The Washburn valley

A friend recommended a walk in the Washburn valley, just outside Otley, so I took advantage of a balmy morning, before Storm Ciara arrived, to go and explore. The walk I had originally planned set off down the track above... and it looked so very muddy further down that I decided to forego that pleasure! Maybe I'll try that in the summer. Never mind, I followed the minor road down into the valley, which gave some attractive views. The Washburn is a tributary of the River Wharfe, and in the late 19th century it was dammed to make a chain of three reservoirs, with a fourth added in the 1960s, built to supply water to the city of Leeds. It is an area of quiet beauty and tranquillity, beloved by walkers. The Six Dales Trail, a relatively new long-distance trail, passes through the valley, connecting Otley with Middleham some 38 miles north.

This area of the lower valley is part of the Dob Estate, a 'country house' estate that was originally a deer park and has been in the Vavasour family since the 1500s. It is mostly rolling farmland, with a few woodland plantations. There are working farms and some very attractive residential properties scattered about, mostly conversions of old farm buildings.

My walk took me past the gates of one large farm, where the road turned into a rutted farm track. The free ranging hens gently scolded me for disturbing them, with that soft, throaty, burbling cluck that I remember so well from when I was a child, observing the hens my grandparents used to keep in their large garden.