King's Walk Circular – Middleton-in-Teesdale

Parking and Access

We parked in the small car park at Horsemarket, right in the middle of Middleton. It's a handy starting point, especially with the shops close by. You'll also find roadside parking around the village if the car park is full. 

Most of the outward walk is on a good wide woodland path, followed by a stretch along a single-track road. Coming back is a little different, with smaller paths through Snaisgill Plantation that were quite muddy in places when we visited. Some of these paths are permissive routes through Raby Estate land rather than public rights of way, so it's worth checking any notices before setting off.

The Route

Start from the car park in the centre of Middleton and head up through Horsemarket towards Hude. We always like calling into McFarlane Family Butchers for a pie before heading off, and this walk has a particularly nice place to stop and enjoy one later.

Continue past the Teesdale Hotel on your right and cross Hude Bridge, then follow the road uphill into Hude. You'll get a glimpse of Middleton House further up, once the headquarters of the London Lead Company's Teesdale operations, although you won't be going that far today.

Just beyond the old Baptist Chapel on your left, look for a set of stone steps climbing between the houses on your right. There's a wooden public footpath sign marking the entrance.

Head up the steps and follow the narrow path between the houses. This is one of our favourite little parts of the walk. The houses are close beside you on the left, but to your right there's a wonderful view across Middleton, with its stone rooftops, chimneys and the surrounding countryside beyond.

Take a moment to look back before carrying on.

Once past the houses, the path enters the woodland and becomes much wider. It's easy to follow, with trees rising on either side and the sound of Hudeshope Beck below.

Keep to the main woodland path. You'll eventually pass a small wooden bridge dropping away to your right. Don't cross this one. Continue straight ahead until you reach the much larger metal bridge across Hudeshope Beck.

Cross the large metal bridge over Hudeshope Beck and carry straight on. You'll now be following a single-track road for roughly half a mile towards Skears. It's a pleasant stretch, with the woodland around you and little glimpses of the beck as you go.

Before reaching the limekilns, there's a short diversion to Hudeshope Waterfall. Follow the track towards the bridge and you'll find a small waterfall tumbling over moss-covered rocks into a pool below. It isn't a particularly big waterfall, but it's in a lovely setting and well worth a few minutes.

Once you've had a look, retrace your steps to the junction and take the turning towards Skears Lime Kilns.

The old kilns are quite a sight. Great stone walls stand beside the path, with enormous arched openings that once formed part of a busy limestone industry. We've explored these before, but they're still impressive every time we visit.

It's worth having a proper look at the kilns before carrying on. When you stand in front of them, you can see that the arches aren't all quite the same and the stonework changes along the wall. We found quite a bit about the different periods of building when researching Skears. The upper workings are fenced off, and there's some dangerous ground around the ruins, so there's plenty to see without going beyond the fencing or climbing on the old stonework.

Leaving the kilns behind, follow the path with the fields on your left and the woodland on your right. After the path bends sharply left, take the smaller path bearing off to your right. This was one of the muddier sections when we walked it, and it's quite narrow in places.

The path drops down to a little wooden bridge before climbing back up through the trees. Once you've crossed, keep following the path and you'll eventually come to a bench just inside the woodland, looking out over the fields.

This was where we stopped for lunch. A pie from McFarlane's, a flask of coffee and a lovely view across the countryside. Nothing complicated, just a peaceful spot to sit for a while and enjoy being outdoors.

When you're ready, continue along the path as it begins descending towards Middleton. There are some steeper parts here, particularly towards the end, so take care if the ground is wet or covered in leaves.

Eventually you'll come out onto Town Head Road. Turn right and follow the road downhill towards the village.

You can continue directly back into Middleton, but we like taking a little detour through St Mary's Churchyard. Turn left into the churchyard and follow the path through the grounds. We have relatives buried here, so it's somewhere we always like to stop and say hello when we're passing.

St Mary's is well worth a wander if you have time. There's a lot of history in this little churchyard, including the old detached bellhouse and stonework that survived when the earlier church was demolished.

Follow the path through the churchyard to the gate at the other end, then turn right and head downhill towards the village  passing the children's play area on your left. Keep straight ahead through the narrow street of houses and you'll arrive back in the centre of Middleton, with the car park just ahead.

The King's Walk Route Map, Middleton-in-Teesdale

Here's our three-mile circular route through the King's Walk, starting and finishing in Middleton-in-Teesdale. The interactive map shows the woodland paths, bridges, Hudeshope Waterfall and Skears Lime Kilns, with the return through Snaisgill Plantation. You can zoom in, follow the route on Hiiker or download the GPX file to use on your own walking app.

The History of King's Walk

The woodland around Hudeshope has a much longer history than the walk itself. Snaisgill Plantation was already a familiar local place during the nineteenth century, when the surrounding land was used for quarrying, farming and shooting. An old newspaper from 1868 even records the Teesdale Harriers arranging to meet at Snaisgill Plantation, long before King's Walk became a public attraction.

The King's Walk was named after King Edward VII, who came to the throne in 1901. Around that time, Middleton Parish Council asked Lord Barnard if the woods could be opened for people to walk through. He agreed, and the council arranged paths, wooden bridges, fencing and places to sit and enjoy the views.

By 1920, there was already a walking guide describing a route through the woods. Written by M. Heavisides, it takes you up Hude and onto the stone steps just beyond the Baptist Chapel, exactly where we started our walk. From there it follows the woodland, passing a small bridge on the right before crossing another bridge farther along. There's even a description of a waterfall and a limekiln still burning, with smoke rising from the top.

That was one of our favourite things to discover while researching this walk. We had been following directions written more than a hundred years ago, and although plenty has changed, parts of the route are still surprisingly familiar.

