National Trust Winter Gardens and Walks

Walks And Walking – National Trust Winter Walks

You can’t quite beat the icy cold air from an embracing Winter walk. I always think you should do every walk at least four times so that you get to see the surroundings, countryside, forest or landscape in all its year round beauty. The snow adds that extra bit of excitement to any walking route whether it be a woodland walk in Epping Forest, a waterfall country walk in Wales or a long trek across Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.

The Forest Way is a favourite walk of mine that leads from Epping Forest all the way up to Hatfield Forest. Hatfield Forest is a rare surviving example of a medieval royal hunting forest and is now owned by the National Trust. The National Trust have a huge list of nationwide Winter gardens that make great locations for a good Winter walk where you can blow away the cobwebs and enjoy a refreshing walk in a frosty garden.

Winter Walks – Walks And Walking

The National Trust’s Top Ten Winter Gardens

The Stourhead Estate in Wiltshire is set around a huge lake with plenty to see and do including classicial and gothic buildings, woodlands, a mystical grotto and a unique circular temple dedicated to Apollo

Dinefwr Park and Castle is located in Carmarthenshire and dates back to the 18th-century with five walks across the estate with the rare and historic White Park cattle grazing in the medieval parklands.

Anglesey Abbey, Garden and Lode Mill is situated in Cambridgeshire and offers an atmospheric Emperor’s Walk and over 150 species of plant in its Winter Garden.

Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire offers over 3,000 acres of green space and makes a great day out for long distance walkers with the longest lime tree avenue in Europe.

Dunham Massey is located in Cheshire and is the largest Winter Garden in the UK with over 700 different species of plant and over 1,600 different types of shrub.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden is situated in Yorkshire and is a World Heritage Site that offers extensive ruins of the Cistercian abbey, elegant temples, neo-classical statues, canals and moon shaped ponds of the Royal Water Garden.

Killerton in Devon offers far reaching views of Dartmoor and Haldon Hill as well as an Ice House and the Bear’s Hut summerhouse

Mottisfont is situated in Hampshire and is a newly created Winter Garden inspired by the River Test with over 5,000 new plants and species of shrub.

Rowallane Garden in County Down offers an enchanting garden, walled garden, Pleasure Grounds and a very enjoyable walk around the famous Rock Garden Wood.

Stowe Landscape Garden is situated in Buckinghamshire offering wide open spaces, wooded valleys, and ornamental lakes, spectacular views, hidden corners and over 40 temples and monuments.

For more details of The National Trust’s Top Ten Winter Gardens click here.

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Wales Walks and Walking Routes

Wales Walks and Walking Routes

North Wales

North Wales is a favourite among walkers, and it’s easy to see why.

This part of Wales is home to Snowdonia National Park which boasts almost 840 square miles of Wales walks, mountains, lakes and beautifully diverse walking terrain. There’s also Anglesey, Wales’ largest island featuring an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and let’s not forget about some of the best coastal walking routes in the country along the North Wales Coast.

There’s also an abundance of gentle strolls and more challenging, steeper climbs to be found in the North Wales borderlands.
Snowdonia Mountains and Coast

The Snowdonia National Park contains some of the most dazzling mountain scenery in the uk. With their reputation for rough rocky outcrops, vertiginously sheer cliffs and scooped glacial cwms, the mountains have shaped the livelihood of the people who’ve lived here.

When walking in this area we advise that you take a compass and be prepared for sudden changes in weather. And remember there will be limited mobile phone coverage!

Only a short distance away from this spectacular land of mountains you can discover breathtaking coastline. The Llyn Coastal Footpath provides you golden opportunity to experience the coastal landscape by following this winding route. There are small coves and wide expanses of sand, rugged cliffs and small harbours waiting to be discovered.

Wales Walks - Portmeirion Lake - Hidden Treasures

Llyn Peninsula

Morning on the Llyn Peninsula is spectacular. Almost anywhere you stay, the sea is there when you open the curtains.

The pointy mountains are an extinct range of volcanoes and you’re never far from them. Families with children come here because you can pretty much count on being able to go walking from your front door. You don’t have to travel far, and if you did want to travel, to Portmeirion, say, or to Caernarfon for the shops and castle, Llyn’s a small place and the journeys are short. You can feel cut off without actually being cut off.

