Enjoying the Countryside

A Space For Everyone

We care passionately about our countyside … enjoy it with us!

England’s finest network of rights-of-way puts the South Pennines at your feet. See the OS South Pennines Leisure Map. Tourist Information Centres (TICs) sell a huge range of walks publications.

Hop aboard good bus and rail services to walk one way and ride the other. Promoting public sustainable transport is a priority in our vision for this landscape, as demonstrated by our popular Walking and Heritage Festivals

Whatever the season, our countryside services are out and about. Join guided walks, talks and events – local countryside programmes at TICs. Just come along!

Also check ‘What’s On’ at local National Trust properties: wooded Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge and Marsden Moor Estate Kirklees.

Family Outdoors

Outdoor opportunities really matter in making this a space for everyone.

Below are starter suggestions for family friendly ideas.

Enjoy the wildlife walks at National Trust Marsden Moor and Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge. Wander in the woods of Towneley Park, Burnley; St Ives, Bingley; North Dean Woods near Halifax; Rochdale’s Ashworth and Cheesden Valleys and Healey Dell Nature Reserve between Rochdale and Rossendale.

Head for the Countryside Visitor Centres at Ogden Water near Halifax; Hollingworth Lake Country Park Littleborough; Brownhill in the Holme Valley; Wycoller Country Park, Pendle; Haslingden Grane in Rossendale and Bracken Hall Countryside Centre, Shipley Glen Bradford.

Unable to walk far? Northern Rail is keen to welcome you aboard the scenic Caldervale, Huddersfiled-Manchester and Penistone lines, with very affordable off-peak fares Also ask at TICs for special scenic bus routes … for example, the Haworth – Hebden Bridge service or Todmorden to Burnley.

High Country

Classic of Britain’s long distance footpaths, the Pennine Way tramps the South Pennine watersheds and can be reached via local Pennine Way link walks.

Many link walks are stretches of our official middle distance footpaths: the Bronte Way, Burnley Way, Calderdale Way, Kirklees Way, Oldham Way, Pendle Way, Rochdale Way, Rossendale Way and Bradford’s Worth Way and Millennium Way. With heritage and wildlife insights, these are mapped, waymarked routes. Simple … and safe.

New access rights to open country allow us to explore off the path on certain open land. Look out for open access leaflets and events. Also check the website of major local landowner Yorkshire Water.

The heights of the South Pennines are an EU Special Protection Area of international status for birdlife, refuge of the merlin, the skylark and the shy little twite. Below the heights, the shining expanses of mighty Victorian reservoirs are increasingly important for water and wildfowl. Join the twitchers at:

Brownhill Reservoir, Holme Valley; Dove Stones Reservoir Saddleworth; Haslingden Grane, Rossendale; Hollingworth Lake Littleborough; Ogden Water near Halifax; Rowley Lake, Burnley; Watergrove Reservoir, Wardle; Wycoller Country Park, Pendle.

Action sport

Mountain bike it in Britain’s “best mix of off road terrain”. Ask for route maps at TICS. On road, test out the Pennine Cycleway and West Yorkshire and Lancashire Cycleways. Check for new family routes and summer festivals … this is real growth area!

Our green packhorse roads are brilliant high level walking routes. Now certain stretches have opened up for riders including the Mary Towneley Loop of the Pennine Bridleway National Trail is a 42 mile circuit through Rochdale, Rossendale, Burnley and Calderdale. This high level route is open to riders, off road cyclists and walkers. Free guide at TICs.

Canals and reservoirs make water sports a must: Sowerby Bridge, centre for slalom canoing; Hollingworth Lake Country Park with a new sailing and windsurfing centre; Whitworth Water Ski Centre and Rossendale Valley Water Park, an all-level accredited windsurfing school.

Specialist sport, equipment hire, fishing permits, local sporting clubs and even balloon flights … just ask the local TIC.

Eco Speak

In a landscape for the future, it’s no surprise that many South Pennine eco projects are making a mark.

National Trust Gibson Mill, a restored 19th century water powered site in Hardcastle Crags, is a landmark project for sustainability. Nearby in Hebden Bridge, visit the Alternative Technology Centre

South Pennine peat and heather moors look tough but are in fact fragile and in places seriously eroded by feet, sheep and weather! The National Trust’s Marsden Moor Estate is deeply involved in work to restore and conserve this habitat.

Watch the night sky at The Planet: Earth Centre between Bacup and Todmorden and meet one of Britain’s first eco group, the pioneering Bacup Naturalists in their Victorian meeting room.