WELBURN is very near Castle Howard, but we turned our backs on the big show for starters and left the village in the other direction, stopping on the outskirts for a minute to view the new village hall designed in eco-friendly style by York's Native Architecture. Its recycled alloy roof mitigated the guilt of all those cans.

A straight stone track called Whitwell Road cuts through the green and temporarily yellow land eventually to intersect the A64, which would be unnerving for the walker.

But just as the blur of metal began to sound, we turned into The Rashes that are nearly nettle-free fields and were set up for a two-mile approach to Castle Howard.

From Monument Farm, the gilded pillar at the end of The Avenue is but a field away, horsechestnuts were lit with creamy candles. Damper lands were creamy with honeysuckle flowers.

Do yellowhammers need to show their colours with extra vigour in the acres yellow with rape, a crop that has exulted this year at escaping from its fields to colonise verges, corners and fallow earth?

This walk is entirely in the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It's mostly on civilised farmland, but in the modern fashion there is probably more chance of seeing wildlife than ten years ago.

It's certainly easier for the walker to see their way. Paths are well signed and gates manageable, especially useful on this route, which is rather notchy, manufactured for effect rather than an obvious journey in its own right.

The route homes in on the fantasy land, the horizon teases now and then with strange shapes, then all is there to see, for free - The Pyramid, The Mausoleum and the big house.

The Mausoleum is displayed with the most reverence, on a hill of pasture, elevated above the trees. The south frontage of the house glinted with fountain spray, but you view this over arable land.

The stately plough of modern agriculture had shaved The Pyramid and its Dalek like sentinels, not perhaps as planned in 1728.

After one of England's favourite stately homes there was a last treat, England's favourite wild flower, a sea of bluebells on East Moor Banks, one of the best places around for these stars of the colour calendar.

Directions

1 When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.

2 East from inn, Church Lane on right, turns to path after church (fingerpost Whitwell), track through field uphill.

3 Left to track (stone pillars).

4 Field-edge path on right (fingerpost), right at corner (waymark) to field-edge path (hedge to your right), 100 yards, gate and left (waymark), 200 yards.

5 Field-edge path on right (three-way fingerpost), fieldgate and 10 o'clock to fieldgate in corner, right to track (waymark), through farmyard to gates into field, cross field by hedge to your left, gate in corner (waymark), gate into wood (waymark), path through wood.

6 Left to track at wood edge. Snickelgate on right before road (fingerpost), diagonally across field, snickelgate (waymark), cross field 100 yards to path through trees.

7 Right to road (pavement), track on left at village edge (fingerpost), stile/fieldgate, track swings right (fingerpost), 100 yards.

8 Path on left across field (fingerpost) then beside hedge, swings right 25 yards, gateway on left, 25 yards, gates in dip of valley (waymark), gates (waymark), 100 yards, snickelgate in old gateway, path by hedge.

9 Snickelgate into yard (waymark), snickelgate out, 25 yards, snickelgate and right to snickelgate in trees then uphill to ruined tower, 50 yards beside fence to your left.

10 Right to metalled drive (fingerpost).

Track on right between fields to wood (four-way fingerpost), gates into wood and straight on downhill (fingerpost), footbridge, gate out to path back to Welburn, joins road near house.

Fact file

Distance: Five miles.

General location: Howardian Hills.

Start: Welburn.

Right of way: Public.

Map: Drawn from OS Explorer 300 Howardian Hills and Malton.

Dogs: Legal.

Date walked: April 2007.

Road route: From York: A64, Castle Howard signed. Castle Howard and Yorkshire Coastliner has just started a reduced bus ticket and entry deal for York people.

Car parking: Roadside Welburn.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: The Crown and Cushion and the Barley Basket tea room in Welburn.

Tourist and public transport information: Malton TIC 01653 600048.

Terrain: Farmland, small hills.

Points of interest: The estate owns 6,000 acres of farmland here and more in Cumbria.

Difficulty: Easy.

Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.

Map of the walk>>