Silverdale Circular via Scout Wood and The Cove | Graham’s Guides

Graham’s Walks	📌
Distance	2.6 miles
Difficulty	Moderate
Map	🗺️
GPX	📁
Graham’s Cafe	The Wolf Cafe

The Area

While we love the Lake District, we are privileged to be surrounded by many beautiful places a bit closer to home. Silverdale is somewhere we have visited regularly even spending holiday weeks. A frequent route for us is a circular walk from Wolfhouse through Scout Wood, across the village to The Cove and back to the car and a cafe stop.

On a recent visit our walk was tinged with sadness; one of our favourite cafes, the one at Wolfhouse itself, had closed a few months before. We have many fond memories of sitting in the tiny cafe, or the outside courtyard having rented the house next to the gallery a coupe of times..

Silverdale sits on limestone which makes this countryside what it is, showing up in outcrops, forming the cliffs and in the miles of drystone walls. While we are reflecting on Silverdale, it’s worth noting that it’s probably not called Silverdale because of the colour or even the metal, it’s far more likely to be a morphing of a Norse word. There are quite a lot of things around the Irish Sea that were named by the Vikings.

The Walk

On the map this walk starts from Wolfhouse itself, but on our latest visit we set off from the entrance to Scout Wood which is a little way up the hill from Wolfhouse. There’s room for a few cars there; it’s also a great place to start one of the alternatives to this walk which adds in Jenny Brown’s Point. The entrance to Scout Wood is through a gap in the limestone wall immediately followed by a fork of the path, we take the one to the right, the higher road.

This portion of the walk takes us along the top of a limestone cliff covered in ancient woodland on one side, with pastureland, over the drystone wall, on the other. The cliff is known as Woodwell Cliff reflecting the presence of the Woodwell at the bottom. There is another route around Silverdale that takes in the various ancient wells in the area but that’s not what we have planned for today.

This is sheep country, they are likely to be in the fields on at least part of this walk; this also means that it’s a great walk in the spring when the lambs have been born.

We follow the path along the top of the cliff and through the woods. At the end of the woods is a kissing-gate where the woods opens out. The path takes a bit of a wiggle here to the right and then to the left where there’s another gate following which the route is again defined by the cliff, a wall and some more pastureland.

At the end of the wall there’s a gap to the right onto a path alongside a field and onto a lane known as The Chase.

We are at the outskirts of the village here and about to meet Stankelt Road. At the end of The Chase turn right and then the next left down a lane. At the end of the is a farmhouse and to the left of it is a gate into a field. The path here runs along the back of some houses to the left and opens out to a wonderful view across the open countryside to the right. If you know what you are looking for you can see the outline of the huge Middlebarrow Quarry now disused but providing another variation to this walk.

At the end of the field there’s a small gate onto a lane that takes you down the back of St John’s Church and onto Emersgate Lane. Turn right onto Emersgate Lane and a short way along you will see a narrow lane on the left between two houses. Some would call it a ginnel or even a snicket; the name you use for a narrow lane can define you in the eyes of certain people.

At the end of the footpath you will come out onto Cove Road near to the children’s playground, plenty of fun here for the younger ones, the zip-wire is particularly good.

As its name would suggest Cove Road is what will take us to The Cove. Unfortunately, there isn’t a defined path along the full length of Cove Road so you do have to be watchful for vehicles. It’s generally not too busy and the tightness of the space means that, hopefully, none of the vehicles are travelling too quickly.

Having travelled along Cove Road for a little way the road will take a sharp righthand turn towards Arnside at Cove Orchard and Cove House. We, however, are taking the road off to the left called Cove Lane. Anyone like to guess what the defining feature of the landscape is in this area?

Cove Lane takes you down to the long-anticipated cove. We are quite relaxed about how we name things in the UK despite our love of definitions. A lane and a road have distinct meanings but are used interchangeably in many situations. This is one of those situations; a cove would normally define an inlet of water and here that’s not really the case. It’s a very lovely cutting in the limestone down to the shore, but I’m not sure it’s really a cove. Also, I’m not sure whether to call it a beach.

As you enter The Cove note that there’s a path off to the left, that’s where we are going after we’ve done a bit of exploring.

