Walks from Sleights village in North Yorkshire

Along with the delights of Whitby, there are plenty of walks, pubs and places of interest in and around Sleights village. Here are directions for 4 simple walks that you can take from our holiday cottage front door.

Battle Bank walk

There are two options to this walk depending on time and inclination. The longer walk will take roughly two hours, the shorter, an hour to an hour and a half. There is a very steep hill at the start of this walk and another at the end.

• Walk out of the front door onto Lowdale Lane and turn right. Walk down the street until you come to Whin Green on your right.
• Turn into Whin Green, and follow the road until you come to a little bridge over the stream.
• Cross over the stream, and follow the path to a gate.
• At the gate cross over the drive way and through a wooden gate. Walk past the holiday cottages to another gate and pass through.
• Follow the pathway, over the stream and then up the steep bank mentioned earlier.
• At the top, follow the pathway through a gate and along the side of the field. At the end of the field take the gate on your right onto the roadway towards Ugglebarnby.
• Here you have a choice, you can turn right and walk down the road towards Iburndale.
• Cross over the bridge and on your right you will see a public right of way sign, follow this and it will take you alongside a stream, and eventually you will be back at the bridge in Whin Green.
• Alternatively, you can carry on with the longer walk. Turn left on the roadway and walk up the road until you see a signpost on your right for Tom Collins Way. Go along this track which will bring you out at the top of Sleights with beautiful views across the valley.
• Follow this track until you come to a junction, here turn right. The path takes you down towards open fields.
• At the bottom turn right, go through the gate and follow the path across the fields (watching out for cows!)
• Continue across the fields until you come to a small wooded area alongside a stream. Follow this onto a path between fields and a house.
• At the end of this path go through the gate and the side road will lead you onto the main road bear left and cross over the bridge, where on your right  you will see a footpath sign.
• Take this path along the stream and it will bring you back to Whin green, from there turn left to take you back for a well-deserved rest!

Iburndale Beck walk

A shorter walk that will take 45 minutes to 1 hour.

• Turn left onto Lowdale lane as you leave the front door.
• Take your 1^st left onto Birch Avenue.
• Follow Birch Avenue to the end, then turn left and follow the road to a footpath sign on your left.
• This will take you alongside a stream.
• Follow this path to the end where you will come out in a street called Whin Green.
• Continue along Whin Green to the end which will bring you back out onto Lowdale Lane.
• Turn left and continue up the rather steep road and back to the house.

Sleights village walk

This is a gentle walk around part of the village.

• Come out onto Lowdale Lane and turn right. Follow the road to the bottom of the bank. Cross the bridge over the stream and onto the cricket pitch.
• Walk across the cricket pitch to the small gate, out of the gate turn left, then left again. Follow the path past a large property called Brookside. At the end of this road is a small wooded area which is pleasant to walk through.
• Cross the bridge and turn right.
• Follow this road to the railway station.
• Cross the tracks and this brings you to a footbridge over the River Esk, look out for the heron as you cross.
• Over the bridge you can turn right, follow the road for about 2 minutes and visit Perrys garden centre, for a good selection of plants, teas and coffees.
• Alternatively, you can turn left which will bring you to the road bridge into Sleights.
• Cross the road bridge and follow the road up to The Avenue.
• Go along The Avenue and this will bring you back to Lowdale Lane, turn right and your house is in sight.

Sleights to Aislaby walk

The village of Aislaby, and its pub The Forge can be walked to in approximately 40minutes, and although a very scenic walk it is all uphill!

• Turn right onto Lowdale lane, cross the road then left into The Avenue.
• Follow The Avenue to the end and turn right, go along the road to the road bridge over the Esk, and cross the road.
• Just over the bridge you will see the entrance to St Oswalds pastoral centre, turn  left onto the roadway and follow the path up hill.
• Just keep along this path, it will take you past the pastoral centre to a small gate. Go through the gate and the roadway becomes a country path.
• Keep following the pathway as it climbs up and twists to the right. It will lead you to a gate and out into the village.
• There are public toilets facing you. If you turn right and walk along street you will come to The Forge, a lovely pub with a beer garden and good food.

Sleights local amenities

Our village has a Doctors Surgery, Spar shop, Bothams bakers, Eskdale Fisheries and Radfords butchers.

Turn left coming out of the house and head up Lowdale Lane towards the main road. The entrance to Bothams is at the top of the road on your right and is signposted.

Radfords and The Spar shop are at the end of the road and turn left.

The medical practice is further along the main road, turn left at Eskdale fisheries and the doctors is on your right just past the church.

Should you fancy a walk to the pub, The Plough is at the top of the village just before Blue Bank.

Carry on past the Spar and you will come to Eskdale fisheries, a restaurant and take away.

Continue along the main road and you will see The Plough on your right. They serve meals and have a lovely beer garden.

At the bottom of the village close to the railway station is The Salmon Leap. This is a pub with a lovely beer garden too.

Places a short drive away from Sleights

These are places that are worth a visit, directions and further information can be found by searching for them on Google. They are all very pleasant walks of various lengths and levels of ease or difficulty:

• Falling Foss waterfall and tea gardens
• May Beck
• The Hole of Horcum

Nearby, the village of Ruswarp can be reached on foot, but the road does have areas with no footpath making it rather difficult. There you can hire rowing boats, have afternoon tea in the riverside café, or a meal in The Bridge pub.