WAGFINDER
Walk · North Yorkshire

Thixendale Dew Ponds Circular

Thixendale · YO17 9TG
N 880 YD
2.3MILES
1h 15mON FOOT
150mCLIMB
CircularSHAPE
Off-road 45% 55% shares tarmac with cars
Field & moor path 20%Lane & track 25%Road with traffic 55%

Our drawing of the route — the shape of the walk, not a navigation aid. Carry OS Explorer on the hill.

Starts at
Thixendale village street, grid reference SE 84443 61018 (YO17 9TG), heading south for Huggate Hill Road YO17 9TG
Parking
Informal roadside parking on the village street only - Yorkshire Wildlife Trust ask you not to block gates or driveways. No car park, and space is tight on summer weekends.
Directions to the start →

A short round out of Thixendale that Yorkshire Wildlife Trust publish and waymark, taking in three restored dew ponds - the only standing water for miles in a landscape of dry chalk valleys. Out of the village up the steep pull of Huggate Hill Road, right past Gills Cottage onto the Wolds Way stoned track, past the carved interpretation panel and the 2019 restored pond, then down into the valley past the Waves and Time spiral earthwork and back along the dale road. The ant hills on the grassy slope above the valley bottom are hundreds of years old. The ponds are stock drinking water rather than dog water - carry your own, because there is nothing else.

THE SMALL PRINTSheep graze the valley and drink from the dew ponds, so a lead through the pasture sections. There is no Public Spaces Protection Order in this parish - North Yorkshire Council's dog control order covers only the Scarborough, Whitby and Filey area - and no landowner ban, so the Countryside Code rule is what applies: dog on a lead or in sight, and on a lead around livestock.

House rules, decoded

Livestock — leads on
REGION · NORTH YORKSHIRE
GRID · 54.0382, -0.7121
SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.GOV.UK/GOVERNMENT/PUBLICATIONS/THE-COUNTRYSIDE-CODE/THE-COUNTRYSIDE-CODE-ADVICE-FOR-COUNTRYSIDE-VISITORS
Also in Thixendale
N 1 MILE
Walk SOME LIMITS

Wharram Percy and Burdale Circular from Thixendale

YO17 9TG
7 MI · 3H · 55% OFF-ROAD

The classic Thixendale round: out of the village north-east on the Centenary Way, up over the wold and down the long footpath into the valley at Wharram Percy, then back on the single-track road through Burdale. Wharram Percy is English Heritage land, free to walk into and open in daylight hours, and the roofless shell of St Martin's church sits in a grass hollow with the millpond below it. Nearly all of this is dry chalk valley - no beck, no standing water - so carry water for the dog even in mild weather. The last two and a half miles along the Burdale dale road are almost traffic-free and easy on tired paws.

Livestock — leads on
VERIFIED 30 JUL 2026 VIEW ›

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