There are no comments for this location yet. You could be the first !

Heckler

on 3rd June 2010

Masham short walk (Circular about 3.5miles) Leave the Mashamshire Community Office (situated in Little Market Place) passing the Town Hall on your left. Follow the road round to the left until you reach Masham Primary School at the top of Millgate. Here you will find the 'Acorn', the first of the 'Masham Leaves', near to the school hall door. Turn back into the main Market Place and head left making for St Mary's Church in the nearest corner. Pass the war memorial in the churchyard and a fine Norman doorway and continue on the path in front of the South Door. You'll pass the base of a Saxon Cross then, on the North side of the church, you'll find the grave of Julius Ceasar Ibbetson, a seventeenth century local artist. Go through the kissing gate at the rear of the graveyard, turn left and continue to Leaf 2 (known as the 'Standing Tree') in this field where sheep racing takes place at the annual Masham Sheep Fair. Continue past the Standing Tree, through a nearby gate and downhill to a track and turn right onto it. This track leads to the sewage works, notice the road to the Old Mill to the left and one up to Glebe House on the right. Follow the short lane, along the bank of the River Ure, which soon becomes a path. Continue along the riverbank to Leaf 3 (the 'Floating leaf'). Still on this path head towards the woods where the River Burn joins the Ure in 'Van Dieman's Plantation'. Bear left down the steps into the wood and follow the Burn upstream through trees to Low Burn Bridge on the Grewelthorpe - Masham road. Cross over the bridge and continue upstream on the opposite bank. Upon reaching the golf course climb the stile into the playing area, keeping well away from the fairway (better still, continue along the riverbank until you arrive at Leaf 4 (the 'Shrine'). From here keep close to the riverbank (as the golf course is quite extensive) until you reach Swinton Bridge. Cross the bridge and continue until you get to the Golf Club . Turn left, follow the track across the golf course, mount the stile (farm buildings on your left) and cross the field to Leaf 5 (the 'Enclosure'). Follow the path uphill making for a small industrial estate (Jameson's Agricultural Seed Merchants, Danby's Food and Ritchey Tagg Animal Needs). Turn right down the track until you reach a humpback bridge over Swinney Beck (to end the walk here, turn right and head back to the Market Place). To continue turn left and then right at Fearby Road and right again when you reach the A6108 (Leyburn - Ripon Road). Walk past theWensleydale Garage, pass the site of the White Bear pub and the memorial to civilians killed in bombing in the SecondWorldWar and head downhill to the Avenue of lime trees which leads to Masham Bridge. Just before the Bridge head left, cross a stile and walk along the riverbank until you reach Leaf 6 (the 'Footbridge'). From here retrace your steps to Masham Bridge, back along the Lime Avenue and then branch left along Silver Street which leads back to the Market Place.