mytravelbugbite

Harewood House is based north of Leeds on the road out towards Harrogate. Though the house itself is very lovely, we were there the other day to walk in the countryside surrounding it. The trail is a round loop so you can start where you like but we decided upon the layby where the road from Wike joins the A61.

The first part of the route is across the A61 into the grounds of the estate on a well maintained path that offers views across a vast lawn to the house itself before dropping downhill into some woodland. It then follows around towards the house just bypassing to the left side which takes you past the admin offices. From here you enter into the deer park where we were able to see some of the deer and stags in the distance. At the end of the park you reach the village of Harewood where there is a pub called the Harewood Arms Hotel where you can grab a refreshment if you so wish.

Up to this point the walk has been on paths but after skirting down the left hand side of the pub you start to hike on bridleways and cut across fields so the footing is not so good. If you don’t want to off-road there is an alternative shortcut up the inside of the estate perimeter that comes out back near the layby we started at. The field route also comes out near here.

While the walk is fairly undulating throughout, the primarily good terrain and lack of any majorly steep inclines makes for a relatively easy 7 mile hike that could be managed by most of the family providing quintessential views of the English countryside. As it only takes a couple of hours it would be easy to tag the walk onto a trip to Harewood House itself which is well worth visiting (even if just for the aviary).

Have you walked around the Harewood Estate or visited the house? Are there any simple, family walks near you that you particularly enjoy?