Husthwaite to Byland Abbey This walk begins with a loop round the village of Husthwaite and continues towards Coxwold along a disused railway line, which is now a right of way. It passes through Coxwold and circles round through fields to eventually reach Byland Abbey. Looking at the map you might feel the first part of the walk is superfluous, but by achieving a slight eminence it affords magnificent views (weather permitting) of the Vale of York and the White Horse. Distance 7 miles. Map Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 299. Difficulty Easy, mainly across fields, one or two gentle hills. Travel Stephensons 31X from Exhibition Square York to Husthwaite. Return on the same bus from the stop outside Byland Abbey. Creature Comforts There is a seasonal self-service pop up cafe at Elphin Bridge; Coxwold has a pub (The Fauconberg Arms) as well as toilets attached to the Village Hall; the Coxwold Tearooms and the Byland Abbey Inn Tearoom are both highly recommended, but their opening days and times vary considerably with the season. Shandy Hall, Coxwold
Route Details Alight from the bus at the first stop in Husthwaite, just before the village green (1). Turn back along the road in the direction the bus has just come and walk uphill until you reach a junction on the right with a lane and a track signposted to Flower of May farm (2). The village green at Husthwaite, with the church behind Follow the track to the farm but shortly before you reach it, follow the waymarks which take you in a Z-bend, passing to the left of the farm and then after a few metres turning right between two barns to reach a gate with two waymarks (3). Pass through the gate and turn right. Almost immediately, pass through a second gate and walk forward, aiming for the pylon. As you near the brow of the slope, but before you reach the pylon, you will come to an old field boundary (two remnant ditches with a bank between, on which grow two trees; here turn right (north) towards a waymarked gatepost (there is a half-concealed pond to its right). Continue walking ahead, up the field towards a stile in the corner. Cross the stile, walk through a small copse, and then down along the edge of a field to meet a road (4). Turn right along the road for a few metres to find a stile in the hedge on the left; cross the stile and walk down the right hand side of this field to a kissing gate in the right hand corner (5). Turn right through the gate and after a few metres turn left across a small bridge which leads to a path beside a series of gardens to reach the road opposite Husthwaite Church.
Cross the road and take the footpath ahead between a house to the left and the church immediately on the right (6). Ignore the gate directly ahead the footpath dog-legs to the left round a small brick building to reach a kissing gate with an arrow on it. Pass through this gate and then a second one, which leads into an arable field. Continue in the same direction down the field until you reach an opening onto the road (7). N.B. Definition of the path line on the ground can vary with the cropping cycle, and the field can be quite muddy. Turn left and continue until you have crossed Elphin Bridge, where you turn right onto a path along the line of a dismantled railway (8). Follow this for a mile and a half until it reaches the road leading into Coxwold, where you will see the old signal box ahead of you (9). The former signal box and line of the railway at Coxwold (now a private property) Turn left and continue to the crossroads at Coxwold. [If the season, day and your timing are suitable, you could at this point take a detour left up the main village street, past the Fauconberg Arms, to visit Shandy Hall, a late medieval house and home of Laurence Sterne, the eighteenth-century author of Tristram Shandy (consult https://www.laurencesternetrust.org.uk/ for details of opening).] The walk itself, however, goes straight ahead at the crossroads. Opposite the garage and Village Hall, turn left onto a footpath, signposted Town s Pasture (10). With a stream on its left, the path leads behind long gardens. At the next gate, turn right (again signposted Town s Pasture) and follow the path up the field, bearing slightly right away from the left hand field edge. The path then passes through a fenced area (11) with entry and exit gates, both marked by left and right waymarks, though these make sense only for the exit gate. Follow the right
arrow on the latter to walk diagonally (north-west) up and across Town s Pasture. As you crest the slope, you will see a stile post in the fence ahead on the right. Cross the stile and continue (now on a north-north-easterly bearing) through two fields, going steeply downhill in the second, past a solitary oak, and turn left at the bottom (at a sign for Cams Head). Walk along field edge, with the hedgerow on your right, until you come to another signpost for Cams Head, pointing you right (12). With the hedge now on your left, continue through two more fields, linked by a stile with a bridge. At the next stile with a bridge, turn right along the field edge (13). This field is liable to waterlogging and it may be necessary to move away from the official line of the path to circumnavigate flooding, including at one point diverting on to an old field bank. At the north-east corner of the field (14), the path goes through a gate into a small wood, eventually crossing a bridge and turning left (north) until it comes out into a field. Continue up the hill to a T-junction of paths (signposted Oldstead Grange/Byland Abbey) (15). Turn right, cross the stile and follow the hedge on your left, with Brinks Hill on your right. At the end of this field the path crosses through the hedge (16), continuing in the same direction into a further field, but with the hedge now on the right. The path continues in an easterly direction through a further three fields until it reaches a stile onto the road on the outskirts of Byland (17). Here turn left and walk into Byland. The west front of Byland Abbey (as seen from the bus stop)