Mount St Bernard Abbey Day Walk

Ancient abbeys and their ruins abound in the English landscape today and are an indication of the importance of religious life during the Middle Ages. In 1128, just thirty years after their foundation at Cîteaux in France, the Cistercians arrived in Britain and settled at Waverley. They established monasteries at Tintern in 1131, Rievaulx in 1132, and amidst the wild and rocky landscape of Charnwood Forest at Garendon Abbey in 1133. Garendon was suppressed in 1536 but almost 300 years later, in September 1835, Brother Augustine Higgs took possession of a tiny cottage in Tynt Meadow, Charnwood Forest, which was to be the foundation of the first permanent monastery in England following the Reformation. The house was raised to Abbey status following a decree ratified by Pope Pius IX in May 1848.

Our circular walk begins from the car park in front of the abbey and descends through Drybrook Wood to Blackbrook Reservoir. We cross the reservoir and continue through One Barrow Plantation before walking a short distance at the side of Charley Road, passing Fenny Spring Windmill (a tower mill built in 1840 and now a private residence). Turning to join a quiet lane beyond the end of the reservoir we climb gently through woodland and across farmland to reach Poachers Corner. Further along the lane opposite we enter Cademan Wood, a mature woodland where you will find numerous jagged outcrops that characterise the Charnwood Forest and are among the oldest rocks in England.

After walking gently uphill to a clearing we’ll stop to enjoy our lunch and the view towards Ratcliffe-on Soar, Castle Donnington and Breedon on the Hill. On a clear day you may spot the church of St Mary and St Hardulph which sits atop the hill and in the 7th century was the original foundation of an Augustinian monastery. In addition to the lunch break we will also stop for a couple of short reflections at other places along the route. Continuing our walk through woodland around High Cademan we eventually join the Ivanhoe Way (a 35 mile walk in NW Leicestershire) for a short distance before turning left along the footpath that skirts Bardon Hill Quarry (a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest exposing rocks from a Precambrian volcano). Following this path beside undulating farmland on the left we catch several glimpses of the abbey through the trees on our return to the car park.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Journeying