Harlestone Firs Walk

Location: 44 Harlestone Rd, Northampton, NN7 4EW

Distance: 2.8 miles/ 3.8 kms

Time: 45 mins - 1 hour

Hey! Welcome to my blog. 

I'll be posting walks around Northampton and surrounding areas for those of you who'd like to follow me along some fun routes. I will try and add a bit of humour, some interesting facts and general chit chat along the way.

For my first walk I went to Harlestone Firs and got to enjoy eye catching autumn colours as well as adorable wildlife. I hope you like the walk as much as I did!

Begin your walk by parking in the lay by outside the garden or parking on York Way. Next the to 30 mph sign you will find a small cut through into the woods.

Through the corn field and tread carefully as you go over a wall which has fallen down slightly so steady on your feet.

Once in the woods turn right and follow the pathway through the ferns making sure you take a deep breath of the fresh pine smell and try to spot the holly bushes. Continue on this path past the first left you come across and take the second left. This will bring you out onto a wider sand covered pathway which you will left right onto.

Walking down this wide path making your way to a junction at the end. Take a right down the muddy track keeping the stone wall to your right continue round to the right again continuing to keep the wall to your right hand side.

You will see two left hand turns before we reach the left hand turn we need to take. Down over the tree roots towards the silver birch trees and the log crossing (in the autumn/winter months these logs are covered in mud) so be careful of slipping.

Silver birch trees are deciduous trees which can grow up to thirty metres high and live for around sixty years. They are strikingly beautiful trees aren't they!

Walk up the hill and turn right at the "cross roads, cross roads, cross roads"... continue on for 50 metres and then turn left with the clearing of trees to your left. Keep on this route for 100 metres and continue straight when the pathway bares left.

Make sure you take your time to look around and appreciate the colours in the trees. These remarkably bright orange leaves really stood out to me. During the Autumn reduced hours of daylight means the leaves stop their food-making process. This leads the chlorophyll (the element that makes them green) to break down in the leaf and they change colour.

You will come into a field of newly planted trees where you'll follow the path round to the left and through the saplings. This field leads on to a wide walkway where you turn left. Approximately 10 metres up the way there is a small opening in the bushes on your right, take this turning into the woodlands. 

Continue down the pathway minding your head on the fallen tree which leans across the path. When you come to the next cross roads you will turn right and enjoy the beautiful avenue of trees on either side as you make your way up the wide walkway. 

When you reach the cobbled road once more you will need to turn right and continue up as we reach a half way point in the walk. The cobbled road turns to mud as you reach the old oak trees lining the way. Make sure you look up and appreciate the beauty of the trees around you. I particularly enjoy grabbing a bug bunch of fallen orange leaves and throwing them up and watching them fall to the ground again. Call me a child but its great fun when you have someone to throw them at.

Once you reach the road you'll follow it for just 10 metres and then take the right hand turn, making sure you point out any squirrels you see. Keep your eyes peeled, I once saw a deer running along this section of the firs.

You'll reach another cross roads where you'll turn left and follow the dark and moody walkway until you reach a fork in the path. Bear left and continue onward avoiding the left and right turnings which may tempt you to change your route. Your more than welcome to change the way but don't come crying to me when you get lost in the woods. 

Towards the end of this long stretch of path you'll need to bear right slightly as you see a den built to the right of the pathway. When you come out on to the wider pathway once more you will need to turn left and follow this round until you get back to the road again. Crossing the road carefully you will continue straight on. Watch for the rabbit holes which doggos love to dig up. 

 
 As the straight pathway begins to curve round to the left you will see a small cut through on your right. Take this turning and you'll need to step over rather a large log before returning to your car.