Thornton-le-Dale Guide, thorntonledale.org
Yellow Walk, Rectory Lane & the Ha-Ha
The walk that shows you the shape of the village: up the church steps to the elevated path past the lychgate, with the roofs and the Hall laid out below, then down to Rectory Lane and home.
- Start and finish
- Village car park, Maltongate, Thornton-le-Dale (satnav YO18 7SD)
- Time
- 30–40 minutes
- Waymarking
- Yellow discs
- Terrain
- Footpaths, church steps and a short stretch of quiet road
- Underfoot after rain
- Not recorded
- Gates and stiles
- Church steps, then a short stretch of quiet road
- Distance and ascent
- Not published, see the note at the foot
- Access and dogs
- Steps rule out wheels. Dogs fine on a lead near the road. Keep to the gravel on the descent, see the ha-ha warning below.
Directions
- From the car park, make for All Saints Church and climb the church steps.
- Take the elevated path past the lychgate. The roofs and the Hall lie below you, and it becomes obvious how the settlement grew along the beck.
- Follow the path as it drops to Rectory Lane.
- Follow Rectory Lane as far as the junction with Dog Kennel Lane.
- Pick up the footpath there, which brings you back to the car park.
Before you set off
- Keep to the gravel path on the descent. There is a ha-ha alongside it, a concealed ditch dug so that a view could be had without a fence in it, and by high summer the growth can hide the drop entirely.
- Church steps: not a route for wheels.
- Dogs on a lead on the stretch of quiet road.
- Close every gate behind you. Several routes cross land with sheep, and a few have chickens and a horse alongside the path.
- Keep dogs under close control everywhere, and on a lead near livestock, in the churchyards and through the village.
- After heavy rain, check that Thornton Beck is not in spate before using the low beckside stretches or paddling.
- Distances, total ascent, gate and stile counts and current path conditions are not published in this guide, so carry OS Explorer map coverage or a mapping app.
The seven routes follow the Thornton-le-Dale Walks leaflet produced by Thornton le Dale Traders Forum and Thornton le Dale Parish Council. The terrain, dog, pushchair and wheelchair notes on this page come from walking the routes ourselves in September 2026.