Tarset Burn and North Tyne

About trip

Distance: 7.5 miles, Minnimum Time: 3hrs, Difficulty: Moderate, Description: The area around Lanehead is called Tarset. The name means ‘the fold in the dry pine woods’ and is first recorded in the early 13th century. Although the car parking area is beside Tarset Village Hall, there is in fact no Tarset village - only the burn in its valley, a parish name and the scant and confusing remains of Tarset Castle south of Lanehead. This was started in 1267 on the site of an earlier Scottish fortress by ‘Red’ John Comyn, a claimant to the throne of Scotland who was stabbed to death by the altar of the Greyfriars church in Dumfries by Robert the Bruce in 1306. The castle was burned by the Scots in 1525, and largely destroyed by a railway cutting in 1860. The walk takes you alongside the Tarset Burn before crossing it and heading across moorland to Thorneyburn. You’ll find another fortified site here, on the open fell at Boughthill. This one is probably the remains of a 16th-century fortified farmhouse, or bastle, long-since abandoned to the sheep. Shipshape Religion The tiny hamlet of Thorneyburn mainly consists of the church and the large former Rectory. Both were constructed in 1818 for trustees of Greenwich Hospital. It had been given the parish in 1735 after the former patron, the Catholic Earl of Derwentwater, had been disgraced for his part in the Old Pretender’s rebellion of 1715. The charity, established by William III in 1694 to look after naval veterans, still maintains an estate in north Northumberland, as well as its valuable landholdings in the capital. Like nearby Greystead, Wark and Humshaugh, Thorneyburn had a succession of naval chaplains as rector, and all four have very similar churches and rectories. The farmhouse at nearby Redhaugh also probably started life as a fortified bastle house; at the edge of the small field opposite is a pretty pyramid-roofed 18th-century dovecote. Disasters at Slaty Ford. Sidwood Picnic Area is the start of a number of waymarked trails though this part of the huge Kielder Forest, including the ‘Reivers Trail’. As well as the ubiquitous pines, there are a number of ornamental trees that remain from the old Sidwood Estate. Through the woods and over the ridge, you come to Slaty Ford - a peaceful place, but with a dark history. In September 1796 six workers in the nearby colliery shaft were killed - either by an influx of water from a disused shaft or from an explosion; the records are unclear. On 20 September 1957 a Vickers Varsity aeroplane, on a training flight from RAF Thorney Island in Sussex, crashed here, killing all five crew members. While you're there: Bellingham, 3.25 miles (5.3km) east of Lanehead, has a fascinating church with a stonevaulted roof. Outside the slightly Germanic town hall is a cannon captured during the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900. A delightful walk from the village takes you up Hareshaw Burn gorge to Hareshaw Linn waterfall. What to look out for: Northumberland National Park is making efforts to increase and protect the alder tree in its area - examples have been identified near Redheugh farm. The alder has broad, dull green leaves and a black bark scarred with clefts - in winter it has greyish catkins. It thrives in marshy land, and has a deep tap root that ensures that it is fed even in drought conditions. Where to eat and drink: There is nowhere directly on the route, but in Bellingham there are the Riversdale and Cheviot hotels, the Rose and Crown Inn, Fountain Cottage Tea Rooms and The Snack Bar. Directions: Walk to the staggered crossroads in the middle of Lanehead and turn right, signed ‘Donkleywood’. At the Redmire cottages turn right through a gate, and cross the yard to leave by two more gates. Cross the field, passing through a gap to reach a handgate. Bear left, descending to a kissing gate by the river. Follow the river bank right, through a series of gates before rising to a final gate and dropping to a bridge. Cross the Tarset Burn and follow the path down a ramp to join a farm track. Turn left along this to a farmyard. Go though the farmyard and ascend the track on the far side. As it bears left, go ahead past a waymarker and downhill to cross the stream. Pass another waymarked post and go through a gateway. Bend right after it and go through a hand gate. Turn left along the fence, then, at a stile, bear half right across the open moor towards the woods and church. Keep left of the ruined wall, aiming for a dilapidated shed and a wall descending to a bridge over the burn. Cross the stream. Veer left on the opposite bank to locate a gate at the side of a garden. Go through this and follow the track beside the churchyard to the road. Turn right and at the T-junction turn left. Follow the lane past Redheugh farm and the ‘Forestry Commission Sidwood’ sign to Sidwood Picnic Area, near whitepainted buildings. Follow the path into the wood on the left, but after a short distance look for a right turn, crossing the burn and continuing up the hill. Cross a forest track and continue up the hill through an area of clear fell. Maintain your direction as the route levels out, now with a ditch on your right. As you begin to descend, the forest gives way to moorland on your left and you reach a gate. Continue down through the enclosure, crossing a burn then rising to a crossing track. Turn left and follow this down to cross the burn with care at Slaty Ford. Continue on this prominent enclosed track to a gate. Beyond this follow the minor road for a mile (1.6km) along the flank of the North Tyne valley passing through a gate after 0.5 mile (800m) to a junction. Keep ahead, over the cattle grid and down to the bridge over the Tarset Burn. Continue on this quiet lane as it ascends the bank back to the main road. Turn left to return to your car.