Ampleforth ~ Easy Walk

Distance Covered: 4 miles   Time to complete walk: 2 hours

Safety Tips: Be prepared for the steep incline at the very beginning of the walk. Use your GPS if you stray off the walk. 

This is an ideal walk for beginners. Steep at the very start of the walk, its all downhill after then with pleasant walking through cornfields and woodland around the surrounding countryside near the pretty village of Ampleforth. Take a picnic, as towards the end of the walk there's a picnic table!

 

Studfold Ring

 

Getting There

 

From Middlesbrough go up Ormesby Bank and follow the signposts to Great Broughton. Stay on this road which is the B1257 until you reach Helmsley. Follow the road out of Helmsley towards Thirsk. At a signpost which says route avoiding the Sutton Bank take this route and take the first right turning which will lead you to Ampleforth. Parking is on the roadside in Ampleforth.

 

The Walk

 

 

Route of the Ampleforth walk

 





From the road side parking, along the main road in Ampleforth look for a gap between the White Horse Inn and the post office, opposite a post box.

 

        

                                                                  Start of the walk

 

This is the only climbing part of the walk, and although a bit strenuous, don't worry as its all downhill afterwards. Make your way through entrance gates onto a second drive. Turn right to a junction and go over a stile.

 

                                                                     Stile onto field

Climb to the top of the bank and you will reach a track, follow it to the left, passing through gates to carry on at the edge of a paddock. Entering the next field bear right to the far corner, and keep going by a fence and a broken wall to your right. When you reach the very top, walk left and then right and continue ahead by the perimeter of a long field. If you've lost your bearings you should have the circle of trees surrounding the Studfold Ring to your left.

 

Studfold Ring

 

 

 
The Studfold Ring is a banked enclosure dating from the Bronze Age. Carry onto the end of the cornfield path and you will reach a stile which leads you onto a road and onto the main road, the High Street.

 

Stile onto High Street

 

 



Turn left and follow the High Street for three quarters of a mile, passing the entrance to Studford Farm and passing by a lane that leads back to Ampleforth. About 200 yards further on leave the road to the left dropping onto a forest track.

 

 

Forest track

 

The track leads downhill into the plantations of College Moor. Look for the second fork in this path which leads to the left and take this path.

 



                                                  Take the left fork on the track

Follow this path and when it ends on a right bend look for a hidden path to the right which leads into the woods.

 

Path into the woods

 



This path doubles back and leads into the woods. Follow this path until you reach a stile and a picnic table is on your right. A great place for a pitstop and food and refreshments!.

 

Picnic Table

 



                             

After your picnic, turn left on the lane and follow this back onto the main road and turn left back into Ampleforth. To your right on the way back are some great views of the Howardian Hills.

 

 

 

 



 



 

Ampleforth

 

Ampleforth is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England, about 23 miles (37 km) north of York. The village is situated on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. The parish has a population of 883 according to the 2001 census and includes Ampleforth College.
Until immediately after the Second World War Ampleforth mainly consisted of houses built along the main road which serves as the principal thoroughfare. Here there are several buildings dating back to the 19th century including the village's shop and the adjoining Coram Cottage, constructed in 1856.
After the Second World War the village began to spread southwards and further east along what now are called Mill Lane and East Lane. At the southern end of the village there is a former council estate constructed in the 1960s which formed the greatest part of the development. Construction of new houses continues today. Along East Lane small farms are gradually being developed into large homes so that the rural and residential split becomes less marked
The Church of England parish church is dedicated to St Hilda, an English abbess who founded Whitby Abbey. The church dates back to Saxon times, with elements from the 13th century. Attached to the church is a primary school run jointly by the Church of England and the North Yorkshire County Council Education service.
Ampleforth Abbey is only 1 mile (1.6 km) away. Our Lady and St Benedict's church is served by the monks of Ampleforth and has been the parish church for the village's Catholic population for many decades, often being considered a chapel-of-ease to the farmers of the area. Attached to the Roman Catholic parish is the co-educational primary school, St Benedict's, which is run by the Diocese of Middlesbrough as a systemic school.
There are two public houses in the village, the White Swan and the White Horse. The latter takes its name from the large white horse which was carved into the hillside a few miles to the west.
Ampleforth had a Quaker settlement on the edge of the village, in Shallowdale to the west. The 16th century Carr House Farm was occupied by flax workers to weave flax into linen