Some great Christmas walks around Bradford (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Some great Christmas walks around Bradford

9:51am Saturday 24th December 2011 in Days Out By Sue Ward

A hundred years ago you would have considered yourself extremely lucky if you didn’t work on Christmas Day. Now many of us finish before Christmas Eve, and don’t go back until the new year. It’s a lovely long holiday, but it can be difficult finding things to amuse family and guests.

No doubt over the next few days you will over-indulge on everything from food to the grape and the grain, so why not use this holiday to explore Yorkshire in all its wintry glory, with the added bonus of walking off a few Christmas calories?

You can choose to join a guided walk, which could be anything from a gentle stroll to a long-distance hike, or visit one of the extensive parks and stately homes, where you can enjoy the fresh air and work up an appetite to finish of that last bit of turkey and fruit cake.

The popular Festival of Walks, which starts this week, has a number of walks around Haworth, including a five-mile walk on Christmas Day from Haworth over Cullingworth Moor, or on New Year’s Day, there’s a seven-mile walk around Haworth and Oxenhope.

Just a hop, skip and a jump from the city centre is Lister Park, which opened to the public in 1870. An ideal destination if you have pushchairs or a wheelchair, it is one of the region’s most popular recreational green spaces.

Features include the Cartwright Hall museum and art gallery, botanical gardens, a fine boating lake and the Mughal Gardens where the harmonious and restful atmosphere could be just what you need after a hectic festive season.

The St Ives Estate in Bingley is a country park with play area, lake, woodland walk and sculpture trail. Here you will find a wealth of beautiful and interesting features including Druids Altar, Baxter’s Pond, and the Old Manor House. There are a number of circular woodland walks around the estate offering rural tranquillity and an abundant variety of flora and fauna, Turn into the sweeping driveway of East Riddlesden Hall, Keighley, and you’re a world away from the urban sprawl of pre-war semis which surround this historic manor house. Once the heart of Riddlesden’s agricultural estate, today the hall and its tranquil grounds form a haven of green. On the walk towards the house you’ll pass the lake which is home to a lively gathering of ducks – so don’t forget to take some bread. The house may not be open at the moment, buy you can still enjoy a walk around the walled formal garden with its lovely views of the River Aire, and the wild garden with its blend of tall grasses.

RHS Garden Harlow Carr, in Harrogate, is memorable in winter when you enjoy the intense scent of winter-flowering plants like Viburnum ‘Charles Lamont’, glowing displays from dogwoods and beautiful effects picked out by glistening frost if the weather is cold enough. It’s only closed on Christmas Day, so if by Boxing Day you are already fed up with the repeats on television, it’s a great place to while away a few hours.

Oakwell Hall Country Park in Birstall is an attractive Elizabethan manor house well worth a visit in winter when the garden is still lovely, with clipped yew and box trees and winter-flowering jasmine on the trellis and soon hellebores will bloom on the parterre and masses of snowdrops will brave the winter weather.

The Chevin in Otley is much more than the area around Surprise View, from where atop its 280 metres, you can marvel at the views from York in the east to the hills beyond Skipton in the west. Straying from the well-worn paths around the summit can lead to difficult walking conditions, but in other areas you can enjoy a walk through the gentle woods and enjoy a flask of coffee on the level grassy open areas at Danefield.

There are more than 100 acres of gardens at Harewood House which are full of variety, with plants from all over the world – in the setting of a magnificent landscape created by ‘Capability’ Brown.

Children will enjoy the excitement and thrills of the Adventure Playground, with its slides, swings and climbing frames – all with the cafe, picnic areas, ice cream kiosk and toilets close by.

You can also enjoy Harewood’s renowned bird garden, home to exotic species including penguins, owls, flamingos and parrots.

Ogden Water, near Denholme, is a destination suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs with a nice flat one-and-a-quarter mile path right the way around the 34-acre reservoir.

There are numerous woodland trails and waterside paths to explore, with stunning views extending across Calderdale.

Set in 90 acres of rolling parkland with a range of attractions including woodland, walks, an orienteering course, children’s rides, miniature railway, pitch and putt and a boating lake, Shibden Hall, Halifax, is the perfect venue for a trip out.

Factfile

* Festival of Walks. For details, visit ramblers.org.uk/winter walks.

* Entry to Crtwright Hall, Lister Park is free. The hall will be closed tomorrow and Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and January 2.

* RHS Garden Harlow Carr: Open 9.30am to 4pm, but will be closed tomorrow and will close an hour early from today until New Year’s Day. Tickets £7.50 adults, £3 children aged six to 16.

* Harewood House, gardens open 10am to 4pm from January 6. Admission £5 per car.

* Shibden Hall: Estate open 8am to dusk all year round. The hall will be closed from tomorrow until January 2. Tickets £3.50 adults, £2 children and senior citizens.