The Eden Valley, Cumbria

The River Eden at Kirkby Stephen

The beautiful Eden Valley stretches from the source of the River Eden high on the Westmorland fells above Mallerstang to the Solway Firth. The Eden flows down through Kirkby Stephen and Appleby, then along and around the edge of the North Pennines to Carlisle and into the Solway Firth. Along the way it picks up tributaries including the River Eamont which flows out of Ullswater.

Cumbria-based writer Vivienne Crow has produced an excellent book of Eden Valley walks: Walking in Cumbria’s Eden Valley

Below is a selection of posts from the Around-England blog illustrating and describing a variety of aspects of this very special area of Cumbria, the upper reaches of which are sandwiched between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.

River Eden near Appleby on a Wintry Afternoon

January 17, 2012

Three more shots of the beautiful Eden Valley. Before reaching the centre of the town the River Eden passes Bongate (the place where in ancient times the ‘bondsmen’ used to live), down below the cliff where Appleby Castle stands proud. Here is a cold January midday shot of the river, reduced in level from what [...]

Protection of the North Pennines

January 4, 2012

The North Pennines, stretching from the Eden Valley up towards the Scottish Border, are characterised by wild moorland with long expanses of silence apart from the wind and the birds. This special landscape needs protection, and it is good that the staff of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty have it under their [...]

Happy New Year from the Eden Valley

January 2, 2012

I had not expected to be sitting at my keyboard this afternoon. The sun was shining, there was blue in the sky, and it would have been an excellent opportunity to drive to one or two of the places here in the Eden Valley where I’ve been wanting to take photographs but have been waiting [...]

The River Eden at Appleby This Afternoon

November 17, 2011

The sunshine attracted me away from the keyboard after lunch today. My target, with cameras, was the River Eden at Appleby (or, to give it its full name, Appleby-in-Westmorland). What the warplanes circling and thundering overhead were aiming at, in addition to making white trails in the almost cloudless sky, is anyone’s guess. Ignoring the [...]

Cairns on Wild Boar Fell

October 27, 2011

The photo below is of Wild Boar Fell, looking over the western side of Mallerstang Common from near Pendragon Castle in the Upper Eden Valley. If you look carefully you can just see the little points sticking up from the table top of The Nab, to the left of the picture. Here now is a [...]

Hellgill Force – The Upper Eden Valley

October 26, 2011

At the very top of the Eden Valley, close by where Cumbria borders with Yorkshire a stream flows down the hillside then suddenly plunges into the depths of a ravine. The stream is the infant Eden. The waterfall is Hellgill Force. Two weeks ago I strolled briefly around there, leaving the car by the county [...]

Pendragon Castle in the Sunshine

October 18, 2011

As I said in a previous post about the Mallerstang Valley it can be a wild place. Last time I was there the pictures were of gloom: This past weekend, however, I saw it in a different light.

Return to the Eden

October 3, 2011

How good it is to be back in the Eden Valley after a week in Brussels. A string of lectures, project supervision and a panel debate with Euro-officials and politicians were hard work but very enjoyable, especially the days spent with a group of twentyfive wonderful 20-25 year old students from countries all over Europe. [...]

Pendragon Castle, Mallerstang, Cumbria

July 7, 2011

Of all the castles inherited by Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, in the 17th century Pendragon Castle must have been in the wildest and most remote-feeling location of them all. The Mallerstang valley in Cumbria, between the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, and just to the south of the North Pennines AONB [...]

Dufton Pike in the Evening Sun

July 4, 2011

Just outside the Lake District, the Eden Valley stretches eastwards up into the North Pennines. Along its northern edge, between Penrith and Appleby, is a series of conical hills. Last week I mentioned and posted a photo of one of these, Dufton Pike. Then yesterday whilst visiting some friends in Brampton, near Appleby, after church [...]

← Previous Entries