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This video shows a short circular walk around and over Arnside Knott, which affords beautiful views of the Lake District Fells and Morecambe Bay. The entire walk has been filmed in 4K, allowing walkers to see the entire route, including where to park, eat, and drink.
Today's walk is a short circular walk around and over Arnside Knott that affords wonderful views of the Lakeland Fells and out into Morecambe Bay. Before we start, let's have a look at what we will be seeing today. We head along the gravel path through the wood before arriving at our first view out towards Morecambe Bay. We then start to climb and soon arrive at a bend in the path that affords our first real view across the Grange-Over-Sands and out into Morecambe Bay.
We continue climbing and soon reach the toposcope on Arnside Knott. A toposcope is a monument that contains a pictorial display of the distinctive features that can be seen from that point and often includes distances to those features or their heights. In this case, it gives views down to Arnside Viaduct, all around the snow-capped Lakeland Fells and out towards Morecambe Bay.
After leaving the toposcope, we climb further and pass by the unusual knotted larch. This is known as the 'h' tree or the giraffe tree. Just a little further up the path is a stone and wooden bench that again affords the same stunning views as from the toposcope across the snow-capped Lakeland Fells. We continue on now to the trig point of the top of Arnside Knott, but as it's on a mini plateau and surrounded by trees, there are no real views from it.
We continue across Arnside Knott to reach the south side, where a bench just off the path affords a view down to what remains of Arnside Tower and wonderful views over Silverdale and out across Morecambe Bay.
After heading through the wood in a westerly direction, we are again rewarded with another magnificent view. This time towards Humphrey Head and Morecambe Bay.
We then descend from Arnside Knott, again with wonderful views out across Morecambe Bay and head back down to the car park. Stay watching until the end to see where you can eat and drink in Arnside after the walk. We start the walk in the small, free National Trust car park on Arnside Knott. You can start the walk in Arnside and walk to the car park if you wish.
That walk takes about 15 minutes, depending on where you park. From the end of the car park, follow the wide track along to a gate. You'll notice on the gate a purple arrow. We will be following these all around today's walk. Pass through the gate and then just head straight on along the wide path. Just before the next gate, there is a footpath sign for Copridding Wood and New Barns Bay.
Ignore these and just continue straight on. Pass through the gate. Once through the gate, just continue straight on, ignoring the path that heads off up to the left. The path then reaches a couple of gates, one heading through towards Heathwaite, over which you can see out towards Morecambe Bay.
Ignore both of these gates and turn left here, following the purple waymarker arrow, and start heading up the hill. It was minus seven when I left the car today, so not too many birds around. But in spring, summer and autumn, the woods come alive with the sound of bullfinches, nuthatches, woodpeckers, marsh tit and other woodland birds.
If you are enjoying this Arnside walk, if you haven't already, please click the like button, subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell, so you know when any new walks have been uploaded. It is free to subscribe, and your likes and comments really do help promote our channel. As the path bends around sharply to the right, from this bend, you get the first real view of the day, looking out towards Grange-Over-Sands and out over Morecambe Bay.
If you have any thoughts or questions about today's walk, please leave them in the comments section down below. A few yards further on, turn left off the main uphill path, following the purple waymarker arrow towards the two benches. The benches are perfectly placed to enjoy the view out across Morecambe Bay.
Just keep on walking along this narrow path. You soon reach a wall. Pass through the wall by way of the wooden gate and then turn right again, following the purple waymarker arrow to head up the hill. We continue climbing and soon reach the toposcope on Arnside Knott. A toposcope is a monument that contains a pictorial display of the distinctive features that can be seen from that point and often includes distances to those features or their heights.
The toposcope affords fantastic panoramic views from the Howgills and the Arnside viaduct all along the snow-capped, well, they are today, Lakeland Fells, along the Kent Estuary and out into Morecambe Bay.
The left-hand toposcope shows what you can see from Walney Island on the left, around through Humphrey Head, and around to Caw on the right-hand side. The larger middle toposcope continues this on through Coniston Old Man, Bowfell, Wetherlam, Glaramara, Skiddaw, Helvellyn and then around to Ill Bell and Harter Fell on the Kentmere Horseshoe on the right-hand side.
The right-hand toposcope continues this panorama with the Shap Fells above Arnside viaduct and then around to the Howgills on the right-hand side.
Before we move on, it is certainly worth one last look at the view. You can find the route of today's Arnside Knott circular walk on an Ordnance Survey map, along with a GPS download for your mobile phone or GPS device on our walks4all.com website, the link for which is down in the description below. From the toposcope, we just continue straight on in the same direction, following the purple arrow as the path bends around to the right. Head on to the wooden gates just ahead and then pass through the wooden kissing gate and just continue straight on heading away along the path directly away from the wall.
After a short distance, we meet another path. Just keep straight on here, following the purple waymarker arrow as the path heads up through Arnside Knott Wood.
After a further short climb and just before the next waymarker arrow, you pass by an unusual knotted larch, which, due to its shape, is known as the 'h' tree or the giraffe tree. But I guess it's more of a headless giraffe. They are believed to be a pair of larch trees that were tied together as saplings by a sailor and his bride on their honeymoon around 1860.
