Linhope Spout

Northumberland National Park

A family walk through the lovely Breamish Valley into the Cheviot Hills with a delightful reward in the waterfall of Linhope Spout.

The spectacular Linhope Spout waterfall

Where to start: National Park Visitor Centre or Hartside Farm
This is grid reference NU 010163 or NT 975162 on the OS Explorer OL16 map.

Start for 8 mile walk: NU 019163 - Park at the National Park Visitor Centre at Ingram village and walk 3 miles west along the gentle valley road to Hartside Farm. You will have stunning views all the way. The first hill to the left is Brough Law (GR NT 998163) with a fine Iron Age hillfort and Bronze Age burial cairns. You can see an exhibition of archaeological finds at the Visitor Centre.

Start for a 3 mile walk: NT 975162 - Drive west up the valley and park opposite Hartside Farm on the grass verge, just before the junction with the private road to Alnhammoor.

1. Leave Hartside on the road west up the valley. Pass a wood on your right, with rhododendrons flowering in the spring, before the road descends to Linhope. There are views towards Cunyan Crags & Dunmoor Hill to the right and ahead to Shill Moor. Northumberland is renowned for its wide open moorland. Cheviot moors tend to be grassy and are called whiteland , while the heather hills are blackland. The largest of Britain’s waders, the curlew, can be seen from April onwards with its distinctive downward curving bill, slow, wide-winged flight and haunting cry. It is the emblem of Northumberland National Park.
2. NT 96516 - Cross the bridge over the Linhope Burn and follow the road around to the left, passing a house on the corner. Bear right, following the fingerposts. Follow the clear stone track along the side of the plantation.
3. Upon reaching the corner of the plantation, a fingerpost guides you off the stone track and onto a clear grassy track. Follow this up a slope alongside the plantation and through a gate. Follow the path as it zig-zags down the hill to the Linhope Burn and Linhope Spout waterfall (NT 956171) - a 60 foot (18m) chute of water which lands in a plunge pool 6ft (2m) wide and 16ft (5m) deep.
4. Views ahead towards Great Standrop and the great dome of Hedgehope Hill 714m (NT 944197), the second highest next to The Cheviot at 815m - look out for Scots Pine cones nibbled by red squirrels!
5. Return by the same route.