Holystone, heather and bracken

 Holystone, Heather and bracken. September 1st

Holystone is a hamlet in Northumberland reached by going north on the A1, taking the A697 at Morpeth, driving through Rothbury, turning off at the junction for Harbottle and turning left for Holystone. Drive through the hamlet and after a half mile there is a car park on Forestry land. And a picnic table with benches, useful when booting up.

The walk is covered by two maps: OS OL 42 Kielder Water and OS OPL 16 Cheviot Hills

The Benedictines founded a nunnery in Holystone in 1124 AD. All that remains is in the church nave and wall.

                            Where to park in Holystone.

Note re the map. The continuous black line is the proposed walk, the dotted lines are where we went a different way, for fun or because of the fallen trees blocking paths in woodland. Storm Arwen November 21 was responsible.

Leaving the car park we walked up the forest track to a fingerpost. Following on an overgrown footpath that wandered through woodland close to Holystone Burn we finally emerged on  a green track near Cat Law. As the path was blocked by fallen trees we had to climb out of the valley up a steep bank. To help I took hold of a tree stump which immediately snapped and sent me rolling downhill, executing a backward roll worthy of the Olympics. Fortunately I was not injured. Back at the top we walked up the sidemof a wall to the Pedlar's Stone and a small piece of woodland in a cruciform shape.

                                  Easy going on a green lane

                 The centre tree is an ostrich, the right is a squirrel

                                The Pedlar's stone.

Beyond the ostrich we joined a good farm track, passing the farm at Craig which has the remains of a bastle.

                  Remains of the bastle at Craig. (A bastle is a fortified house, protection from the Scots)

The road took us on to High Shaw farm and the farm at Raw, which has a bastle too.

              Once upon a time it was a bastle.

Beyond the farm we turned north east but stopped to sit in the sun and admire the view as we had a Herbie (Apple pies, almond slice, scone and cake from Mrs A)

                           Lunchtime view.

Moving on we stayed on the road looking for a marker for the footpath across Harbour Crag. We found it and followed an almost non existent footpath towards Overstone plantation. The footpath through the wood was blocked by fallen trees so we walked the edge before struggling through the heather and bracken towards the Beacon and the Five Kings. The path through the heathere was almost invisible but at least the stuff, when not tripping you up, cleans any mud off your boots, It is hard work, especially going uphill and not being able to see the ground properly, but eventually we made it to the Five Kings.

          Brian and the Five Kings. Yes there are only four of these standing stones, number five is a gatepost nearby. Recycling

From the Kings we continued north, again struggling through bracken and heather until we reached the road near Dueshill Farm. As we reached the village we took a short cut on the bank of the burn, passing St. Mary's church before finally returning to the cars.

               St Mary's church, the nave is what remains of the nunnery.

On the way home we stopped at the Shoulder of Mutton in Longframlington for some well desrved Timothy Taylor's Landlord.

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2023

A little short of 10 miles, some of it, although not steep, is very hard going.