Stenton Woods and the Sauchet Water, Stenton

Now here’s a lovely wee hidden gem if ever I found one! Stenton is a quiet, picturesque wee village which you will most likely drive right through if you are heading towards Pressmennan Wood... but what a lot of people don’t know is that it has its very own charming woodland walk , complete with a stunning, interactive water feature in the form of the Sauchet Water burn, and some lush countryside views to boot! Bring the dogs and the kids- they will love it, but dress for the occasion- its muddy and steep in places, another one not one for the faint-hearted, but a bundle of fun for nature-lovers with a penchant for adventure! Allow a decent chunk of time for this one, it is one of those that doesn't cover a great distance but is best enjoyed at a slow pace.

You have a couple of options for parking for this walk, the most obvious choice is the small car park just outside of the village hall which is a pretty central location off the main street in Stenton village. Directly next to the hall is a small playpark, not visible from the road as it is accessed through a gap in the wall next to the door. It is only a wee playpark but it is secluded, and we have always been lucky enough to have it completely to ourselves- there are a couple of picnic benches and it is a cheeky suntrap, but you should probably wait until your return journey to unpack the sandwiches! My boys love the unusual hamster-wheel- type-running-thing where you hold on to a bar and a big cylinder turns under your feet- if only there was a way to connect it to the national grid!

There is a back exit out of the playpark, opposite the one that you entered by, another gap in the wall, that leads into an informal playing field with football goal posts and an avenue of established fruit trees that have been lovingly planted along the wall- these had a great crop of apples and pears when we last came but I am sure they are well-loved by the local residents so we resisted the strong temptation to pilfer any from here! If you head diagonally across this space, down to the right there is another small gap in the fence that leads to a narrow, fenced in footpath. Turn left and follow the path down a muddy (but not steep) staircase which leads to a bridge over a small stream. On a hot day, this is a great wee spot for dogs to cool themselves down, and it is also shallow enough for paddling with little ones. To continue the walk, cross the bridge (it is one of those metal ‘cage’ ones where you can down beneath your feet, but has also been thoughtfully lined on one side with wooden planks, invaluable if, like me, you have a heavy dog (or child) with a phobia of a metal bridge bridges)!

Over on the other side you have an option to turn left or right, both paths will eventually meet up in a big loop around the woods so it doesn't matter too much which one you take- there isn’t very much woods to your left so it is a relatively short extension on the walk to go that way, I usually turn right and follow the path of the stream. If you do head right you have a couple of options to follow different paths around the woods- they all link up to a larger loop so my advice is to stay on the outside of the loop by keeping to the right ‘lower’ paths as much as possible, remaining close to the stream. Doing this will take you on an adventurous, undulating trail through what becomes a fairly steep-sided glen. It is not overtly dangerous but there are narrow sections that drop off quite steeply to the right, and the further you walk the bigger the drop down to the water becomes so just bear this in mind if you are walking with young kids- mine manage it fine, but one especially can be a bit of a wimp(!) and there were a couple of bits he had to be bribed (read: told in no uncertain terms that he would be abandoned in the woods if he didn’t keep moving!) to get past. Look out for the really fun bit where the river has been cutting a new path through the undergrowth and taken the soil from under some tree roots-creating a little tunnel that you can jump through down into the water, if you don’t mind getting muddy on the scramble back up!

The Sauchet Water is a particularly appealing, playful wee stream with a couple of quirky features to spot early on- like a little concrete spout thing (well maybe?!) on the Stenton Village side, no idea of its purpose but it makes for a quirky little photo prop! And what is particularly precious about this walk is that you very quickly become remote from civilisation- Stenton is like a distant memory, hidden far away behind a big steep bank at the other side of the water, and despite the path network the woodland has a rough, undiscovered, wilderness feel to it. This is not a busy, popular place.

Keeping right, the path eventually pulls away from the water and climbs upwards. I am not certain that it is still there but someone had built a cute teepee shelter out of sticks up here- I always love exploring these with my boys but do be aware it sits right on the edge of the cliff which is not immediately obvious until you are right there- so please take care! At this point the path heads abruptly down a very steep bank to the stream which has curved around to the left. You don’t have to come this far, and it is a steep scramble down, but once there you can easily access the water. It is so secluded that it is quite magical, and a fabulous natural playground for adventurous kiddies- you could easily spend an hour or so scrambling about the fallen logs and giant natural stepping stones, admiring the mushrooms and the moss, just listening to the sounds of the babbling brook and absorbing the earthy smells of the forest... If you want to get ‘back to nature’ with your family then this is the place to do it! We have made some precious little memories down here, and just the thought of it makes me smile, but I will keep these ones to myself since not everything needs to be shared, and it feels like a secret sort of a secret place...

There is nowhere else to go from here so head back the way that you came, a steep scramble up the bank, past the little stick wigwam but this time take turn right at the first fork that presents itself to you. Follow this path, now on the top part of the loop through the woods. You can follow this all the way round to eventually meet up back at the wee bridge if you want, but there is a special wee detour that you will miss if you do. As the path leads you back on yourself you reach a sort of obvious open area on the right, like a bowl in the woodland- inviting but without obvious paths heading into it- at the far end of this a small path does eventually taper off to the right sort of skirting the ‘bowl’ round to to the stone wall on the other side-follow this path until it ends abruptly at a moss-covered, tumbled-down section of the wall. Hop through this serendipitous gap and you will emerge out of the trees and blinking, into a lush meadow! Turn left up a small bank and you will briefly get some lovely views out over the farmland behind Stenton- it is basically just beautiful East Lothian countryside for miles and miles from here right out to the coast. Keep to the left, hugging the stone wall that encases the woods. A mini forest-plantation on your right will block your views from here as you cross a famers field- this was stubble last time we came, which was great for the dogs to have a proper run around, and for Hubs to engage the kids in his favourite wholesome Scottish activity- launching ‘duffys’ at each other until someone gets hurt and cries!

Emerging from the woods! (The wall-gap is just out of shot to the middle right hand side of the photo)

Keep alongside the woods and you will eventually reach a natural ‘entrance’ point back into them- it is really just another tumbledown part of the wall, but it is pretty obvious as the path ahead becomes overgrown and impassible. You will now find yourself back on the top part of the loop through the woods. Keep an eye out for (but don’t follow) a short path that leads off to the right and ends back at the stone wall - there is a stone stile here, and a short marked footpath runs in a straight line directly away from Stenton- at its end, the footpath meets a road across from which is a pig-farm with a large layby that you can park in- this is your alternative start point for the walk into Stenton Woods, and is a good choice if you feel like avoiding the village for whatever reason.

Over the stile and out of the woods- this is looking down the footpath that leads to the alternative car parking point (you can see my red van parked in the layby ahead)

Back to where we left off though- stay on the main path and at some point you should naturally gravitate down one of the connecting paths to the left that all loop back towards the wee bridge that you came in by- just keep an eye on the stream and you should be able to work out if you have gone far enough or shortened the loop and need to go back on yourself alongthe lower path you originally took. I honestly feel like I have made that sound far more complicated than it is- it is actually not a huge area of woodland and the path network is fairly intuitive- it would be pretty difficult to get truly lost in here.

Once here it is of course, just a quick scamper back over the bridge and back the way you came, through the sports field and into the playpark. By which time you will be more than ready for that picnic!

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