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Family, dressed in coloured coats and hats for the cold, walk to the Pepperpot through the ancient wood at Arnside and Silverdale, Cumbria. It's a grey day and the ground is muddy.
Family on the Eaves Wood circular walk | © National Trust Images/Annapurna Mellor
Lake District

Eaves Wood Circular Walk

This short circular walk wends its way through ancient woodland before climbing to the Queen Victoria Jubilee Monument, a local hilltop landmark affectionately known as the Pepperpot. Stop here for far-reaching views of Morecambe Bay and the Bowland Fells (on some days you can even see Blackpool Tower, before heading back to the starting point.

Total steps: 10

Total steps: 10

Start point

Eaves Wood car park, grid ref: SD471759

Step 1

Walk through the main gate out of the car park and onto the track which takes you into the woods. This path meanders through the woodland until you come to a finger post straight in front of you, pointing towards the Pepperpot. At this point turn left.

Moss-covered limestone pavement leading through woodland
Mossy limestone pavement in Eaves Wood, Arnside and Silverdale, Lancashire | © National Trust Images

Step 2

Continue along the track until you reach a side path leading uphill to the right. Take this path, walking until you reach the finger post. Take care when walking over the limestone outcrops as these can be slippery when wet.

Step 3

At the finger post take the path in front of you, which heads up the slope still following the signs for the Pepperpot. Ignore the path which is immediately to the right. Climb up the hill and where the path levels you will see a log on the ground on your right, as well as a waymarker post. At this point take the main path to your left.

Step 4

Continue along the main track, past some old yew trees. The ground here can get muddy in winter. There's a stone seat on your right which is a welcome stopping point for tired legs. Continue up the four staggered stone steps and along through an old gateway. Remember this gateway for later on in the walk.

Step 5

Continue along the path through an open clearing, ignoring any paths off to the left until you reach a finger post. Opposite the finger post is a little stone path which rises steeply up the hill. Take this path and climb carefully up. You will cross a section of limestone pavement. Take care walking across. Directly in front of you is the Queen Victoria Jubilee Monument, known more commonly as the Pepperpot.

Two children in coats and wooly hats looking up at the Pepperpot monument, a large stone monument with a pointed top, at Arnside and Silverdale.
Exploring the Queen Victoria Jubilee Monument known to locals as the Pepperpot at Arnside and Silverdale | © National Trust Images/Annapurna Mellor

Step 6

Leave the Pepperpot by walking back down the path you came up, through the clearing and back to the stone gateway you passed earlier in the walk. Just after the gateway, turn left up six small steps and through a small gate. Then continue along the main path. Take care along this route as you walk over the gaps in the limestone known as 'grikes'.

Step 7

Continue along the main path all the way through this area of woodland, ignoring what looks like a vehicle track to the right. Shortly after this junction you will meet another path leading to the right. Take this route until you reach a vehicle gate with an attached kissing gate. Go through the gate and continue down the path.

Step 8

Carry on straight down, then take a smaller path which veers off to the left. Continue on this path right the way down until you reach a main track next to a derelict cottage.

Step 9

At the derelict cottage, turn left onto the track heading downhill, ignoring the path branching off steeply downhill to the right, and head under the darker trees downhill past the cliff outcrops of limestone pavement. Carry on down until you reach the bottom of the hill and you're standing between two old stone gateposts.

Step 10

From the gateposts, turn right and head towards a finger post. This is the same post you first passed at the beginning of the walk. Take a left here back towards the car park.

End point

Eaves Wood car park, grid ref: SD471759

Trail map

Map showing the circular walk through Eaves Wood
Eaves Wood Circular walk, Lake District | © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 Ordnance Survey

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