14.3km/8.9 miles/4 hours Ascent 271m/890ft
THE CONSERVATION VILLAGE of Blanchland sits in a woody hollow just west of Derwent Reservoir. It owes its existence partly to the white-robed Premonstratensian monks who built their abbey here in 1169 and partly to the Bishop of Durham who bought the village in 1708. When he died, it became part of a charitable trust established by his will and, to this day, remains the centrepiece of the estate conserved by that charity.
