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About Tarn Hows | About Cumbria way | Parking Location | OS Map | Current Weather
Starting in the beautiful village of Coniston, we headed down Tiberthwaite Avenue following the road past some pubs, shops and café's before heading left past the local school. Just after the school, there is a small road to the right and from here a path is accessible to the left. We followed the path along the woodland into a large field. From here we could see a very unusual building which looked like a mini castle. Upon closer inspection, we found that it was an old Dog Kennel for Foxhounds. We read on an information board inside that the Monk Coniston Estate wanted to hide the kennels, and as such, made it with a medieval façade. Having your own ruins or castle on-site at the time was very desirable. An odd find on a walk, and very appreciated early on we spent some time exploring this before moving on.
The walk from here heads through another field and we were flanked on either side with plantations. The walking is very easy here, walking through fields with the huge rocky mass of mountain to the left keeping watch. Towards the end of this path, we collected another path and followed the Yewdale beck along for a short distance. As we reached Yewdale farm, we took a right and headed up through Tarn Hows Wood.
This wood has a much more ancient feel. Ferns and Fungi growing all around and a damp and darkness that you only seem to get with old woodland. The path here was much more uneven working its way through the wood. Although we didn’t see too many animals on this wet walk, we heard plenty. As we came out from the woods, we headed over to the one-way road that exits from Tarn Hows. On a drier day, we would likely have continued up to Tarn Hows, but as the rain was set in, we didn’t want to extend the walk too far.
Instead, we headed back down the track and took the right-hand path back, this skirts around the property at the end of the track and then swings you down the fields towards the bottom of the valley. There were obvious signs of cattle, but we didn’t see any and continued down, veering to the left of a small woodland, we came to the road.
Crossing by Yew Tree Farm, we picked up a lovely path that took the two of us past Crag House Wood where we got some great views back at the Coniston range. This path eventually leads back around towards the road where we followed the path which runs parallel with the said road. This path continues past Low Yewdale Farm and runs along the bottom of the fellside. Limestone how, Park intake wood and Whins Wood are all on this rather straightforward path that continues under the shadow of Yew Pike back into Coniston.
It wasn’t the biggest walk, but for a wet day when we wanted to keep off the fells, we did enjoy it. It was great reading and learning about the grounds around Coniston on the walk too, and Tarn Hows wood was the classic English woodland that always seems to bring a smile to your face.
