AA Walks: The Broadleaved Woodlands of Harden Beck
Harden Beck and Goit Stock Woods are little known, except by locals. If they were situated in the Yorkshire Dales, for example, you would see walkers aplenty. As it is, the woods are hidden away between a trio of unassuming little villages, Harden, Wilsden and Cullingworth. No matter, as this is as pleasant a woodland walk as can be found, and all the better for being a little off the beaten track. Harden Beck runs from Hewenden Reservoir, through Goit Stock Woods and takes a meandering route to join the River Aire close to Beckfoot Bridge near Bingley, a picturesque packhorse bridge encountered on Walk 28. It is only a short walk along Harden Beck to find Goit Stock Falls, which plunge more than 20ft (6m) over a rocky ledge into a pool. While it’s no Niagara, it can still be an impressive sight after heavy rainfall. These deciduous woods are a little oasis for birds; look out for woodpeckers, jays, treecreepers and - in summer - many species of warbler and other songbirds. As with the waterfall, the drumming of a woodpecker is usually heard long before you get a glimpse of it. If you’re lucky you may spot a dipper along the side of the beck.While you're there: The little stone village of Harden abuts on to the Bingley St Ives Estate, visited on Walk 28. This short walk through Goit Stock Wood would make an ideal morning stroll, with lunch at the Malt Shovel nearby, followed by a leisurely exploration of the wooded hillside of St Ives. You may also like to explore the group of villages which occupy the high land between Bradford, Bingley and Keighley. Wilsden faces Harden across Harden Beck, Cullingworth lies higher up the valley. A delightful network of old lanes link up with Denholme and the historic conservation village of Thornton where Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell Brontë were born. There is a Village Trail around Thornton’s cobbled streets, centred on the Brontës birthplace.What to look out for: No one would pretend that West Yorkshire is a rural idyll, since much of the county is uncompromisingly urban. But one unexpected pleasure is to find so much broadleaved woodland. In more celebrated landscapes (the Lake District and North York Moors spring to mind), too much ancient woodland has been supplanted by the serried ranks of conifer trees, which offer little to walkers or wildlife. Goit Stock is one of many delightful and deciduous woods that make welcome green oases in the metropolitan county, supporting a great variety of animals, birds and plants.

AA Walks: The Broadleaved Woodlands of Harden Beck