Rigmaden
Bluebells
7th May 2025
7.6 miles / 12.3 km
264 m ascent
Moderate
8.9 Naismith miles
Rigmaden
Step by Step | OS Map | Downloads | Gallery | Fly through
A walk in the spring that features daffodils or bluebells is a long-standing tradition with the Bentham Footpath Group. Scheduling such a walk months in advance and then getting the spring blooms to cooperate on the chosen date is a challenge though, and one that might daunt lesser leaders than ours.
Having seen bluebells passing their peak elsewhere in the last couple of weeks, there was a little jeopardy – there was no doubt this would be a good walk, because it’s a route that works well at any time of the year – but would there be a good show of bluebells, and would they be at their best?
Yes – of course there were. In fact, we think ours were better than those reported by BBC TV at Rannerdale Knotts. Despite this BFG is not funded by the licence payer.
Step-by-Step
We start at a lay-by on the Old Scotch Road just north of Old Town, near Kirby Lonsdale. To find it, take the A65 to Kirkby and then at the Booths Roundabout head into town. Take a left at the T junction just past Booths, then follow the road round to the right and downhill, following signs for the rugby club. Head left at the bottom and take the road uphill out of Kirkby on the B2654. You are now heading toward Kendal. Continue until you pass Living Home Furnishings – which is on the left, a sign to Mansergh on the right, and then as the road forks bear right into Old Scotch Road. This was historically an important drover’s route used to bring livestock from as far afield as Scotland to markets in the south. Continue up here for 800m, at which point there is a waymarked footpath on the left with the layby on the right almost opposite. The OS grid reference for the start point is SD59728427, whilst the what-3-words tag is courts.clock.season If you are using Satnav, then try Old Scotch Road LA6 2EP – but be aware that the postcode area is quite large.
The walk returns to the Old Scotch road about half way round, and at that point is only 500m north of our starting point – that creates an opportunity to do this walk in two halves should time or energy levels dictate. For now though, we assume you want the full experience, so we look to the opposite side of the road from the layby and find a waymarked bridleway heading west across fairly flat ground.
We follow this for 600m, as it kinks left then right crossing the Blea Beck (barely visible on our walk after weeks of dry weather), and we soon arrive at the B6254.
We need to head north now, and although it would be nice to offer a road free route, there simply is no alternative to going right along the road for the next 800m. This is not a busy road, and visibility is good along the section we are walking, but care is still required. Along the way we have Kitridding Hill to our left, good views over toward the Howgills on the right. We also start to see our first bluebells along the roadside here – we tend to think of bluebells as being a common, or even mundane flower, and perhaps do not realise how specifically British they are: Over the space of a few weeks in spring, from mid-April onwards, bluebells set our woodlands ablaze with their bright blue flowers. The UK is home to more than half the world’s population of bluebells, making it our unofficial national flower. Their presence is a sure sign you are in, or close to, very old woodland. Interestingly, along this early part of the walk we noted that some of the bluebells appear to be whitish in colour whilst others are pinkish – the majority remaining a purply / blue colour.
So what colour are bluebells? Well red as it happens – bear with us on this – and pay attention here comes the science . . .
If a bluebell is picked and the colours extracted for analysis, we find that the dominant pigment is a red compound called anthocyanin delphinidin – very similar to the natural pigment in raspberries and strawberries. Unlike these fruits however, the bluebell also produces other compounds which bind to the anthocyanin and change the colour to a blue shade – malonic acid and coumaric acid are the two most common.
If the bluebell is unable to get the necessary nutrients to make the malonic acids or coumaric acids, or is genetically incapable of producing enough, but is still able to make the anthocyanin, then a pink bluebell results. If however, the plant lacks anthocyanins, it will appear white – because the malonic acid and coumaric acid on their own are colourless.
A final complication is that the anthocyanin / malonic acid / coumaric acid combination is very sensitive to acidity, and exposure to other acids changes the colour to pale pink – so if a bluebell is picked and dropped onto an ant’s nest for example, it will pick up formic acid made by the ants and turn pink.
Having pondered the colour chemistry question for a while we press on passing the parish boundary stone between Lupton and Preston Patrick and then look for a waymarked path on the right 200m past the boundary stone.
A quick glance at the OS map shows the path (in fact a bridleway) heading through the farmyard. A less intrusive alternative route has been provided for walkers, and we took this – keep to the left of the first building then looking for a gate to access a track just before the next one – this loops round to the left and then follows the edge of the field down to Barkin Beck, where a metal gate takes us onward.