To the right is a cliff that curves around and in which there is a cave. The cave doesn’t go very deep, but it’s big enough to get into. The clamber up has become smoothed by the many feet that have made their way up and care is required. The house on the land above the cave has a tenuous connection with the Bronte sisters via its original owner Rev Carus Wilson.

What lies beyond the cove is the flatland of Morecambe Bay which often has an other-worldly look about it. If you are there in the afternoon or evening the bay looks particularly spectacular with the sun on it; the sunsets can be amazing. This isn’t, however, a place you go to for the traditional seaside experiences. You’re unlikely to see any sea, or waves, and I wouldn’t recommend going in if you did; the combination of tidal forces, mud, quicksand and swirling winds can be deadly. If an exploration out into the bay sounds like an appealing idea, the best way of doing it is to join the Kings Guide to the Sands on one of their walks.

From the cove we wander up the path along the top of the cliffs, through a kissing gate and across a couple of fields with further views across the bay. In the far corner of the second field there’s a gate out onto Stankelt Road. Stankelt Road becomes Shore Road as it heads down to Silverdale Beach past the Silverdale Hotel. We are heading along Lindeth Road which is the other option you should see in front of you at this point.

Lindeth Road leads all the way back to Wolfhouse. There isn’t a path all of the way and there are portions of this section where you have to walk on the road. It’s a steady uphill climb back to the car.

As we rounded the corner we were delighted to notice that the cafe at Wolfhouse appeared to be occupied, a board outside confirmed that to be the case, and boasting a new name The Wolf Cafe. We’ve known a few iterations of the cafe at Wolfhouse, and it’s always been an excellent place for a refreshment stop. As we weren’t planning on visiting the cafe our sojourn only involved a drink and a cake so I’m not in a position to comment on the broader menu. The coffee was glorious, the cake was excellent and we’ll certainly be back, perhaps next time we’ll do food. Interestingly the new owners operate the Lone Wolf Bakery in Lancaster.

Alternative and variations

Silverdale has a huge variety of options for a morning, or afternoon, tramp; so many that I’m not sure I know where to start.

Perhaps the best place to start is at the beginning?

As you walk up the hill from Wolfhouse rather than turning left into Scout Wood you can turn right and take the path to Jenny Brown’s Point via Heald Brow and the Copper Smelt Kiln Tower. This will turn the walk into a figure of eight walk bringing you back up to Wolfhouse. You could do the walk the other way around and head down to Jenny Brown’s Point via Gibraltar Farm and the Lindeth Tower coming back over Heald Brow to join the path into Scout Wood. Whichever way you go it’s worth noting that the path near to the Kiln Tower is on the shoreline and changes regularly as erosion and accretion play their part. There’s also the option to explore Jack Scout and the Giant Seat on this route. At the right time of the year Jack Scout has excellent brambling.

Another adaptation would be to take a detour across to Middlebarrow Quarry by taking the path to the right just before you arrive at St John’s Church. This will bring you out onto Bottom Lane. At the end of Bottom Lane, you can head up into Eaves Wood heading right around to the Quarry entrance. You can’t currently get into the quarry, but there are several places where you can get a good view inside. If you head anticlockwise around the back of the quarry you will eventually come out at Arnside Tower via Middlebarrow Wood. From here you could head up Arnside Knott, but that would be another walk altogether. From Arnside Tower you can take the path into the back of Holgates Holiday Park and down the road to The Cove.

If you are feeling like you want to gain a bit of height to get a better view, a short extension to the walk is to head up to The Pepperpot in Eaves Wood on your route to The Cove. The monument marks the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, but the real star is the view from this elevated position.

From The Cove, given the right tidal conditions, you can follow the shoreline to Silverdale Beach from which you can rejoin the route. If, however, you are enjoying the shoreline walking you can carry on all the way to Jenny Brown’s Point with a couple of options to head back inland along the way, including the option to head into Jack Scout. I can’t guarantee that any of this is going to be possible on any given day such is the fluidity of the coastline around Morecambe Bay.

There are other options for a cafe in Silverdale Village itself where there are also public toilets and a convenience store not far off the route as shown.