The agricultural flatlands of North Yorkshire around Thirsk and Northallerton offer a contrast to the usual walking territory of people from this part of the world.

They're a long way from the wooded valleys and rugged tops of the South Pennines, the heather-clad moors on our doorstep, or the limestone crags of the Dales.

Up there the views are distant and uninterrupted for many miles. There's a wonderful sense of space as you stroll along footpaths beside arable fields or follow farm tracks. It's like another world, yet via the A1M it's little more than an hour's drive from Bradford (rather longer if you do it by train via York).

Encouraged by a recent visit to the area for a walk to Gormire Lake nestling under the bulk of Sutton Bank, we decided to explore the landscape closer to Thirk, setting off from the town centre.

Thirsk is a bustling, compact market town associated with several famous names. Thomas Lord, founder of Lord's Cricket Ground, was born here in 1755. Alf Wight, the vet who immortalised himself as James Herriot and Thirsk as the fictional Darrowby, had his practice here.

And a couple of miles north, at South Kilvington (where our walk was to lead us), the vicar for many years until his death in 1916 at the age of 101 was William Kingsley, cousin of The Water Babies author Charles, who stayed in the village as the vicar's guest - as did John Ruskin, the art critic, and the landscape painter Turner.

There are free car parks in Thirsk, which is something of a rarity in this day and age when pay-and-displays elsewhere seem to be getting dearer and dearer. We pulled up in one of them, pulled on our boots, and set off through a neat picnic area beside Cod Beck created with the help of the local Rotary Club.

The beck was busy with ducks as we strode alongside it upstream through a recreation area with, on our left, the parish church and its impressive tower.

Soon we crossed over by a weir and followed the path up the far bank of the beck and through gates to arrive at an open field - and then another, this one full of grazing horses.

Following our encounter with horses during a recent walk around Farnley, we were less than happy. However, these animals had a distraction. In the field across the beck was a man with a dog.

The dog was wandering around, as dogs do, while the man did press-ups in the wet grass. The horses stood and watched this rather unusual spectacle while we walked past behind them, at a distance, heading for the stile in the far corner of this broad field.

A couple more fields and we were following the beckside path behind some fine houses on the edge of South Kilvington to arrive at a footbridge by an old mill with a mill race bubbling out beneath it.

We crossed this bridge and another and soon arrived at the side of the Northallerton Road, from where the traffic had been audible throughout this walk.

Across the road, the route continued up a farm track between fields of tender new crops to follow the side of a private wood where a sign warned us not to trespass. Up here the traffic noise was replaced by birdsong and the views were splendid.

We stuck with the track before eventually turning left on to another, following a hedge side through open fields as we made our way steadily back towards the landmark of that church tower. Before we arrived there we made a detour into the burial ground, where just about every grave was bright with flowers - some artificial, many fresh.

Clearly they remember their dead in Thirsk - and not just the famous ones.

Step by Step
  1. Exit main car and coach car park by northern-most corner, walking through gated picnic area beside Cod Beck. At far side, with footbridge to right, go left and follow beck upstream across grassy recreation area with church across road on left.
  2. At footbridge, cross beck and turn left, still walking upstream and ignoring paths going off to right into trees. Go through one gate stile and walk across field to another. Continue along beckside path as it curves round to stile by end of footbridge.
  3. Don't cross this bridge. Instead walk ahead across wide field, parallel with beck but heading slightly right to eventually arrive at stile in corner of field. Over this, continue upstream to another stile, and then another leading to houses on edge of South Kilvington (look for the "Virol" sign on one of the buildings, a real blast from the past!). Walk on between house gardens and beck to footbridge with mill beyond.
  4. Cross footbridge then dogleg right/left to another and walk across field to stile into road. Cross road and follow bridleway sign up field on broad track. At top, continue past side of wood. When wood ends, keep on briefly, looking for bridleway sign on left.
  5. Follow this sign along field, with hedge on left. At a stile, cross over and continue with hedge now on right, passing a pond to arrive at a corner by a gate. Go left here and walk along edge of field with a hedge still on right to a stile in field corner.
  6. Over this, follow diagonal path through crops across field to a gap in hedge at corner into another field and keep on with hedge on left, doglegging at a gap and soon entering a grassy lane between hedges. This eventually becomes a track behind houses to arrive at road (detour into churchyard if you like). Follow road to left, passing behind church and then going left and right to arrive at town square. Go left here, past pubs and tourist information centre, and at pub at far end turn left to return to start.
Fact File
  • Start: Keswick car park
  • Time for 3-mile walk: an hour and a half
  • Going: Easy
  • Map: OS Explorer 302, Northallerton and Thirsk
  • Getting there: head up the A1M and then follow A168 towards Thirsk. If you go by train, the station is a good half mile west of the town centre.
  • Parking: free in main coach and car park. If full there is an adjacent disc-zone car park, also free but you'll need to acquire a disc from one of the shops in the town
  • Refreshments: loads of pubs and cafes in Thirsk
  • Toilets: near the car park and in the square