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Honey-coloured buildings and a wooded valley make Blanchland a picture-book village.
Distance 3.5 miles (5.7km)
Minimum time 1hr 30min
Ascent/gradient 345ft (105m)
Level of difficulty Easy
Paths Tracks and field paths, two short climbs
Landscape Village and wooded farmland
Suggested map aqua3 OS Explorer 307 Consett & Derwent Reservoir
Start/finish NY 964504
Dog friendliness On lead, except final riverside path from Blanchland Bridge
Parking Blanchland car park, at north edge of village
Public toilets Blanchland, near bridge
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1 From the car park turn left up the road, formerly the drove road to Hexham. Go left up the walled track towards Coat House. As the track bends right towards a farmhouse, go left through a waymarked gate and cross the small field to go over a ladder stile. Bear half left down the hillside on a faint track to a ladder stile on to the road. Turn right into the hamlet of Baybridge. As you approach the stone bridge you enter County Durham - the boundary leaves the River Derwent at this point to take in Durham County Council's Baybridge picnic site.
2 Cross the bridge over the river. Opposite the road to the right, go left on a signed footpath by a gate. Just after crossing a stream, go right, uphill, by a waymarked post. Climb the hill to a waymarked stile. Cross the field beyond then bear right to follow the fence. At the top, go left through a gateway and follow the track, which bears right round a wall. Go through two gates into the farmyard at Allenshields.
3 Go straight ahead though another gate and ahead across the field to a ladder stile. Follow the field edge, over another ladder stile, then bear half left to leave the field by a gate near the house. Turn left down the lane. Turn left at the T-junction and cross the bridge into Blanchland. The view of Blanchland, as you descend to the 18th-century bridge, is of a pretty stone-built village that clusters around the church, backed by woodland and moors.
4 At the end of the bridge go sharp right, between the bridge and a stone building, to the riverside. Follow the riverside path, going over two ladder stiles. At the signpost turn left, signed 'Blanchland'. Follow the track, which rises and bends left. At the road, cross and follow the raised footpath, back into Blanchland, past the abbey.
5 Turn right back to the car park at the start of the walk.
Blanchland Moor is an atmospheric stretch of land, crossed by an ancient drove road that was used to bring cattle from Hexham, and dotted with the remains of lead mines, with a ruined engine house. Lying beneath the moor and home to several generations of miners in the 18th and early 19th centuries is the delightful village of Blanchland.
Much of the village was rebuilt in the mid-18th century for Nathaniel, Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, who owned the estate. Many of the buildings, though, have medieval monastic origins. The boundary with the abbey churchyard is actually the south wall of the monastic church; the inn, the Lord Crewe Arms, was once the lodge of the Abbot of Blanchland, and the garden was the abbey cloisters. The inn is said to be haunted by the ghost of Dorothy Forster, Lord Crewe's niece, who rode in disguise to the Tower of London to rescue her brother, imprisoned for his part in the Jacobite uprising of 1715.
The abbey was a Premonstratensian monastery, with white-robed monks - Blanchland is their 'white land'. When Lord Crewe took over the estate, the abbey building was a ruin. He arranged for the chancel, crossing and north transept of the monastic church to be roofed and repaired, so today the church is L-shaped - you enter under the tower into the transept, and turn under the crossing into the main body of the church. On the floor there are grave slabs to some of the abbots, carved with mitres, and foresters, with horns.
The village square was the abbey's outer courtyard, originally entered through the arched gateway at the north end, which now incorporates the village post office. The fountain - locally known as a 'pant' - was put up in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
Derwent Reservoir, east of Blanchland, is second in size only to Kielder Water in the north. It has a surface area of 1,000 acres (405ha), and was completed in 1967. The activities it offers include sailing and windsurfing, as well as fishing. The Northumberland and Durham county boundary goes through the middle of the lake, following the old river course.
The roadside wild flowers in and around Blanchland are worth seeking out. You are likely to spot creeping buttercup, with its large yellow flowers, rough leaves and creeping stems; germander speedwell, which has spikes of bright blue flowers and hairy leaves with serrated edges, and greater stitchwort which has a profusion of white flowers with ten-lobed white petals, that are produced from April to June. In other places you may see the fairy flax, which has white flowers and elliptical leaves, and the bright-yellow heads of the birdsfoot trefoil. Most common of all is cow parsley - sometimes known as Queen Anne's Lace - with its delicate array of tiny white flowers set on long branching stalks.
The Lord Crewe Arms offers fine eating in its restaurant, as well as meals in its atmospheric bar. It has a children's room next to the bar and dogs are welcome. The cloister garden is pleasant in warm weather. The White Monk Tea Rooms in the village square provide home-made cakes (dogs and children welcome), and there is often an ice cream van in the square in the summer months.
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