Low Wood and Stork House loop — North York Moors National Park

Down and up and repeat could be a summary of this circular tour in Bransdale, but that would not do full justice to it, for it has the most glorious views over Bransdale and they start when you get out of the car at the small car parking space on the road from Fadmoor to Cockayne. Fields are in colours of russet, orange, yellow and green. From the car parking space (room for about a dozen cars), the route is down Bransdale Road before heading off on a farm track towards Ankness. Part way down this track, a footpath is signposted off to the right that takes you across fields and ultimately leads to Low Wood, where you cross Hodge Beck by means of a footbridge. There is a small weir here. After the beck there is a climb up through the wood. Near the top of the climb, the path seems straight ahead towards a wall, but in fact the proper footpath is off to the left and reaches the corner of a boundary wall. If you have to cross a fallen tree trunk you have gone too far. If you don’t like bracken then you won’t enjoy this part of the tour. You emerge from the wood with Stork House in view, a dilapidated collection of farm buildings, but visually attractive. I was going to go on to Lambfold Hill, but progress to Stork House had been slower than I wanted and there was more bracken to negotiate, so I decided to cut the tour short and begin the return. Thus back downhill to cross Hodge beck again by a different bridge and then cross fields towards Low Lidmoor where you pick up a farm track and near Moor Houses this becomes tarmaced as it approaches Bransdale Road. For maximum enjoyment of the views, you really need to go on a clear day. Low Wood is mainly deciduous, so it might be worth going late in October when the leaves are really changing colour. Another advantage is that the bracken would have died back too. There was one ladder stile and three ordinary stiles on the route