Golden Acre Park and Breary Marsh

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Our view

"A walk of great variety in the rolling countryside to the north of Leeds."

Walk directions

From the southern corner of the car park, an underpass leads into Golden Acre Park. Turn right on a path that winds to the far end of the lake. Ignore the path heading off left across the lake dam and walk forward out of the park onto a tree-lined bridlepath. Go left beside the park boundary to emerge at a junction of lanes. Take the one that’s ahead, up to the Five Lane End junction.

Take the second road on the left (Eccup Moor Road). Stick with it for a mile (1.6km) past junctions until you reach the outbuildings of Bank House Farm, where a waymarked bridleway leaves on the left. It soon narrows to a hedged path. About 50yds (46m) before the footpath later swings right, take a stile in the fence on your left. Follow the field edge away to a wall stile and continue forward across another field to emerge onto a lane (The New Inn is then just along to your right).

Go left along the road for just 20yds (18m) to take a stile on your right. Keep ahead over an intersection to join another track, which leads forward to a gate and stile. Carry on for 150yds (137m) by the boundary to a waypost and bear right across the pasture to a stile in the end wall. Walk on towards an activity centre, bypassing it through a couple of kissing gates to meet a track. Go right and immediately left along an enclosed grass track past a donkey sanctuary. When it finishes, maintain your direction walking beside successive fields to reach a road.

Go right for 150yds (137m) then take a waymarked kissing gate on the left. Follow the field-edge path by the left fence. Beyond two more kissing gates bear left across another field behind Breary Grange Farm to a ladder stile beyond a large oak. Maintain the same direction to a stile at the far corner and continue across a final field. Leave over a stile next to buildings onto the A660 by a roundabout.

Cross the main road and turn into The Sycamores. Walk past the Rugby Club, but some 100yds (91m) further on, leave through a kissing gate on the left. Head away at the edge of successive fields towards a wood. Crossing a beck, carry on beside the trees. Reaching a stile, swing left along a track towards a farmhouse. Continue on the field path beyond to a gate that leads into the Breary Marsh Nature Reserve.

The path heading off sharp right makes a circuit around the lake, a pleasant extension if you’re not pushed for time. Otherwise, bear slightly right onto a path below the foot of the dam. At a junction, go left with the Leeds Country Way, signed towards the A660. Wind with the bridleway across a bridge but, at the next junction, turn left back to the car park.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Good paths, tracks and quiet roads, many stiles

Landscape - Parkland, woods and arable country

Dog friendliness - Keep on leads at all times

Parking - Golden Acre Park car park, across road from park itself, on A660 just south of Bramhope

Toilets en route - Golden Acre Park, at start of walk

Walks in West Yorkshire

About the walk

Leeds is fortunate to have so many green spaces. Some, like Roundhay Park, are long established; others, like Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve, have been created from post-industrial wasteland. However, none have had a more chequered history than Golden Acre Park, which is 6 miles (9.7km) north of...

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Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

Everybody knows that Yorkshire has some special landscapes. The Dales and the Moors first spring to mind, but what about West Yorkshire? That’s Leeds and Bradford isn’t it? Back-to-back houses and blackened mills… Certainly if you had stood on any of the hills surrounding Hebden Bridge a hundred years ago, and gazed down into the valley, all you would have seen was the pall of smoke issuing from the chimneys of 33 textile mills.