Route: Farndale
Area: North Yorkshire
Date of walk: 28th March 2017
Walkers: Andrew and Gilly
Distance: 4.3 miles
Weather: Dull and misty
Farndale is a beautiful place at any time of the year, but is especially renowned for its amazing display of wild daffodils in spring which carpet the meadows and riverbanks along the River Dove
The medieval monks from nearby Rievaulx Abbey are supposed to have planted the first daffodil bulbs here, but the wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) is one of our native plants. It grows naturally in Farndale, where the river banks, damp meadows and open woodlands provide ideal conditions. The daffodils are protected within the Farndale Nature Reserve which was established in 1955 to safeguard them
It was a gloomy and murky day as we parked in the small village of Low Mill and walked down to the riverside. We followed the well made path, admiring the daffodils as we went along – they were mostly on the far bank of the river, but a wonderful sight nonetheless
Before long we reached the furthest point of today’s walk at Church Houses, where the Daffy Cafe plies a very busy trade at this time of the year, and as custom demands we dropped in for a cup of tea and bacon and egg sandwich. Suitably refreshed we set out along the return leg which is higher up the valley but we soon regretted our choice of route as the normally wonderful views were completely obscured by the thick mist. We wished we’d simply retraced our steps beside the river
Never mind, we’d seen the daffodils which had been the purpose of our visit and there were no regrets
For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box
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By way of introducing the floral theme of today’s walk, hellebore in the garden at the weekend….
Cherry blossom…
…and daffodils in the lawn
The day before the walk, ‘Weeping Window’ in Hull by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper
On the way to today’s walk, we stopped off to visit Pickering Station, home to the North York Moors Railway
Half an hour or so later we arrive in Low Mill and set out on today’s walk
The daffodil area is now a Nature Reserve
We cross the footbridge over the River Dove
The easy path meanders beside the east bank of the river
Swathes of wild garlic will succeed the daffodils
Wild daffodil - narcissus pseudonarcissus…
Approaching Church Houses, home to the Daffy Caffy...
Church Houses
Time for a pot of tea and a bacon sandwich
A short roadside section as we pass by the Feversham Arms…
We pass by St Mary’s Church
We leave the road here to walk back to Low Mill - sadly there were no views today…
Back to the start
A host of golden daffodils in the fields next to the car park
