Nostell Priory

One very wintry day a friend and I decided to take our little ones and search for some snow. I had visited Nostell Priory once before and hadn't made it much further than the cafe so felt I should visit again and see the grounds. Given that we really didn't plan our visit, we just turned up, it was of little surprise to find it absolutely deserted apart from people doing building and restoration work! Despite this, we paid our £2.50 to park (free to National Trust Members) and followed the tarmac path to the house. The house is impressive and imposing and there is a real sense of peace in the grounds that I like. Sadly the gardens were all locked so we were limited in our roaming. Instead we followed the path around to the right of the house and over a bridge. At this point, the path splits. To the left it curves back to the house around the side of the lake. We chose to leave the path and join a muddy track out into a field and headed towards a folly on the horizon. The folly turned out to be a gate house of sorts and marked the edge of the estate. We turned back here and retraced our steps. We managed it all with pushchairs, which given the mud was not bad at all! Also given that the temperature was definitely below zero we had a good brisk trek! It took us about an hour to do this walk. Sadly the cafe was closed this time so we couldn't have a warming cup of tea. With the cafe and the house all closed there weren't any facilities available. Not a problem for us this time, just something to bear in mind. Prices vary too - parking costs, costs to access the gardens (including the cafe) and then a separate cost to visit the house as well. Full details are on the National Trust's website. Maybe next time I'll make it into the house itself!
www.nationaltrust.org.uk

 

Chevin Forest Park, Otley

I'm ashamed to say that I've lived in Leeds for a few years now, but have never made it to the Chevin. Following a recommendation we decided to put this right! The Chevin is managed by Leeds City Council, but there is a group of volunteers called the Friends of Chevin Forest Park who have, among other things, produced a website to help you plan your visit.

We parked our car in the Yorkgate Quarry car park. The benefit of being up this high is that instantly you get fabulous panoramic views without the climb, however the paths here are not suitable for pushchairs. We put our little one in the baby carrier and set off. The views on a clear day are amazing and we spent ages just picking out landmarks, missing the most obvious one (Leeds Bradford Airport!) until a large jet took off and nearly deafened us!

We continued along the ridge until the end of this half of the park and followed a footpath down to East Chevin Road. We crossed over into woodland and joined the main body of the Chevin Forest Park. This half has the main car parks and paths that are more pushchair friendly. There are beautiful tree lined avenues and glimpses of the stunning view that you can better better from the ridge in the first half of the walk. The paths here run like a grid through the woods making it easy to do a circular walk.

All in all our walk totalled 6 miles but could easily have been longer or shorter. We had hoped to finish it off with a piece of cake and a cup of tea at the Cheerful Chilli cafe but were disappointed that they only had 1 highchair and it was already in use.

Our learning from this first visit to the Chevin is that although it is an obvious landmark locally, if you don't know the roads it is not that easy to find the car parks - we kept looking for a sign from the A660 but there aren't any! I would recommend taking a map if you don't know the area and I think it is lots easier if you have a way of carrying your little one rather than limiting yourself to the pushchair friendly paths. Also, don't miss the view by staying in one half of the park, even if you just drive to the Surprise View car park and walk 100 yards onto the ridge, it is worth it!

Facilities are available at the White House cafe and visitor centre, details of which can be found on the two websites below.
Friends of Chevin Forest website - http://chevinforest.co.uk 

Leeds City Council webpage for Otley Chevin Forest Park

Although we weren't able to eat at the Cheerful Chilli, I've included its website as I mention it above - http://www.cheerfulchilli.co.uk