Fordon Round

5. Go through the metal gate and continue along the Dale with a wire fence to your left. In all of this stretch please be mindful that there could be sheep at any point along here so keep control of your dog and if you can't see all the way ahead around a bend put them on a lead just in case. 

6. You will come to another metal kissing gate (which is quite wide so maybe OK for mobility buggies), go through this and North Dale bends off to the right - which you continue following and enjoying the views.

7.  There were sheep on the latter part of this stretch, so dogs should be on a lead as you approach the next wooden kissing gate and then follow the path through, again with the wire fence on your left. 

8. When we were here in late April the gorse to the right of you on this stretch was beautiful, and Bill had fun exploring uphill as we travelled along this glorious stretch. 

13. Part way up you will go through a green swing kissing gate (again quite wide and new).

14. Continue uphill along the field edge, pausing now and then to enjoy the views backwards.  At the top you will come to another green metal kissing gate and the road at Sharp Howe (ahead).

Sharp (or Sharpe) Howe is the best preserved barrow of a small cemetery of eight and survives in reasonably good condition - although a bit overgrown - to a height of around 2 metres and a diameter of 20 metres. It was built on a chalk platform with chalk rubble used to cover a single female burial accompanied by a food vessel. This was found when the barrow was excavated in the 1880's by Canon Greenwell, who also said at this time that Sharp Howe had a ‘conical form’, the top 6 feet having been removed ‘many years ago, but within living memory'.

15. Turn right on the quiet road and follow it for around 1/2 mile until you reach to sign for Danebury Manor Farm, where you head straight ahead towards the farm and off the road (the road bends right). On the road you will pass where the Wolds Way branches off to your left - which is again a route that looks great and we will come back to this at some point in the future hopefully)

16. Walk along the farm / campsite road, branching right on the roadway towards the open fields at the back of Danebury Manor Farm. Take the twin track out into the open countryside to enjoy the big open skies of Yorkshire.

17. Keep following this green lane and as the farm track swings to the left at some trees, take the path through the hedge ahead and continue following the path with a wire fence on your left and clumps of trees and hedge on your right.

22. Follow the track along for a short distance and then it turns sharp left just before North Cotes Plantation. This a straight track that heads along the edge of fields with a hedge on your left.

23. You will walk through a slim stretch of the Plantation to carry on straight ahead on the path which eventually comes down to the road back into Fordon. 

24. Turn right at the road (there is a bench here where you can take a breather if you want) and follow the road back down into Fordon, passing an old OS trig point. As you enter Fordon you will come to St James' Church, which is said to be the smallest active church in Yorkshire, and where you started from!

St James' Church dates from Norman times when it was granted to Bardney Abbey by Walter de Gant in 1115. It is unfortunately closed to visitors but apparently boasts a decorated font in a simple Norman chalice design set upon a later base with carved foliage decoration. It also contains an 18th century carved organ near the pulpit. The most interesting fact that I found about the church, though, was that smugglers used to hide out here!