Views and Woodlands Walk at Longshaw

This 5.25-mile circular walk starts and ends at National Trust Haywood Car Park. It drops through Hay Wood toward Grindleford, crosses the railway bridge by Grindleford Station and climbs through Padley Woods and Sheffield Plantation before returning over Tumbling Hill. Allow about 3½ hours. It suits you if you want one longer loop with wooded paths and open moorland; it is more than a gentle wander around the estate.

Padley Woods is the route-finding pinch point: stay on the main paved climb through its maze of side paths. Later, look for the hole in the right-hand gatepost that frames a guide stoop said to be about 300 years old. The old packhorse track is the roughest stretch. Its worn stones fade into boggy ground, then reappear by a wall and stream before a steep bank. At Tumbling Hill, the route reaches a clifftop with views across White Edge, Eyam Moor, Hope Valley and Higger Tor. Keep back from the edge.

Expect short steep sections, steps, uneven ground and mud. The route is for confident walkers and is not wheelchair-suitable. Dogs are welcome on a short lead. Longshaw Café is about halfway along, a short detour at Yew Tree Junction, with sandwiches, snacks, drinks and toilets. If 5.25 miles is too much, the separate Longshaw Woodland Explorer Walk is about 2.3 miles.