Clapham is only 12 miles from Peaks and Pods and the pretty village is the starting point for the Ingleborough Estate’s Nature Trail, which winds 1.3 miles through beautiful lakeside woodland up to Ingleborough Cave. The trail, suitable for wheelchairs and prams, was created to celebrate the work of Reginald Farrer, a plant collector and author, who travelled the world gathering many rare plant species before cultivating them in the area.
The wonderful Old Sawmill Café is located at the start of the nature trail. You can buy tickets for the trail from the café, and there are good toilet facilities for visitors. The café is in a listed building and many original features have been preserved and integrated into the café surroundings. It’s well worth a visit and their cakes are delicious! (Plus they make the best bacon sandwich we’ve had for a long time!) Check out the menu on their website – oldsawmillcafe.co.uk
Take a tour of Ingleborough Cave and see what is believed to be the biggest stalactite in Great Britain at 16ft 5ins. There is a shop and toilet facilities at the cave entrance. (Check opening dates/times before you set off.)
Visit Ingleborough Estate’s excellent website, which includes information about the nature trail, Ingleborough Cave, Ingleborough mountain and The Old Sawmill cafe at the entrance to the nature trail – ingleboroughestatenaturetrail.co.uk
Ingleborough Estate have also produced a lovely leaflet of walking routes starting from the nature trail – Ingleborough Estate Walking Routes Leaflet.
If you take a right shortly after the cave entrance and onto the higher track, the route will take you back through Clapham Tunnels – an interesting site to see. Here’s some information on the tunnels – yorkshire-dales.com/clapham-tunnels
These are older leaflets, printed before the links above. Prices and opening times may have changed, but the information may still be useful: