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)