Barnes Castle, Athlestaneford

This walk starts in the quaint little country village of Athelstaneford. Head for the primary school and park in the little bays directly over the road from it. Cross over to the primary school and head to the left hand side of the building. There is a footpath sign here and the footpath itself starts in the form of a small grassy strip running between the school and the beautiful stone cottage just next door. The path almost immediately opens up into a large farmers field to the back of the school playground. From experience, the best time to do this walk is just after harvest. When the fields have been cut but not ploughed, the stubble is a brilliant place to let the dogs get a really good off-lead run! And the ‘duffys’ are great fun to up-root and hurl at each other! The footpath continues straight on down the middle of the field, following the line of the power cables. It is pretty easy to follow and at the very end, at the bottom, you should be able to spot a sneaky little opening and some steps leading down through a line of trees down to a cute little burn, which is a great spot for a hot-dog to cool off off on a particularly sunny day! There’s a small, simple stone bridge to cross and then the path continues steeply up the opposite bank.

The path through the first field heading down towards the burn

You will now find yourself in a second large field. Stay on the path as it hugs the tree line and make sure to spot the huge ancient oak tree and collect a few acorns as you pass it- they really are just adorable little nuts, sitting in their little nests like tiny eggs in a cup! Anyway, I digress... the path turns right and proceeds uphill along the edge of the field. There is a funny building with an old stone chimney in the distance on your left, and I always mean to find out what it used to be used for, maybe I will do eventually, and if so I will let you know! After about 500 yards or so you will reach the boundary of another field and also another signpost. I have done this walk several times, but most recently it looks like there has been a new gate set up here and some fancy drinking troughs have appeared- I very much suspect that you might nowardays encounter some curious cows, so take care if you have dogs or little ones in tow!

View to your left just at the signpost before the right hand turn

At this point you want to turn right and head in a straight line down the rough track heading towards a little scruffy hillock in the middle of the field. This grassy overgrown area is in fact, the remains of an ancient hill fort and if you scramble up onto it you will be rewarded with some perfect panoramic views of East Lothians patchwork farmlands. It really doesn’t take long to walk here but you really have walked right into the middle of the countryside at this point, and if like me, you thrive on wide open spaces, this one will have feeling fuzzy inside!

Climb back down from the fort and continue along the track- in no time you will catch your first glimpse of the remains of Barnes Castle appearing about half a km away in the distance. It is a funny sort of castle, mostly just one one ground level- it was never built to completion, and comprises of a number of ‘vaults’ which are well worth sneaking into and exploring! They are full of rubbish, and stored agricultural stuff but lots of it is in reasonable condition and it is great fun exploring all of the rooms and peeking through the windows. There is a large courtyard area, but this is clearly in use by the farm so be courteous and aware that the place is almost-definitely littered with hazards! On the other side of the castle, you can see right over the nearby Garleton Hills and the iconic outline of Hopetoun monument (or as we like to call it, Rapunzels Tower). I am pretty sure if you have the time and energy you can head straight over to there from here, but I am eternally in a hurry, so this is the end of the road for me. Time to turn around and re-trace my steps, appreciating that view and my remote-ness one more time!

It is a short walk but it’s a cracker, and quite a well kept secret- the castle can’t be seen from any roadway so you could spend a lifetime never even knowing it was there!

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