Weardale is within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is one of England`s most special places - a peaceful, unspoilt landscape with a rich history and vibrant natural beauty.

It has a distinctive landscape of high moorland with dramatic views, snaking stone walls, stone built villages, and an extensive imprint of a past industrial mineral mining age.

Peace, tranquillity and fabulous night skies ensure its recognition by CPRE as one of England`s most tranquil places.



The moorlands and peatscapes are home to some of our rarest wildlife and have a sense of naturalness and remoteness found in few other places in the country.

Weardale is home to some of the finest upland hay meadows in the UK with the very best meadows containing over 30 species of flowering plants and grasses, with up to 120 species per field.
Allow around 2 hours for the 5km walk around Whitstones farm near Ireshopeburn.