Golden Acre Park and Breary Marsh

Leeds is fortunate to have so many green spaces. Some, like Roundhay Park, are long established; others, like the Kirkstall Valley nature reserve, have been created from post-industrial wasteland. But none have had a more chequered history than Golden Acre Park, 6 miles (9.7km) north of the city on the main A660.

Amusement Park

The park originally opened in 1932 as an amusement park. The attractions included a miniature railway, nearly 2 miles (3.2km) in length, complete with dining car. The lake was the centre of much activity, with motor launches, dinghies for hire and races by the Yorkshire Hydroplane Racing Squadron. An open-air lido known, somewhat exotically, as the Blue Lagoon, offered unheated swimming and the prospect of goose pimples. The Winter Gardens Dance Hall boasted that it had 'the largest dance floor in Yorkshire'. Though visitors initially flocked to Golden Acre Park, the novelty soon wore off. By the end of the 1938 season the amusement park had closed down and was sold to Leeds City Council. The site was subsequently transformed into botanical gardens – a process that's continued ever since.

The hillside overlooking the lake has been lovingly planted with trees and unusual plants, including rock gardens and fine displays of rhododendrons. The boats are long gone; the lake is now a haven for wildfowl. Within these 127 acres (51ha) – the 'Golden Acre' name was as fanciful as 'the Blue Lagoon' – is a wide variety of wildlife habitats, from open heathland to an old quarry. Lovers of birds, trees and flowers will find plenty to interest them at every season of the year.

One of the few echoes of the original Golden Acre Park is a cafe situated close to the entrance. Reflecting the park's increasing popularity with local people, a large car park has been built on the opposite side of the main road, with pedestrian access to the park via a tunnel beneath the road. This intriguing park offers excellent walking, and wheelchair users, too, can make a circuit of the lake on a broad path.

From the southern corner of the car park, an underpass leads into Golden Acre Park. Turn right on a path that winds to the far end of the lake. Ignore the path off left across the lake dam and walk forward out of the park onto a crossing tree-lined bridlepath. Go left beside the park boundary to emerge at a junction of lanes. Take the one ahead, up to the aptly-named Five Lane End junction.

Take the second road on the left (Eccup Moor Road). Stick with it for a mile (1.6km) past junctions until you reach the outbuildings of Bank House Farm, where a waymarked bridleway leaves on the left. It soon narrows to a hedged path. About 50yds (46m) before the footpath later swings right, take a stile in the fence on your left. Follow the field edge away to a wall stile and continue forward across another field to emerge onto a lane (The New Inn is then just along to your right).

Go left along the road for just 20yds (18m) to take a stile on your right. Keep ahead over an intersection to join another track, which leads forward to a gate and stile. Carry on for 150yds (137m) by the boundary to a waypost and bear right across the pasture to a stile in the end wall. Walk on towards an activity centre, bypassing it through a couple of kissing gates to meet a track. Go right and immediately left along an enclosed grass track past a donkey sanctuary. When it finishes, maintain your direction walking beside successive fields to reach a road.

Go right for 150yds (138m) then take a waymarked kissing gate on the left. Follow the field-edge path by the left fence. Beyond two more kissing gates bear left across another field behind Breary Grange Farm to a ladder stile beyond a large oak. Maintain the same direction to a stile at the far corner and continue across a final field. Leave over a stile next to buildings onto the A660 by a roundabout.

Cross the main road and turn into The Sycamores. Walk past the Rugby Club, but some 100yds (91m) further on, leave through a kissing gate on the left. Head away at the edge of successive fields towards a wood. Crossing a beck, carry on beside the trees. Reaching a stile, swing left along a track towards a farmhouse. Continue on the field path beyond to a gate that leads into the Breary Marsh Nature Reserve.

The path off sharp right makes a circuit around the lake, a pleasant extension if you're not pushed for time. Otherwise, bear slightly right on a path below the foot of the dam. At a junction, go left with the Leeds Country Way, signed towards the A660. Wind with the bridleway across a bridge, but at the next junction, turn left back to the car park.