This post is part of our FREE Family Days out in Yorkshire series
Yorkshire Water invited us to find out more about Brayton Barff, near Selby in North Yorkshire. It is one of the many Yorkshire Water sites which are open to public use.
Yorkshire Water have produced a plan for sustainability called Blueprint for Yorkshire. It was developed after consultation with over 30,000 stakeholders including customers and produced seven outcomes which Yorkshire Water are striving to achieve. Yorkshire Water intends to invest in, and deliver services which meet the following aims…..
– We provide you with water that is clean and safe to drink
– We make sure that you always have enough water
– We take care of your waste water and protect you and the environment from sewer flooding
– We protect and improve the water environment
– We understand our impact on the wider environment and act responsibly
– We provide the level of customer service you expect and value
– We keep your bills as low as possible
For more information please see http://www.blueprintforyorkshire.com
Yorkshire Water sent us a lovely new camera to use on our expedition, so how could we refuse?
Brayton Barff, Selby
Brayton Barff, Selby
Brayton Barff is a closed, raised reservoir to the west of the village of Brayton, which is south of Selby. It is easily found off the M62/A19. The car park is free and located off Barff Lane between Brayton and Thorpe Willoughby.
This isn’t a scenic reservoir walk – the reservoir itself is closed off and out of sight – but it is a very good place for nature spotting and climbing trees! The twins optimistically brought their fishing nets, so they used them to try and catch butterflies instead.
There is a main walk around the perimeter, which has been made accessible for prams and wheelchairs. This is around a mile in length. It is a bit gritty but wide and dry.
There are a few benches en route for a little breather, but we didn’t find any picnic tables, so if you want to do a picnic, you’ll need to take a blanket.
The wildlife is pretty good. We saw a few squirrels and lots of wild flowers like dandelions and bluebells.
There are a lot of dog walkers at Brayton Barff which wasn’t the best for a family with pre-schoolers afraid of dogs, so we took one of the steeper paths into the middle of the site, where you got some good views over North Yorkshire, and we hardly saw another soul, apart from more squirrels.
We stopped for a little picnic in some logs, and then did some more walking.
Back to the outside path and we came face to face with more dogs, some under control and some not so much. Sadly, one of the twins took a dive into one of the numerous nettle patches to get away from an exuberant dog, and suffered from nettle stings. We didn’t like this, obviously. Nor the dog poo which some owners had clearly forgotten to clear up, despite there being poo bins in the main car park. But this was our only complaint really.
Brayton Barff is great for an hour or two’s fun connecting with nature.
If you want to know more about Yorkshire Water’s reservoir walks, you can find out more on their website
For more Yorkshire Water walks, please read…….
Helpful Mum’s review of Embasy Reservoir
Mummy of Two’s review of Tophill Low
Our review of Tophill Low
Helpful Mum’s review of Embasy Reservoir
Mummy of Two’s review of Tophill Low
Our review of Tophill Low
Disclosure – We were sent a new camera to use on our trip. All opinion is our own.
Visit our resources page for a free downloadable nature trail spotters sheet
Looks like the perfect #countrykids trip out x
That looks lovely (unruly dogs and owners aside!) – great photos of your day, and those do look like great tree climbing trees 🙂 #CountryKids
Pleasure as always, me dear! They had a lovely time.
Nature, sunshine and family picnics – all a great combination for fun outdoors. I can see that the girls had a great time climbing trees and exploring, thanks for linking up and sharing your visit with Country Kids.
this looks beautiful and travelable for me so we may have to try this one out .. the tree climbing looks amazing x
It’s worth half an hours drive I think. It was very beautiful.
Looks like great fun!! What beautiful weather you had for your walk 🙂 #countrykids
It was glorious! Unlike today. 🙁