National Trust areas of Natural Beauty – Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge and Brean Down, Somerset

Even though I’ve renewed my membership this week, I have very mixed feelings about the National Trust.

I’m not a fan of the over-emphasis on grand houses, mainly because the real story behind many of them, of land grabs and the Enclosure Acts, and of slavery, exploitation and huge inequality of wealth, is not often enough told to visitors, or told too quietly.

And when it comes to the Trust’s organisation, there’s a bit of a question mark around its democracy and voting procedures, though right now that’s helping to protect it from right wing dinosaurs opposed to wokery (roughly, anything that benefits the environment or the whole of society, rather than a few elites!)

But I do like the fact that they own and care for 780 miles of coastline in Wales, England and the north of Ireland (roughly 1/5th of the total), and that they’ve acquired and protect huge chunks of our forests, woods, downs, and moorland.

I feasted on some of the best of those last year on my Northumberland trip, and had the chance of visiting two more areas recently for quick walks while I was on trips for another purpose.

First of these was to Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, which was part of a football away trip to see Wrexham play. Badly, as in turned out, losing 3-1 to Halifax in what thankfully would prove to be a minor blip on the road back to the Football League!

Hardcastle Crags is a wooded valley, that sits between Hebden Bridge and the moors, and includes Gibson Mill, a 19th century cotton mill, which when I was there had a great video presentation on the work being done on Leaky Dams and Natural Flood Management to slow down the flow of the river during heavy rain, and hopefully reduce flooding events in the town.

Paths in the valley are well maintained and the walking is easy, and accessible, so it’s a popular area and handy to link with a visit to Hebden Bridge town itself. Most visitors will probably opt for a linear back-and-to alongside the river, but there’s opportunities for circular walks including some of the moorland for more creative and confident walkers.

Brean Down on the Somerset coast was next up, on a visit to family. Its a 1.5 mile long carboniferous limestone headland, jutting out into the Bristol Channel where the Mendip Hills meet the coast. First acquired by the National Trust in 1954, with some smaller additions since, it’s an area rich in birdlife and wildflowers, and cowslips in particular were putting on a show when I was there. It’s a spectacular location, and for those interested in history, also the site of an iron age fort, a more recent 1860’s one, and more.

It’s close to Weston Super Mare, and although busy, still much less crowded and easier to access than, say, the area around Cheddar Gorge.  A great little spot for a walk with family members who are happy with a quick few miles!

In a busy couple of weeks, with changeable spring weather, and little opportunity for day-long walks, Brean Down and Hardcastle Crags gave me that chance for a quick dose of exercise and the well-being benefits that go with that, in  the sorts of environment that prove for us, time and again, that Nature is a much better Landscape Architect than Capability Brown could ever have dreamt of being! And that, in the middle of a biodiversity and climate crisis, it’s Nature that needs our membership fees. Nature could do with getting some of those country estates back too.