John C. Raine's illustrated guide describes another route through King's Walk, approaching from Town Head and following the woodland towards Snaisgill Beck, Skears Road and Jack Scar. The later walking leaflets also offer different ways around the valley, including returns along Beck Road and through Aukside.

The old descriptions don't all follow exactly the same route, which made planning our own walk rather interesting. We compared the guides with historical Ordnance Survey maps, looked at the surviving paths and eventually walked the circuit ourselves. The route we've put together isn't meant to be an exact recreation of the original King's Walk. It's our favourite way of enjoying the woodland as a circular from Middleton, using the old Hude entrance, visiting the waterfall and limekilns, and returning along the paths through Snaisgill Plantation.

The Trees Middleton Lost

One of the more interesting stories we found was in the Teesdale Mercury from 19 July 1944, under the heading Loss to Middleton-in-Teesdale.

Trees were being felled along King's Walk, and there was real concern about how much the woodland was changing. The pines, firs and larches had been such an important part of the place, providing the shaded walks that Middleton residents and visitors had enjoyed for years.

The newspaper also remembered how Lord Barnard had maintained the paths and how fencing beside Jack Scar Road had been removed, opening up the views. The loss of the trees was clearly felt in the village, and there was hope that new planting would eventually restore the woodland, although it would take many years.

Walking through the trees today, especially along that lovely stretch of mature pines on the return route, it's interesting to think how different the place might have looked when King's Walk first opened. We don't know which of the present trees were standing in 1944, but the woodland has certainly had its share of changes.

More Than a Century of Walkers

The newspapers also give us some lovely little snapshots of people enjoying King's Walk over the years.

In 1994, Barnard Castle Ramblers walked through the woods and admired carpets of snowdrops before continuing towards the old mine workings and Skears Scar. Another walk that year finished along King's Walk, with the trees bright green and dozens of rabbits rushing across the path.

Not every visit was quite so peaceful. During a particularly wet walk in 1997, ramblers found streams flowing where they normally wouldn't, struggled with flooded crossings and eventually sheltered beside the old limekilns for lunch. By the time they reached the King's Walk, the paths were so wet they were slipping and sliding through the woodland.

Anyone who has walked these paths after heavy rain will probably understand that one!

King's Walk has needed regular care over the years too. In 2002, Middleton Parish Council was discussing improvements with Raby Estates, and the following year the council agreed to contribute £200 towards materials following drainage work on the paths.

More recently, in February 2025, Raby Estates replaced a deteriorating footbridge across Hudeshope Beck in Snaisgill Plantation with a new 14-metre bridge. The work also helped improve the permissive woodland routes and their connections to the wider walking network.

It's good to see that the woods are still being looked after, more than a century after the first paths and rustic bridges were arranged for local people.

A Little More to Discover Along the Way

Hudeshope Waterfall

We made a little detour to see Hudeshope Waterfall before continuing to the limekilns. It's quite a small waterfall, with the beck dropping over a few rocky ledges into the water below, but we really liked it. We spent a while taking photographs before heading back onto the main route.

The rocks around the water can be slippery, so take care if you go down for a closer look, particularly after heavy rain.

Skears Lime Kilns

The kilns are quite impressive when you first come across them. Those huge stone walls and arches were once part of a working lime business, with limestone coming from the quarry above to be burned for use on farms, in gardens and for building work.

It's hard to picture now, but when people were walking this way in 1920, at least one of the kilns was still working, with heat and smoke coming from it. Today all that's left are the enormous stone structures, but they're still well worth stopping to explore from the paths.

The works continued developing, with new limekilns commissioned in 1924 for F. J. Smith. The construction contract went to Moore Bros of Eggleston, and later newspaper adverts show lime being sold by the bag and transported from Middleton by road and rail.

We've already explored the kilns and their history in much more detail on our Skears Lime Kilns Walk & History page, so it's well worth having a read if you'd like to know more about the people and businesses connected with the site.

St Mary's Church

We finished our walk through St Mary's Churchyard rather than going straight back into Middleton. It's somewhere we know quite well because we have family buried here, and we always like to stop for a little while.

The present church was built in 1878 and 1879 after the old one was demolished. Some of the earlier building was saved, including medieval stonework, an old window that now stands in the churchyard and the separate bellhouse, which is one of the more unusual things you'll notice when you visit.

There's a lot of Middleton's history here, from the church itself to the generations of local families remembered among the gravestones.

A Walk Worth Taking Your Time Over

We really enjoyed this one. From the views over Middleton near the old stone steps to the little waterfall, the impressive limekilns and those quiet woodland paths on the way back, there's plenty to see without having to travel far from the village.

But what we enjoyed most was the feeling of walking somewhere that has been part of Middleton life for so long. The old guidebooks, the newspaper stories and the paths themselves all add something to the walk.

And despite all that history, sometimes the nicest part is simply finding a quiet bench, sitting down with a pie and a coffee, and watching the countryside for a while.

King's Walk is a lovely place for exactly that.

Explore More Around Middleton-in-Teesdale

If you've enjoyed King's Walk, our Middleton-in-Teesdale Visitor Guide brings together more walks, waterfalls, local shops, places to eat and things to see around the village.

For more of the industrial history along this route, have a look at our Skears Lime Kilns Walk & History page, where we've explored the old quarry, the surviving kilns and the people who worked here.

You can also discover more about Middleton itself through our History of Middleton-in-Teesdale and St Mary's Church history pages.

For more places to explore around the dale, visit our Teesdale Walks and Hiking Routes collection.

Walked, photographed and researched by Outdoor Exploring Family, October 2026. Historical material includes M. Heavisides' 1920 walking guide, John C. Raine's illustrated Middleton guide, Teesdale Mercury reports and Raby Estates' woodland information.