Walking trail
Longshaw Estate Burbage Brook walk
Hidden history and wildlife are waiting to be discovered on this gentle walk alongside a tumbling stream and through wildlife-rich meadows and ancient woodland. This trail is waymarked from outside the tea-room. Pick up a Longshaw Leaflet and simply follow the pink arrows.
Map
Start:
Longshaw Visitor Centre, grid ref: SK264798
1
From the visitor centre, cross the drive and turn left along the path by the fence. Go through a small gate. Turn right and go downhill to, and through, the next gate.
The visitor centre
Visit the shop and tea-room to refuel before you start.
2
Follow the path downhill, through a corridor of rhododendron bushes, to Longshaw pond.
Longshaw Pond and Lodge
Longshaw Pond was created around 1827 and once had a boathouse and pier. Our wardens carefully remove the marsh plants each year to stop them from choking up the open water. The lodge was built about the same time as the pond, as a shooting retreat for the Duke of Rutland and his guests, including George V and the Duke of Wellington. Later, the lodge became a military hospital and after the wars let to the Holiday Fellowship as a guest house. In 1969 it was converted into private flats. (The lodge is not open to the public.)
3
Follow the path round the pond, then downhill through Granby Wood, named after The Marquis of Granby, the Duke of Rutlands son. It was replanted with Scots pine in 1990.
4
Stop at the new information barn to learn about the history and wildlife of the estate, then go down the path to a small gate, cross the road and go through another gate a little way down the road. Every first weekend in September, Longshaw Sheepdog Trials are held in Longshaw meadow. They were first held in 1898 and are the oldest sheepdog trials in the country. Across the meadow are the flat-topped hills of Carl Wark, which is a Bronze Age hill fort about 3,000 years old, and the gritstone outcrop of Higger Tor.
5
Cross the bridge over Burbage Brook. To the left is Padley Wood; why not take a detour and experience this fantastic oak woodland? The sunken track leading away from the bridge is Hallowgate. It was once a busy route for packhorses, carrying goods across the Peak District.
Padley Wood
The ancient woodland of Padley Wood is the most important on the estate. It is one of the best examples of the old oak-birch woodland which once covered much of the Peak District. Look out for the alder trees on the bank sides of Burbage Brook. They need wet or damp ground to survive.
6
Walk upstream along the side of the brook.
Burbage Brook moorland
The moorland above the brook is called Lawrence Field. Part of the National Trust's work is to protect important wildlife habitats such as this.
7
Continue up to the next bridge and cross over it to the path on the other side. This path was repaired by our rangers using an old technique known as stone pitching, which is embedding small stones into the ground like cobblestones.
8
Walk up the path, looking out for Toad's Mouth Rock on the roadside to the left. At the junction, near a small stream, turn right to a gate. Continue through the wood to a white gate.
Redstart
Look out for redstarts between April and September.
9
Cross the road to the entrance lodge of Longshaw and return to the visitor centre along the drive.
End:
Longshaw Visitor Centre, grid ref: SK264798
