Castle Eden's Gorge

About trip

Distance: 4.5 miles, Minnimum Time: 2hrs 30mins, Difficulty: Moderate, Description: Castle Eden Dene is the longest river gorge on the Durham coast. It takes its name from the estate and village that lie south. The Burdon family bought the estate in 1758 and by 1780, had built the castle to a design by Newcastle architect, William Newton. The dene was incorporated into the estate in 1790 and its many pathways were created for the enjoyment of the Burdons - one such path, still known as Miss Mary’s Walk, was a favourite of a daughter of the family. After the death of Rowland Burdon, the last of the family, the dene was taken over by Peterlee Development Corporation in 1951. Its recreational and leisure potential was one factor taken into account when Peterlee was chosen as the site for a new town in the late 1940s. In 1985, Natural England’s predecessors declared Castle Eden Dene a National Nature Reserve and later, in view of the quality of the wildlife experience it offers, classified it as one of 31 Spotlight reserves in England. The bedrock of the gorge consists of magnesian limestone, laid down by seas that covered the area 250 million years ago. This was later covered by boulder clay from the glaciers of the last ice age. Castle Eden Burn has cut through these layers to form the gorge, which, at Gunner’s Pool, is only a few yards wide. Elsewhere, steep slopes end abruptly in limestone crags, while collapse of the walls has strewn the valley floor with large boulders. The whole dene is heavily wooded with oak, ash, beech, lime and various conifers. As the largest yew forest in the north of England it has been designated a Special Area of Conservation under the European Habitats Directive. Fallen trees are left to decay and become homes for fungi and invertebrates. Plants include more than 100 species of moss, nearly 30 liverworts and more than 300 flowers. Animals that dwell here include foxes, roe deer, badgers and both red and grey squirrels. The flowers attract butterflies, notably the Eden argus, a rare variant of the northern brown argus. While you're there: A more spectacular exposition of the magnesian limestone geology can be seen on the cliffs at Blackhall, just south of the mouth of Castle Eden Dene. Here, the sea has eroded the rocks to form cliffs, caves, arches and stacks. What to look out for: It is estimated that there are more than 30 roe deer in the dene, although they usually remain hidden. Grey squirrels are easily seen. In conifer areas, where deciduous trees are kept under control by Natural England staff, red squirrels hold their own against the greys. Where to eat and drink: About 0.25 mile (400m) from Oakerside Dene Lodge is the Oaklands public house, a modern building, in keeping with the surrounding housing estate. Food is served each day in a conservatory. There is also a family dining area with a children’s playzone. Directions: From the car park, go through a kissing gate and follow the track downhill. At a junction marked by a wooden post with a picture of a squirrel, take the right track back uphill. Continue on this main track, ignoring turnings to the left and right, including the next squirrel marker post, to reach the boundary fence of the Peterlee housing estate. Keeping the fence to your right, follow a track almost as far as the A19 road. Turn left, back into the woods and go steeply down through woods to a tunnel leading under the road. Turn left through a kissing gate, then down steps to a bridge on the right. Cross and continue up more steps to a junction with a track at the edge of a golf course. Follow this to the left. Where it forks, by a gate into the golf course, take the right fork. The track leads downhill, crossing a small bridge, and later two larger bridges over a loop in the river. Go uphill, swinging left at the top. The undulating track leads, after a few hundred yards, to Gunner’s Pool Bridge. Visit the bridge to see the narrowest and most spectacular part of the gorge. Return to the track and follow it uphill across another bridge. The track zig-zags more steeply to reach the edge of the golf course again and later a view of Castle Eden. The track continues downhill. When it forks, take the right fork and follow this to another fork. This time, go left. You are now on Miss Mary’s Walk. When the track again splits, follow the left branch through thick yew forest, then along the edge of cultivated fields and around the head of a subsidiary valley. At a stile by a Natural England notice board, go downhill, then left at the next fork. This brings you to the main road on the valley floor. To your right is Garden of Eden Bridge. Follow the road to the left, along the river bank, past two touching boulders called the Kissing Frogs and a tree-covered boulder, the Devil’s Lapstone. Ignore a bridge on the right, but continue over the river via a second bridge, Dungy Bridge, and pass a huge boulder supported by concrete pillars. Pass crags on both banks of the river, the most spectacular being White Rock. At the next fork, go right, uphill to a junction. Turn right again to return to the car park.