A Walk to the Gnome house and Wood Top

Caldene Avenue – Paddy Bridge Road – Nest Lane – Wood Top – Hebden Bridge station – cycle path – Stubb pond – Stubb – Caldene Avenue

Distance: 2km, 1½ miles, about 3000 steps. It should take you about an hour and a bit.
Start and Finish: The information board at the Dusty Miller pub.
How Strenuous: The first section is a very gentle uphill climb, followed by a steeper descent, then mainly on the flat.
How Uneven: This walk is all on lanes and tracks.
Obstacles: No stiles or Gates

DIRECTIONS

  1. From the Dusty Miller, turn right and cross the road at the pedestrian crossing.
  2. Cross the bridge over the river on to Caldene Avenue. Carry on past the entrance to the Community Centre and a second Walkers Action board.
  3. You now walk down nearly to the end of Caldene Avenue (Watch out for the fantastic railings on a house on your left).

Caldene Avenue shows the major expansion of Mytholmroyd with houses from the early 20th century to the present day. Watch out for a fabulous set of railings around a house on your left.

  1. After 500 metres, turn left on to Paddy Bridge Road. Go up to the top and over the railway bridge.
  2. Walk through the estate to Nest Lane and turn right. Follow the lane uphill until you reach a fork where you take the right fork onto the unmade road.
  3. Walk on past Laneside Farm and you will see The Gnome House and the toadstools on your left. Continue on the lane past Wood Hey Cottage and at the end of the track turn right.
  4. Follow the road through the 17th century hamlet of Wood Top. Follow the concrete road down into the woods. It is not a busy track, but listen out for cars.
  5. At the bottom, at the junction, walk straight ahead on a rough road through the railway tunnel.
  6. Immediately after the bridge, turn right along the cycle path heading back To Mytholmroyd.
  7. You will arrive at a road junction with the river on your left.

If you have a buggy, you need to continue ahead on a rough road through a small industrial estate. Keep ahead at the end of the industrial buildings and eventually you will arrive on Caldene Avenue. Follow this to the end passing the community centre and then across the main road to the Dusty Miller.

  1. Just before the houses on the right, take the waymarked narrow footpath going uphill. Follow this until it drops down a wider path ending on a rough road where you turn right.
  2. Go under the railway bridge and follow the track round to the left. On your right is the entrance to Stubb Pond.

The gate to the pond is not usually locked and the dedicated owner welcomes people to come and rest awhile in this delightful quiet haven for wildlife (if the secure the gate as you leave). As a child, Ted Hughes used to swim in the pond, but it is not advisable now!

The entrance to the narrow path
The entrance to the narrow path
  1. Return to the track and continue uphill. The track has remains of granite setts and emerges at a junction where you go straight ahead in front of a small row of terraced houses. Shortly after, you will see the 17th century house called Great Stubb on your left.
  2. At the junction turn left and then go straight ahead on a waymarked path to the right of a garage. The narrow path goes in between two hedges.
  3. Follow this lovely paved path down to the bottom (watch out as paving stones can be a bit slippery after rain).
  4. Go down the steps, cross the railway line, go straight ahead on a hedge-lined path. You come out onto a tarmac road where you turn right. At the bottom turn right back on to Caldene Avenue.
  5. Follow Caldene Avenue until the very end where on your right you pass a Mytholmroyd Walkers Action walking board and the entrance to Mytholmroyd Community Centre.
  6. The road bears left to join the main Hebden Bridge to Mytholmroyd road where you will see the Dusty Miller opposite and another Mytholmroyd Walkers Action walking board where this walk ends.