From the tree, we just continue straight on, following the path up the hill. Arnside is in Cumbria, just outside of the Lake District National Park. Arnside Knott is part of the Arnside and Silverdale AONB - an area of outstanding natural beauty, which is bounded in the north by the Kent, the A6 to the East, Morecambe Bay out to the west and as far south as Warton, just above Carnforth. The Arnside and Silverdale area of outstanding natural beauty is recognised for its stunning scenery, wildlife, birds and wildflowers in an area where there is a rich cultural and industrial heritage, and as you can see from the views so far, it is an area with wonderful walks.
We soon reach a wooden and stone bench, which again offers extensive views down to Arnside Viaduct, the snow-capped Lakeland Fells, the Kent Estuary and out into Morecambe Bay. From the bench, again, we just continue straight on along the path following the purple waymarked arrows. Arnside Knott itself is owned and managed by the National Trust and is one of the best places in the UK to see butterflies, especially in June and July, where rare species such as the High Brown Fritillary and the Scotch Argus can be found.
Arnside Knott, as you can see, is covered with mixed woodland and limestone grassland, which attracts a whole variety of insects and wildflowers. After about 100 metres from the bench, before a wall is reached, at a path junction, we turn right again, following the purple arrow, and just head along the path.
We continue on to the trig point on the top of Arnside Knott, but as it's on a mini plateau surrounded by trees, there are no real views from it. Arnside Knott is currently the lowest Marilyn in England, which is a classification of hills and mountains. Marilyns are defined peaks with a prominence of 150 metres or more, regardless of their own height.
So Marilyns can be mountains or relatively small hills, as in the case of Arnside Knott. The name Marilyn was coined as a pun on the Monroe classification of mountains over 3000 feet in Scotland...so Marilyn Monroe. Whilst you may seem to be on the highest point in the near vicinity, Warton Crag, just north of Warton at 163 metres, is four metres higher than Arnside Knott, so it just sneaks in as the highest point in the Arnside and Silverdale area of outstanding natural beauty.
From the trig point, we just continue straight on following the wide path, following the purple arrow. As you head along this section of path, if you look over to the left from time to time, you see through gaps in the trees over to the Howgills. Continue across Arnside Knott to head towards the south side.
As Silverdale and Morecambe Bay start to appear ahead, the path bends round to the right following the purple waymarker arrow. Just before we do that, though, just off the path to the left is another bench with a view. From the bench, straight on over the farm buildings below, you can see the remains of Arnside Tower. Arnside Tower was believed to have been built in the late 1400s as a defensive tower, five storeys high and constructed from limestone.
There was a fire in 1602, but it was repaired and continued in use for another couple of hundred years. A storm in the late 1800s caused one side to collapse, and it has remained in a state of ever-increasing ruin since. Whilst Arnside is in Cumbria, the Cumbria-Lancashire border runs through the woods on the far side of the tower, so Silverdale is in Lancashire.
This bench gives fantastic views across the Arnside and Silverdale AONB and out into Morecambe Bay. After sitting and enjoying the views across Morecambe Bay, we head back up to the path and turn left onto it, continuing on in the same direction as before, again following the purple arrow.
A little further on, at a split in the path, take the wider path to the right again, following the purple waymarker arrow. After another couple of hundred metres, the path again affords a wonderful view through the Scots pine out over Humphrey Head and out into Morecambe Bay. We're going to turn back diagonally right here, back on ourselves following the purple waymarker arrow, but take time first to wander in the opening to enjoy the view. Head back to follow the purple waymarker arrow along the path through the trees.
We then meet a wide track that we walked up earlier. This time, we will turn left, following the purple waymarker arrow to head downhill. Just as the path starts to rise, we turn left off the main path again, following the purple waymarker arrow. This section of the path affords wonderful views again out across Morecambe Bay as it starts to descend. After about 200 metres of descending, we turn right off the wider path again, following the purple waymarker arrow through Arnside Knott Wood. This next short section of the path is not marked as a path on the Ordnance Survey map.
So if you did miss this arrow and continued straight on, after about another hundred and fifty metres descending, you meet a wide track where you would turn right and follow that track back to the car park. We are, though, turning right here to follow the purple waymarker arrow. After about 100 metres, we meet the wide path that we used to climb to the toposcope at the start of the walk.
This time, though, we turn left onto the path here, following the purple waymarker arrow yet again to head down it this time. At the bottom of this path, we reach the gates we passed earlier. This time, we turn right here to head back alongside the wall. Pass through the gate and continue straight on. And again pass through the next gate and then just continue straight ahead, where we then soon arrive back in the car park. Before we finish our walk for today, as promised at the start, let's see where we can eat and drink after the walk.
This is easier to show you today by just having a wander on the promenade at Arnside. If we start at the Western end of the promenade, opposite the Albion pub, you can see there is some roadside parking, after which you can wander along the path where there are benches.
So if you do buy some fish and chips, sandwiches, cakes, coffees, ice creams, you can wander down there and enjoy them sitting on a bench to enjoy the view. There's an information board where you can read all about Arnside. This is next to a water fountain, albeit when it's minus seven, like today, the water can be frozen.
