Morland Meander
Walk date – 27th August 2025
Distance – 3.8 miles
Weather – cloudy with occasional sunny spells
“A mainly dry start to the day, chance of an isolated shower across western ranges. Thickening cloud will bring rain, occasionally heavy, across all ranges from late morning for a few hours. Turning drier by mid-afternoon, and eventually clearer by late afternoon.”
The above was today’s Weatherline forecast and all the other forecasts were pretty much of the same ilk so with the chance of a dry spell lasting until late morning we decided to stay local, take advantage of the dry weather and content ourselves with a short countryside walk around the pretty village of Morland. The village is reasonably close to where we live so we didn’t have a long drive and, on arrival, we parked the car in front of the Mill Yard cafe. We didn’t expect to be able to do that as parking there is very limited, but we were in luck today as a notice on the gate informed everyone that the cafe was closed today. It is usually closed on Monday and Tuesday so something urgent must have cropped up for it to be closed on a Wednesday.
Route
Morland village – Little Appleby Lane – Morland Beck footbridge – Winter House – River Lyvennet footbridge – Riverside path to next footbridge – Town Wood – Hagg Wood – Morland Hall – Morland village
The Mill Yard cafe which is not usually closed on Wednesdays but was today. The ‘Closed Today’ notice is on the left hand gate pillar. Its a popular place with both local residents and visitors and its a bit more ‘up-market’ than a ‘burger joint’. More info here – https://www.millyardcafe.co.uk/
The next building but one back up the road from the cafe is Morland House and Gardens. I only had a peek at the gardens while passing by a few years ago but they were lovely and I would guess that things haven’t changed that much. Their website is here – https://www.morlandhouse.net/
Looking across at the houses at the beginning of Water Street which we walked down at the end of today’s walk, so more about that later on.
The Crown Inn, the only pub in the village and sadly now closed and for sale. There has been talk about a village ‘buy-out’ and it being turned into a community owned pub but I haven’t seen or heard anything lately so I don’t really know what will happen to it. A local music group used to hold its practice sessions in the pub’s dining room on Tuesday evenings, as the pub didn’t serve evening meals on Monday and Tuesday nights back then, but as more people joined the group it became too small to accommodate everyone and the group had to use the hall (formerly the old village school) directly across the road instead. Happy memories but sad to see it empty and unused. More info on the village can be found – https://morlandparishcouncil.org/in-and-around-morland/
The cafe is located beside the beck so there’s only a few paces to the old bridge across Morland beck …..
….. where I took a couple of shots, the one above is looking upstream towards Water Street …..
….. and this one looking downstream. The rear of the cafe is over on the left of the shot. I think the site of the cafe once housed a mill, hence the name of the cafe, but I can’t find any historical details about the old mill.
An interesting and unusual feature located between two of the houses in the village. The steps at the side of one house don’t lead to anything now but they would have done so in the past. There is an inscription on the stonework above the archway but even with a zoom in I can’t make out what it is. Whatever the past use of the steps and the archway was it is pleasing to see that all of it has been preserved even though it no longer serves its original purpose.
At the end of the road leading over the bridge we turned left onto Little Appleby Lane which came to an end at the signpost and where we turned right,.
Looking back at the house at the end of the lane as we turned up the footpath, this is Little Appleby. The name of the house is over on the left above the porch and with a zoom in it might be possible to read it. I kept wondering about the significance of the metal owl attached to the house name. Propped up against the right hand side of the house was an old mangle which had definitely seen better days, one of ts wooden rollers had disintegrated completely and subsequently fallen off its spindle. We used to have one of those standing outside the house in the village in Yorkshire where we lived when I was a youngster. When I was strong enough to manage it I was able to turn the wheel at the side of the mangle which in turn made the wooden rollers go round. My mother would feed the washing through the rollers and much of the water would be squeezed out of them, after putting them through the mangle they were hung out on the clothes line to dry. Next to it was an old whetstone which was a tool used to sharpen all manner of metal instruments, scissors, knives, garden shears, etc. We didn’t have one of those but there was a shop in the village which did and they would sharpen anything which needed it for a few pennies. Our village was also visited from time to time by a travelling knife sharpener. He had the whetstone attached somehow to the back wheel of his bicycle. When the bike’s rear wheel was clear of the ground he would sit backwards on the saddle, so he was facing the rear wheel, and then begin to pedal backwards. This made the rear wheel go round, which in turn would turn the whetstone and he could begin to sharpen the knives etc which the villagers had brought. I used to wonder how on earth he managed not to fall off as well as being overawed by the sparks which were flying all over the place. Being a young child at the time I never understood the mechanics of how the contraption worked but work it did and I was always being reminded to ‘mind my fingers’ by my mother after one of his visits.
A few paces into the lane we met this obstruction. A tractor, laden with four bales of straw at the front and this one at the back had been left parked in the lane. As can be seen it took up virtually all of the lane so we had to carefully squeeze ourselves through to avoid the backlash from the overhanging greenery.
Before following the path which runs below and behind them I noticed these straw bales stacked up awaiting collection. They looked wonderful as the morning sunlight landed on them and gave them all this golden glow.
Here’s the path which runs below and alongside the field where the previous shot of the straw bales was taken. It was quite a long path but quite dry and dusty.
It eventually led us to this bridge crossing Morland beck again ….
….. and from the bridge was this view looking upstream …..
….. followed by the view downstream.
Quite a sturdy bridge it was too although it did bounce just a little as the pair of us walked across it.
The path across the next field led over to this stile at the path junction. As an alternative to using the stile the path continued on the left of the shot and eventually joined up, at Winter House, with the one we followed.
Once over the stile we had a short woodland walk over to the next one …..
….. where I took a lucky shot of J as he climbed over it. It looks posed but it wasn’t, I just happened to click the shutter at the right moment.