Llyn’s popular beaches offer some of the best surfing in the whole of Wales. And there are also big, quiet stretches of sand like Porth Oer, known as Whistling Sands because the dry sand squeaks as you walk on it.
Mid Wales

Mid Wales is reserved especially for you. No crowds, no hassle, no pressure.

You have the choice between a scenic coastline with award winning beaches or entering the gentle heartland where the scenery is spectacular. Wherever you decide, the roads will be quiet and the vibrant towns will welcome you with open arms.
South Wales

Go West or Go East?

South West Wales is made up of the beautiful moors, rolling hills, beaches and cliff tops of Swansea Bay, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire – home to the UK’s only coastal national park and Wales’ longest national trail.

Traveling East across South Wales you will find trails through deep valleys and hilltops, along canals and rivers and the first coastline in Wales to be awarded Heritage Coast protection.

Wales Walks by Walks And Walking

Wales Walks by Walks And Walking

I found a great selection of Wales walks and walking routes that are all free to download and print off from a website called Walks And Walking.

Walks And Walking also offer special offers on walking boots, walking clothes, walking accessories and outdoor gear for hiking, camping, climbing, trekking and the latest big brand offers from Timberland, Blacks, Craghoppers, Millets and Bear Grylls.

Walks And Walking also have a facebook page where you can upload your own walks and experiences to share with the world!

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Wales Walks by Walks And Walking

Wales Walks – Mount Snowdon

Wales Walks – Mount Snowdon

Mount Snowdon is situated in the Snowdonia National Park of North Wales and is certainly a mountain that is accessible but can also be very demanding. It offers truly entertaining and enjoyable walks and walking routes for the family and the adventurer.

Wales Walks Mount Snowdon

Perhaps the best approach to see Mount Snowdon is from the Telford old road from Shrewsbury to Holyhead where it turns at Capel Curig. On a clear day you can celebrate the serrated line of beautiful peaks coming in to view along the skyline with Mount Snowdon sat in the centre as the king of them all.

From Llanberis, one of the most traditional and steady walking routes to the top of mount Snowdon, its peak rises behind the mountain range, almost hidden by the Crib y Ddysgle. Llanberis is also where you can find the famous Mount Snowdon Railway.

There are five main rocky ridges that radiate from Mount Snowdon and between them five deep cwms, Welsh valleys, which add a formidable aspect to each approach to the summit. Once the lush green valley’s are left behind the ascent of Mount Snowdon can be unforgiving if you do not follow the traditional Wales walks and walking routes as you climb steadily upwards.

Although barren, the wildness and silence offers a breathtaking experience with the many lakes and small streams running through the heather and down through the mountains to the cwms below. From the summit the views are spectacular, as you would expect, and it does not let you down in terms of the time spent planning the trip, mapping the walking routes, purchasing the correct equipment, breaking in your walking boots and buying those extra thermal layers.

Mount Snowdon won’t let you down but can be your downfall so make sure you are prepared for any eventuality as there are many grim ridges and hollows for the inexperienced hiker to get caught out.

Yr Wyddfa, the Welsh name for Snowdon, translated means “the great mound” or “the great tomb” due to the legend of Rhita Fawr who was reputed to be buried somewhere on Mount Snowdon.

The legend began when there were only two kings in Britain; Nynniaw and Peibiaw who declared war on each other. When the king of Wales, one Rhita Fawr, heard of this war he decided to end it promptly by attacking them both. Such was the outrage from the rest of Britain that they declared war on Rhita Fawr but emerged victorious cutting off all of their beards to make a cloak reaching down from his shoulders to the floor. Rhita Fawr was eager to add King Arthur’s beard to his cloak but was defeated and subsequently buried under a cairn of stones on the summit of Mount Snowdon marking the end of his legend.

Mount Snowdon has seven main and well marked walking routes up to its summit. The Snowdon Mountain Railway offers the easier way to the top, the Llanberis Path offering the most gradual ascent and the Horseshoe Walk is perhaps the most famous. The Snowdon Ranger Path is an easy and pleasant walk being slightly shorter than the Llanberis Path. The Beddgelert-Rhyd-DDu Path has two starting points with very steep walks, sheer drops and corkscrewing pathways. The Watkins Path takes you through one of the great cwms before rising to a rough scramble to the top. The PIG Track, or PYG Track, offers a varied walking route with less climbing than the others.

There are other walking routes and traverses available for the more experienced walker, trekkers, ramblers, hikers and climbers which broadens the overall appeal and popularity of the Snowdonia National Park.