Lambton estate – open again!

The Lambton Estate near Chester le Street, has been closed to the public since the safari park in the grounds shut its doors in 1980. Changes are now afoot and almost 10 miles of new pathways have been opened up as part of a major redevelopment of the estate.
Four new walks are now open. They are accessible from a public car park off the A183 at Bournmoor. The new paths are part of a restoration scheme funded by the development of new houses on the estate.

There are some delightful routes which are currently open open on Sundays from 9am -5pm. They are already extremely popular especially with dog walkers. We thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the estate trying to understand the map. The map wasn’t great though, so we didn’t actually have a clue where we were going.
Lambton estate walking routes
Lambton Castle in the midst of rolling green fields and overlooking the River Wear was built in the 1820s by John Lambton, the first Earl of Durham. The estate is home to 1,000 acres of park and woodland. It can trace its history back to the 11th century.

The 3.2km Ridge Walk enjoys panoramic views across to Lambton Castle, and leads down to Black Drive which heads along the banks of the River Wear from Lamb Bridge to the New Bridge. Shepherd’s Ghyll is a 2.1km route which passes through woodland and open parkland, to the banks of the Wear;
Hedworths is a relatively flat 1.7km woodland walk, and the Racecourse route is a 2.6km walk which follows the riverbank to the River Wear Gorge.

Lambton Lion Park
