Abbey Vaults

Barlow Common nature reserve

A mile and a half round a ninety-acre patchwork of lakes, meadow and birch woodland on a reclaimed tip east of the town, forty-five minutes, entirely flat with hard-surfaced main paths, a couple of boardwalks and softer side loops that get muddy. The car park off Common Lane in Barlow is free and open dawn to dusk, and Selby station is two and a half miles away with a bus to Barlow village. Dogs can be off lead on the main circuit and there is no livestock, but the reserve is a serious wildlife site with grass snakes, ground-nesting birds and open water, so keep out of the reed fringes and away from the lake edges in spring; the surfaced spine path is one of the few places in the Selby district that stays clean through a wet January.