Nethergill Farm Audio Trail

A short circular self-guided trail around Nethergill Farm at Oughtershaw, starting and finishing at the farmhouse on the Dales Way. It runs about 2.7 km / 1.7 miles with twelve numbered stops. This is a short educational farm nature walk, not a fell hike, and it is unusually good for understanding how a Dales hill farm manages water, peat, woodland and waders.

Modest but real. Elevation along the route rises from roughly 370 m near the beck to about 430 m at the highest ground, so expect a steady pull up to the Moss and a clear descent back. Underfoot is farm and moorland ground, not surfaced path: rough grass, tussocks, and wet peat that stays soft long after dry weather. There is one marked stile near the woodland section, so the loop is not step free and is not suitable for wheels or buggies. Boots with ankle support are the sensible choice.

• Peat and bog ground can be deep and soft; stay on the line shown on the farm map rather than cutting across
• The beck is fast flowing and its banks can be slippery; keep children close near the water and the bridge
• The Moss is open and exposed, with no shelter, so wind and low cloud change the walk more than the distance suggests
• Limestone sink holes mean uneven, sometimes hidden ground away from the route
• Livestock, including cattle on the Moss in summer, should be given space

This is a working private farm, and the trail exists because the farm chooses to share it. Contact the farm before you set out to confirm that the trail, hides and Nature Barn are available, where you may park, and whether dogs are acceptable on the day. Park only where you are told you may. Inside the Nature Barn there is DIY tea, coffee and flapjack on an honesty system, so pay what you owe. Take the trail guide with you and leave it in the Hayloft afterwards so the next visitor can use it. Close gates behind you, do not climb walls, and keep clear of farm machinery and stock.

Good for families with confident walkers, birders, and anyone interested in peat restoration and upland farming. Less good if you want distance, big summits or an all weather surface. Many visitors combine it with a stretch of the Dales Way, which passes the farm, if they want to add mileage on a clearer line.

The payoff is the high point: you can see the whole farm system laid out and understand what the earlier stops were about.

• Oughtershaw Beck, fast flowing, with trout, dippers and wagtails, and the occasional sandpiper
• An artificial scrape created for wading birds, where redshank, snipe, lapwing and curlew are the target species
• Otter evidence by the bridge, signs rather than the animal itself, since otters are mostly nocturnal
• A sphagnum bog, then Bilberry Wood with Scots pine, bilberries and heather, and possible signs of red squirrels
• Ellbeck Wood, mixed deciduous and conifer planting, often showing roe deer browse
• The Moss, a 90 hectare mosaic of blanket bog, rough grassland and limestone flushes, grazed by Belted Galloways in summer and used by nesting waders
• Peat grips, where the old drainage channels and the erosion they caused are explained on the ground
• The high point view back toward the farm, with native tree planting and meadow restoration visible below
• A limestone sink hole, then owl habitat in tussocky grass and copse, before the return to the farmhouse