Route Description
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Introduction
During the daffodil season, the normally sleepy valley of Farndale becomes very busy with people coming to see the millions and millions of flowering daffodils. This walk takes you through the most popular part of Farndale, and then into the less well know part.
Conditions
Can be very muddy, especially from Church Houses to Low Mill, as this section is popular and gets churned up.
Hazards and warnings
Picking the dafodils is illegal, and selfish. You can buy some locally, if you really want to bring some home with you.
Detailed description
You can take the Moors Bus to Church Houses during the dafodil season. This allows a linear route, and avoids parking difficulties and heavy traffic on the narrow lanes. The 'park and ride' starts from Hutton-le-Hole, and the buses are fairly frequent at weekends.
Starting from Church Houses, wander down the lane, following the signposts for the Daffy Cafe. After passing the cafe, the route heads across fields. The path is obvious, but very muddy if there has been rain.
Despite the inevitable crowds, the dafodils really are amazing. The fields by the stream are covered in millions of these gold and silvery gold flowers.
Follow the path along side the river. After crossing a bridge, you will arrive at Low Mill. At the junction turn right, and follow Mill lane up the hill out of the village on the west side of the valley. Although the road will have quite a few cars, the views down into Farndale are lovely. At Olive Tree farm, turn left and follow the footpath down the hill and over the stream. After a short but steep climb you will join a farm track. It can be muddy in places, but the walking is easy, and and you get good views along the valley. Follow this track until it ends by the river.
Cross the bridge, and follow the narrow path through the wooded glades. Here you'll find lots of dafodils, but without the crowds. After a third of a mile you will pass some outbuilding, and emerge into a meadow, with yet more dafs. After crossing the meadow, you will go back into some woods, before crossing the stream on a footbridge. From there it's a short distance, over a small stream, and up a hill, back to the road. The moors bus passes here, and can be flagged down to get you back to Hutton-le-Hole.