Last updated 15:21, Thursday, 21 August 2008

A Family Walk around Latterbarrow and Hawkshead with the help of Vivienne Crow

Picture postcard village: The pretty Lakeland village of Hawkshead

MAP: OS Explorer map OL7.

START: Hawkshead.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Bus services 505, 525 and X30 (telephone 0871 200 2233).

REFRESHMENTS: Variety of pubs and cafes in Hawkshead.

DISTANCE: 4.2 miles

TOTAL ASCENT: 758ft

TIME: 2-2.5 hours

GRADE: Easy/Intermediate

OVERVIEW: At a mere 800ft, Latterbarrow is barely worthy of the title ‘fell’, but it’s the views from the top that make this little bump in the landscape a grand destination on a sunny summer’s day. You’re unlikely to have the summit to yourself – it’s a popular walk from busy Hawkshead – but don’t let that spoil your enjoyment as you slowly turn 360 degrees at the top to take in your surroundings. Most of the paths are well signposted and easy to follow. The climb to the summit is steep, but short-lived.

THE WALK: With your back to the toilet block near the main ‘pay and display’ car parks, turn left and then right, into the village. Walk between the National Trust shop and the Queen’s Head Inn. Just after the Red Lion’s tiny beer garden, turn right along a lane (signpost reads: “Public Footpath Latterbarrow, Claife Heights”). Towards the end of this lane, swing left to go through a small gate.

Cross straight over the road and down the track opposite (signpost reads: “Public Footpath Scar House Lane”). This quickly bends right and then crosses the beck via a narrow footbridge. Turn left and, almost immediately, strike off right, across the grass, to a kissing-gate in the field corner. Continue in roughly the same direction to another kissing-gate, beyond which you bear left (signpost reads: “Public Footpath Loanthwaite”). You will return to this point from the other direction near the end of the walk.

The path leads to a rough, fenced track along which you turn left. Almost immediately, go through a small kissing-gate on your right (0.6 miles from the start). Having passed through some more kissing-gates along the way, you will reach Loanthwaite Lane, along which you turn right.

Occasional gaps in the hedge on the left provide good views of the Fairfield Horseshoe and, to the east of these fells, Red Screes.

At the T-junction, turn left and then right through gate with a fingerpost beside it (1.25 miles from the start). A clear path heads gently uphill and, when this forks, bear left to climb more steeply. Take some time to enjoy the views behind you – the Coniston Fells, Crinkle Crags and the Langdale Pikes are all in view. The well-trodden trail soon swings right to reach the tall column at the summit of Latterbarrow (1.6 miles from the start). Now the far-ranging view also includes the peaks of the Fairfield Horseshoe and some of the eastern fells.

From the top, swing half-right to follow the wide track down through the bracken (S). At the bottom of the slope, cross the wooden stile and follow the track through the woods. Beyond a gap in a drystone wall, you enter a felled area. Keep to the track when it soon swings right. It then curves left to reach a rise where you can again see the fells to the NE. The felled trees may make for ugly, desolate surroundings, but they do allow us to see a little further afield.

At the next wall corner, follow the track as it swings right again for a few yards and then crosses a gap in a wall. It drops down some steps, crosses an open area and then follows a wall back up to the forest proper (2.35 miles from the start).

Turn right along the gravel track (signpost reads: “Bridleway Hawkshead”). The track forks on a couple of occasions, but the separate branches always meet up again, so it doesn’t matter which option you choose.

Turn left at the road (3.4 miles from the start) and then right along a narrow lane. About 70 yards after the junction, turn left at a fingerpost and go through a wooden gate. Swing right to walk with a fence on your left and then go through a gap in the wall. There isn’t an obvious path on the ground now, but if you look west, you should be able to see a yellow-topped marker post. Make your way over to this and then continue W, past the next marker post and across a stone stile in a wall.

Follow the path downhill to Scar House Lane (3.65 miles from the start). Cross straight over the track to go through a kissing-gate a little to the right (signpost reads: “Public Footpath Hawkshead Hall B5286”). At the next junction of paths, bear left and go through the kissing-gate to retrace your steps to the start of the walk.

POINTS OF INTEREST: Hawkshead has existed since the tenth century. Its name comes from the Norseman Haukr who is thought to have built its earliest dwellings. Until the twelfth century, all land in the area belonged to the monks of Furness Abbey, who built Hawkshead Hall just to the north of the village. All that remains now of the medieval manor house is the National Trust-owned Courthouse.

Hawkshead’s old grammar school was established in 1585 by the Archbishop of York Edwin Sandys, who was born at nearby Esthwaite Hall. Closed in 1909, one of its most famous pupils was William Wordsworth.

The name Latterbarrow comes from the old Norse and means ‘hill where animals have their lair’.

For more short walks in the Lake District, watch out for Vivienne Crow’s new books, Easy Rambles Around Keswick and Borrowdale and Easy Rambles Around Ambleside and Grasmere.