Across the road is the Albion pub. They offer a wide selection of traditional pub foods and have a range of beers, wines, cider, and spirits. The Albion is also dog-friendly. I've often had fish and chips sat on the bench from down the road and then washed it down with a pint or two sat out here in the beer garden, watching the sunset over the estuary.
As you can see from the notice on their door, they've also won the Thwaites Hospitality Best Pint Award in 2023, and they are also Cask Mark accredited. Next door to the Albion is the Arnside Bakehouse, which is a cafe, bakehouse and farm store serving a range of homemade pies, sandwiches and cakes, and I believe it's dog-friendly. Just down from that is JJ Cross Fields, which is a new cafe and wine bar that opened in June 2023. They offer a broad range of draught beers, 16 hand-pump cask beers, stouts, lagers and ciders, along with wine, spirits, tea and coffee. On the food side, they have some pizzas and tapas-style dishes on the bar menu. Again, this is dog-friendly.
Next door is Sandpipers Cafe, another relatively new addition to Arnside that serves a wide range of good homemade cakes and coffees as well as lunches. They also made the final three of the Best Coffee Shop award for the Cumbria Life Awards in 2023 after being open for less than 18 months.
Next is the Arnside House gift shop. If you want to get an ice cream, a coffee, and a cake, there are over 30 flavours of ice cream on offer. I've not been mentioning them because they don't serve food or drink, but there are some other shops in Arnside that you can visit and a gallery. Just a little further on is the Coast office, which offers interesting and varied gifts and decorations for the home and the garden sourced from local artists.
They also serve Howgill Fellside ice cream. As you wander along the road, take time to take in the views of Arnside Viaduct, the estuary, albeit partly frozen today, and the Lakeland Fells in the distance. You then pass toilets, should you need them, and a few more benches to sit and enjoy the view.
On the next bend on the right-hand side is Ye Olde Fighting Cocks Pub. It is a Thwaites pub that has accommodation. It serves homemade food and a selection of real ales and guest beers, along with wines and spirits. It's also dog-friendly. There is a small roadside beer garden in front, but there is a larger one to the side.
The beer garden, just like the Albion's, offers great views across the estuary to Arnside Viaduct and the Lakeland Fells beyond. That said, being minus seven today, I think you probably stick to the seats. From here, we continue along the front, where, from time to time, you may see a train passing over Arnside Viaduct. Arnside Viaduct, at 505 metres in length, carries the Carnforth and Whitehaven line over the estuary of the River Kent and is a 51-span structure.
It lies just outside and just to the west of Arnside train station. Arnside Viaduct was originally constructed in 1856 as a single-line viaduct, with the structure being extended to a twin track in 1863. After 50 years of service, it was in need of renewal, so in 2010 and 2011, the entire 51-span superstructure with prefabricated girder units, each averaging 24 tonnes in weight, and the track were both renewed.
A little further on the right-hand side is Arnside chip shop, which can get very busy. It is one of the few chip shops I know where you can order online, which just saves the queuing, and then you can avoid the queue and just pick up inside before finding a bench to sit on, eat and take in the views.
The final place with a few more benches to sit and enjoy the view is Arnside Pier, which was on the other side of the road, opposite Arnside House that we passed earlier. If you've enjoyed this Arnside Knott walk, if you haven't already, please click the like button, subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell, so you know when any new walks have been uploaded. It's free to subscribe, and your likes and comments really do help spread the word about our channel.
Arnside was once a fishing village but eventually lost its trade to other, more accessible harbours. It still retains a pier that was built by the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway Company in 1860 to compensate for the new viaduct that they built across the River Kent, which effectively prevented ships from reaching the port of Milnthorpe further upstream. The pier was destroyed by a storm in 1983, but subsequently, it was rebuilt by Arnside Parish Council by public subscription and grants it received in 1984 at a cost of £25,000.
Looking back, you can now see along the Arnside Promenade. Before we end today's walk, we've put together a fly-through using the Ordnance Survey app to give the walk and the surrounding area a bit more perspective. We started this Arnside Knott circular walk in the National Trust car park on Arnside Knott. You can see the road leading up to it from Arnside, and you can also see the more direct paths to the summit from the car park.
We headed away from the car park through the wood to the gate that gave the initial views out to Morecambe Bay before turning left to head up the hill. We headed on past the sharp bend and then on through the wall before climbing up to the toposcope, where you could see all the paths converging.
From here, we continued on up, passing the 'h' tree and then passing the bench with the panoramic views, shortly after which we turned right to then head on and past the trig point and then continued on to the south side of Arnside Knott to the bench with the view of Arnside Tower, Silverdale and Morecambe Bay. From here, we continued through the trees on Arnside Knott to reveal the next viewpoint across Humphrey Head and turned back on ourselves to join up briefly with the outbound path.
We then turned left off that path to head more steeply downhill before turning right to head across to, and then turning left back down the outbound path. We follow the path now, back past the gates and then along through the woods, back to the car park.
That ends our walk for today.
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