We stay on the track, and contour round the hillside until after just 100m we have a fine view over Middle Fell House to a tarn known as Wyndhammere. It may not be as big as Windermere, but it’s equally attractive – in a less dramatic way.
The lane now bears left, until we reach a gate where we take a sharp right and stay with the drystone wall – heading down to the lane that joins Middle Fell House to High Fell House which we glimpse to our left – it is just the impressive array of solar panels on the roof that we see at first.
Once we arrive at the bottom of the field, we follow the track to the left and walk to the right hand side of High Fell House, before continuing downhill to the Blea Beck -which feeds the tarn. We cross this and then head uphill slightly, and to the right, so that the woodland to the edge of the tarn is on our right.
After about 300m, we arrive at the corner of the field and see an access track ahead of us. We take this to the left and follow it east for 300m to arrive back at the Old Scotch Road. As we walk along this track we notice a curious tower to our right. This is marked on the OS map as an air shaft, and as we see evidence of the four large water mains from the Lake District to Manchester later in the walk, but only 1km south of here, it is probable that the pipes run under here.
If, as we arrive at Old Scotch Road you wanted to shortcut the walk, we would go right and back to the cars, but assuming you are made of sterner stuff and want the full bluebell experience we go left for 200m and look for a sign to a bridleway to Rigmaden on our right.
We then head east passing a second tarn on our right. This is Kitmere but is barely visible from the track so you may not notice it through the dense rhododendrons.
What we did note along here is a trail camera installed as part of the National Hedgehog Monitoring Program (NHMP). This aims to gather data on hedgehog numbers and to understand why this charismatic species is in such trouble.
Our path stays to the edge of the woodland and soon heads right giving us our first good view of the dense carpets of bluebells that we came to see.
We follow the drystone wall now, turning left, still with great views of the bluebells, and then start to head downhill along the side of a minor beck that drains Kitmere.
The path becomes a forest road, and we soon arrive at a crossroads. We need to go sharp left here taking a path heading northeast and exiting the woods in 100m at a barn. We have a field in front of us now, and great views of Middleton Fell, so this is a good place to take a break.
Our path now continues below the front of the barn, and down to the road where we go right to walk downhill toward Rigmaden Park (also known as Rigmaden Hall).
The house is built on the site of a Medieval manor house, documented as being occupied Thomas Warde in records from 1322. The manor house was replaced by a new building in about 1678 for Thomas Godsalve, and this was in turn was replaced by the current house. The architect was Francis Webster, who built it in 1825, with Christopher Wilson as the client. Over the following years further extensions and alterations were commissioned.
By 1948, the Hall had fallen into dereliction, and, in 1992, part of the building was demolished, while the other half was renovated. Rigmaden Park is now a Grade II listed building on the National Heritage List for England.
We continue along the road for 700m or so, passing the grand entrance gates to the Hall on our left before we find a waymarked path on the right heading across the fields and into woodland – this is Hag Wood, and again, bluebells and wild garlic provide a great spectacle.
The path works its way through the woods and emerges on the far side to follow the edge of the woodland for a little while.
About 50m or so after arriving at the top edge of the woodland we see a derelict house ahead and take a gate before it to follow the path along the rear of the property and then 100m later sharp right onto a green lane which brings us down to Mansergh High. The route has been modified by statutory order along this section so don’t worry too much if the route on the ground – which remains clear and obvious – does not quite coincide with your map.
At Mansergh High we carry on following the green lane south for 300m, at which point we see a waymarked path on the right heading to a small stand of trees – our last good bluebell opportunity for the day. Expect the fields here to contain cows and calves in the spring and summer, so care is required, particularly for dog walkers.
Beyond the trees, the path comes round to the left and starts to head downhill, passing four access points to the buried water mains – the typical “waterboard” wrought iron gate in the wall ahead is something of a give-away here and reminds us of similar gates in the recent Newton to Dunsop and Hodder Bank walk.
We take a gated stile to the right of this and then head right to pass to the right of the farmhouse at Greenbank where we get back to the Old Scotch Road. Our cars are now just a simple stroll to the right.
Our walks are graded according to distance and elevation change, and at just over 12km this one is “Moderate”. If you like the idea of the walk, but need a shorter option, we would recommend the same starting point but walking up the Old Scotch road to find the Rigmaden path – it’s the second half of the walk where the best bluebells are to be found.
