘unimproved’ fields of great interest with several uncommon species of plants flourishing.

The walk begins along the dam of the huge Balderhead Reservoir where you can look down the valley past the impressive, craggy sandstone outcrop of Goldsborough on Cotherstone Moor to the greener horizons of Teesdale.

Below the dam, it follows the Pennine Way through the fields above Blackton Reservoir, the shallowest of the Baldersdale lakes and one fringed with wetlands. It’s a haven for wildfowl and you may see coots, moorhens, reed buntings and sedge warblers nesting: feeding visitors include the oystercatcher, snipe and redshank. During harsh winters you might spot a black grouse that has come down from the moors to feed on the birch shoots.

After crossing the small dam above the main Hury reservoir, the return takes you past Hannah’s Meadows. The 17.5-acre (7.1ha) nature reserve has a wide variety of grasses interspersed with colourful wild flowers like wood cranesbill, globeflower, marsh marigold, wood anemone, ragged robin and the adder’s tongue fern, which only grows in meadows unpolluted by artificial fertilisers.

Head across the dam. At the far end, turn sharp left on a gravel track down to the former Youth Hostel of Blackton Grange. Through the yard, follow the ongoing grass track to a junction near Blackton Bridge. Turn right over Hunder Beck and climb through a gate along the Pennine Way. 

A short distance along, at a three-way signpost beside the first bend, leave ahead on a path across the hillside. Criss a stile in the corner and bear left across two more pastures before reaching a footbridge over How Sike. Climb towards the far top corner of the next enclosure and walk on parallel to the wall on your right. Maintain the same heading from field to field, passing below West Friar House to reach East Friar House. 

Walk on beside a small barn and behind the farmhouse, crossing a track to a wall stile. Carry on across the head of two more fields and then bear half left to a stile beside the lower gate in the far wall. Keep going to pass left of a barn and join the wall downhill to a stile in the bottom corner. Follow a service track right above upper Hury Reservoir to a car park. 

Double back left down to the lakes and turn right over the spillway and dam. At the far side, swing left above the lake, rising at the end to a gate beside the dam. 

Turn immediately right through a second gate and head half left to a gate in the distant corner. Go right beside old hawthorns, swinging left in the corner alongside another outgrown hedge. Beyond, pass left of a barn and continue beside two more fields, the wall first on your right then the left. A walled drove leads to a footbridge over Blind Beck. Keep ahead across more pastures, following the left wall in the fourth field down to Low Birk Hat. Leave through a gate at the bottom and go right out to a drive.

Turn up right beside Hannah's Meadows. At the top of the second meadow, go left along a wooden walkway to a restored barn containing a display of old farm implements. Leaving the barn, turn left and keep left behind it to climb to a gate in the top corner by High Birk Hat Farm. Walk left through the yard to a gate at the far end. Keep right, skirting behind the barn to a stile tucked in the corner. Bear left to a stile part way up the end wall and cross a final rough pasture back to the car park.