The view back to the stile from the path across the field.
The path across the field brought us out at Winter House from where we followed the downhill path …..
….. towards the bridge across the Lyvennet river.
We had expected the usual wooden footbridge but instead we were met with a very substantial iron one with ornate metal railings.
Looking downstream from the bridge where the Lyvennet river was quietly making its way to join the river Eden …..
….. and the view upstream from the bridge.
Looking back at the bridge after we had crossed over it.
The path continues on over to Crossrigg Hall but at the junction we doubled back on ourselves to enjoy a pleasant riverside walk over to the next bridge which was to be our turn around point. The ornate railings on the bridge continued on towards the Hall and eventually disappeared from view as they curved around alongside the path.
We dropped down to the riverbank below the bridge for a view of the bridge from below it. J inspected the mechanics of the bridge while I took a few photos.
A ‘crouching down’ view of the river as it gently and almost imperceptibly flowed along. No splendid waterfalls pouring over steep rock faces just water serenely making its way to its next destination. The riverside rocks have been flattened and worn smooth by the water flowing over them down the years. We watched a leaf fall into the river and it floated slowly along on the surface of the silent river until it disappeared from view. A moment of calm in a chaotic world and very pleasant it was too.
The moment of calm was interrupted when J called me over to view one of the bridge supports, especially the size of the bolts used in its construction which were enormous. The bridge workers must have had an enormous spanner to tighten those huge things.
A bench with a view along the riverbank.
As we were walking beside the river I was hoping that a view of Crossrigg Hall would eventually appear and it did. This site has more details about it – https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101357502-crossrigg-hall-bolton
We only had a short riverside stroll before reaching the next bridge which was to be our turn around point.
The bridge across the Lyvennet from the slightly sunnier side. I crossed the previous bridges with no qualms whatsoever but these V-shaped bridges give me the heeby-jeebies and after asking J not to set foot on it until I was across it and standing on the opposite bank I walked quickly across. I know its quite silly but there’s just something about this type of bridge that I really don’t like.
The path from the bridge leads up a small hill and to the Public Right of Way route through Town Wood and on through Hagg Wood. Towards the end of the latter wood we noticed …..
….. Morland Hall. It seems to operate as a wedding venue and conference centre nowadays and I haven’t been able to find out much about its history although this commercial architect site does contain a few details – https://www.crosbygrangerarchitects.co.uk/projects/morland-hall/
More memories sprang to mind as we walked across the open fields again. The aroma of recently cut straw and the crackle of the remaining stalks beneath our feet brought them all back although when I was a youngster the straw bales were shaped into rectangles rather than circles.
A group of contented cows in amongst the thistles. The one standing began to follow us after J greeted it but called it a day when we went through the gate on the far side. It must have decided we were farm hands bringing some goodies for them ‘cos humans equals food, right? Wrong!
Towards the end of the woodland we came across this large, brick built structure although we couldn’t identify what its purpose had been. It is marked on our route map and appears just below the words ‘Morland Hall’ so maybe it had some connection with the Hall. Whatever it once was it was quite a large structure. Update 29th August 2025 – have just been reading that this ruined structure used to be Morland Hall’s walled kitchen garden which explains its size. It is ideally situated on a gentle slope facing south and was intended to provide fresh produce for the residents of Morland Hall. When the Hall was abandoned in 1945 the Hall and the kitchen garden were left to fall into disrepair and nature quickly took over. Although the Hall has been rebuilt and brought back into use the former kitchen garden has been left to nature. Consequently, it has been taken over by a number of very substantial trees, overgrown bushes, long grass and a variety of ground covering weeds.
The rooftops of the houses in Morland village are back in view together with the spire of St Lawrence Church as we make our way down the field and back onto …..
….. Little Appleby Lane where, at the end of the lane, we turned right and walked back towards …..
….. the bridge, the Crown Inn and the Mill Yard Cafe. After we had stowed our belongings in the car we turned onto Water Street …..
….. and walked down to the ford across Morland beck where a couple of ducks were having a paddle.
Close to the ford crossing is the pedestrian bridge and beyond that …..
….. the beck is diverted into this narrow channel which runs alongside the road. The above photo is of an old sluice gate which would have been lowered when the beck was running high and would have prevented the street being flooded. Would this old sluice gate still work the way it was once meant to, I wondered. Probably not since the wood was very old and weathered and perhaps would not slide easily up and down in the grooves of the two vertical posts on either side of the channel. The water in the channel is returned to the main beck a little lower down closer to the pub. On the grass behind the sluice gate is an information board but it was a bit too large to take a shot of and the writing was rather faded anyway so I didn’t take a photo of it.
This is what the beck would normally flow over if it hadn’t been diverted into the channel along Water Street. Its a series of flat topped rocks. below the footbridge and just before the bed of the beck. The stones and rocks in the bed of the beck were dry and bleached and we have never seen any water flowing down it all the time we’ve been living in Cumbria.
From Water Street I made the short walk up the hill and down to the topiary ‘squirrel’ which stands in the grounds of St Lawrence Church while J made his way back to the car to drive it round to the top of the road to pick me up. Yet again I have managed to include the boot end of someone’s car going down the road, duh!
From the ‘squirrel’ I nipped into the churchyard for this shot of the church. A chap, sitting atop a motor mower, was cutting the grass and the scent of freshly mown grass filled the air which seemed to be a fitting end to today’s countryside walk. The sky had more or less fully clouded over, the blue skies were heading off towards the North Pennines over in the east, and the breeze was getting stronger, so it was time to make my way back up to the car where J was waiting for me. We returned home, got changed, made a cuppa and had just settled down for the afternoon when J looked out of the window and told me that it was raining! Not bad timing I thought, and for once the weather forecast was right!