Nature Walks

Hardcastle Crags, an estate which includes two steep-sided wooded valleys, is now in the care of the National Trust but we joined National Trust Warden Drew Marsh, Careership Warden Ian O'Leary and volunteer warden Jeff Holden for a walk from Midgehole Car Park to Gibson Mill, built in 1800 for cotton-spinning.

View down Crimsworth Dean to the Crags

We talked to our guides about what they would like visitors to get out of the walk.

Drew says: "It is the experience of Hardcastle Crags - a fantastic wooded valley with a variety of habitats. We've both deciduous woodland, coniferous woodland and a mixture of both and fantastic ground flora. Although there's been a fair degree of planting over the years it's still quite unspoilt."

For Ian, "there's that natural feeling through the whole walk. You feel like you are in a natural landscape but it's mostly been planted 100 years ago."

Drew points out that people have done a lot more to shape the surrounding area than would be achieved by just planting trees: "Until the middle of the 19th century it was still a very industrial landscape. There's evidence of charcoal burning. There's evidence of iron smelting and there's Gibson Mill which is an old cotton spinning mill and there's evidence of other mills as well up the valley."

Jeff says: "When we ask people they say they are looking for a means of escape as well as peace and tranquility within a couple of miles of Hebden Bridge."

Jeff, Drew & Ian at the huge anthill!

Ian adds: "If you've been there, there's no gardens in any of the houses so people come here for relaxation and getting out in the open." But he hopes visitors will go away with some understanding of what they've experienced: "A lot of people come to a wood and thinks it's just natural - it grows, a tree falls over and reseeds. Once you've planted a woodland. You do have to manage it to maintain the bio-diversity. Hopefully they'll get that but as long as they enjoy the walk and have some fun - that's the main thing really."

Drew is very clear about how the Crags should be managed for the future: "National Trust policy is to manage and maintain what we've got, not preserve it because preserving is not what you can do with nature - to conserve what we have in terms of diversity and to make sure we manage it so it's still there for future generations."

Want to find out more about Hardcastle Crags?

Click on the link below to take the full 'Walk Through Time' at Hardcastle Crags...

...and click on the audio link below to listen to Drew, Ian and Jeff talking to Martin from the website team as they walk at Hardcastle Crags.