Nunnington ~ Easy Walk

Distance: 4.5 miles   Time to complete walk: 2 hours

Safety Tips: A safe walk with no issues

A pleasant walk around the countryside surrounding the village of Nunnington. Starting and ending at the impressive Nunnington Hall, the walk can be started or finished with a visit to the country house. Nunnington Hall do a traditional English afternoon tea! Ideal for a full day out, especially if the weather is nice.

 

 

The Nunnington Walk

 

 

Getting There

 

 

From  Middlesbrough follow the A172 to Stokesley and then look for the B127 which goes through Great Broughton and follow this to Helmsley. Pass through Helmsley on the road to Scarborough. Immediately after Helmsley look for a right turning to the village of  Harome. Pass through the village and follow the signs to Nunnington, which is a right turning after Harome. As you come into Nunnington look for a left turning into Nunnington Hall. There are ample parking spaces.

 

 

 

 

Map of Nunnington Walk

 



The Walk

 

From Nunnington Hall turn left and cross a bridge and then follow the road to the right into Nunnington. The road eventually bends left and passes a church and the Royal Oak pub.

 

 



 

Church in Nunnington

 

 

At the end of the road cross over and follow a bridleway that rises across fields.

 



 

Bridleway

 

Follow the bridleway until it reaches a crest. There are beautiful views of the countryside as you make your way to the crest of the bridleway.

 

 

View from the bridleway

 

 

As you reach the crest, look for a left turning which is on an avenue of Scots Pine. Follow this track which crosses over a road at the beginning and keep on the track which is a pleasant walk with no incline.



 

 

Track continues

 



Keeping on the track for a good while, until you come to a crossing track. Turn left and then immediately right at a fork down another track Caulkleys Lane. You will emerge onto a lane at the bottom,  go left at a junction and then right, signed Welburn and Kirkbymoorside.

 

 

Right turning ahead

 

 

You will now pass West Ness Farm and look out for a stall to the left selling sweets and home baked goods. Items can be purchased and are paid for using an honesty box. Before you come to Ness Bridge, look for field to the left and enter it.

 

 



 

Follow the path keeping to the right at the edge of the fields, passing through a number of kissing gates. Keep on the path until you come to Mill Farm. Pass through the farmyard past an old mill to a stile.

 

 

Old Mill

 

Pass the mill and follow the course of the river to another stile. Then cross the field and head towards the left of the high wall surrounding Nunnington Hall.

 

 

Head to the left of the wall to a gate

 





  

Continue  beside the grounds of Nunnington Hall past some estate cottages. Leave the field at the far corner and go onto a lane. Turn right and go over the bridge back to Nunnington Hall. I would highly recommend a visit to this country house. It is well worth the time.

 

 

 



 

 

Nunnington Hall

 

Nunnington Hall is a country house situated in the English county of North Yorkshire. The river Rye, which gives its name to the local area, Ryedale, runs past the house, flowing away from the village of Nunnington. A stone bridge over the river separates the grounds of the house from the village. Above, a ridge known as Caulkley's Bank lies between Nunnington and the Vale of York to the south. The Vale of Pickering and the North York Moors lie to the north and east. Nunnington Hall is owned, conserved and managed as a visitor attraction by the National Trust.
The first Nunnington Hall was mentioned in the thirteenth century and the site has had many different owners. They include William Parr, Dr Robert Huicke, Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston, the Rutson family and the Fife family. The present building is a combination of seventeenth and eighteenth century work. Most of the building seen today was created during the 1680s, when Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston, was its owner.

It was William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, brother of queen consort Catherine Parr, who built the oldest parts of the surviving house of Nunnington, which now form part of the west front. Following the forfeiture of the estate after his death in 1571 (for his part in setting Lady Jane Grey on the throne), Nunnington was again subject to let. One of the tenants was Dr Robert Huicke who was physician to both Catherine Parr and Elizabeth I. Dr Huicke was to be the one to tell the Queen that she would never have children. Huicke never lived at Nunnington however and the estate was managed by stewards. The sub-lease was granted to Thomas Norcliffe in 1583 and the family made many alterations over the next sixty years.
In 1603 George Watkins and others were granted a lease of the manor for thirty-one years. After 25 years, however, it was granted to Edward Ditchfield and others of the City of London, who sold it the same year for £3,687 to John Holloway who held the manor in 1630. By 1655 the manor had been sold for £9,500 by Humphrey Thayer to Ranald Graham, a merchant of Lewisham. Ranald was succeeded by his nephew Sir Richard Graham of Netherby, who was created Viscount Preston in 1681. He was attainted in 1689 for attempting to join James II in France and his lands and property were confiscated, but later returned after he was pardoned. He was succeeded by his son and heir Edward, the 2nd Viscount and he in turn by his son Charles, 3rd and last Viscount Preston. Charles' heirs on his death in 1739 were his aunts, Mary Graham and Catherine, Lady Widdrington, who were granted joint possession of the manor of Nunnington in 1748. Mary died unmarried and Lady Widdrington left her estates to Sir Bellingham Graham, Bt., of Norton Conyers. The property then descended in the Norton Conyers Graham family until 1839, when it was sold to William Rutson of Newby Wiske, the son of a Liverpool merchant.
The hall was inherited in 1920 by Rustons' great-niece Margaret Rutson, who had married Ronald D'Arcy Fife. They undertook a major renovation of the property in the 1920s using the architect Walter Brierley. Mrs. Susan Clive (née Fife) gave Nunnington Hall and its gardens to the National Trust in 1952.
The Hall stands within 8 acres (32,000 m²) of organically managed grounds, with the main walled garden lying to the south of the building. The Walled Garden includes lawns, orchards, formal Rose beds, mixed borders, a Tea Garden, and an Iris Garden. The orchards are managed as wildflower meadows containing flowers such as Cowslip, Primrose, Snake's Head Fritillary, Buttercup and Camassia all growing below the fruit trees of which most are traditional Ryedale varieties. Another feature of the gardens are the resident peacocks. On 10 June 2007 Bluey, head of the peacock family, died under suspicious circumstances.