BW = bridle way SO = straight on
FP = foot path TR = turn right
SP = sign post TL = turn left
FB = foot bridge
START down the tarmac lane leading between the Inn and the Bistro. The Pont is on the L and there are a number of well cultivated allotments beside the river. Next there are houses on the R behind the flood levee built in the mid 1990s and soon Eland Hall and Eland Hall farms are reached. Usually there are plenty of mallard ducks in the large pond on L. Go through the metal gate to R and follow farm track. Turn R and the hedge on the R is now the boundary of the golf course. This track forms part of the Reivers Way, a cycle track through the county. Pass through a wicket gate and leave the golf course behind as you cross a bridge over a drainage channel and the track is tarmac again. Keep straight ahead and turn R at Mayfair House.
This flat area is part of Prestwick Carr and the area on the left is now managed by Newcastle City Council to encourage wild life. A directory of 1828 says that Prestwick Carr extended to more than 1 000 marshy acres which was flooded in rainy seasons by the overflowing Pont. This provided rich pasture in dry summers where the local farmers could graze their animals without charge. In the 1850s drainage began of 600 acres and it was then sold as farmland with the creation of 2 new farms – Carr Grange in 1897 and Prestwick Mill in 1919. Coal beneath the Carr was mined by the Lord of the Manor – Bertram Mitford- and later by the East Walbottle Coal Co. In 1945 and 1946 more drainage was put in but parts still flood and it is often wet. The pasture is grazed extensively by cattle and sheep in the summer and autumn. It is a good habitat for water-loving birds like curlew and snipe which feed here and the pools provide shelter for insects. Short-eared owls and kestrels are seen and at nesting time the grazing is reduced.
Follow the quiet tarmac road into Prestwick village. Turn R on reaching the road and walk past the village houses and farm conversions on the footpath. The mining has gone there is only one farm in a once busy village.
A shorter walk takes the FP signed for Street Houses on the R near the last farm. Follow the arrows to pass the farm buildings of Prestwick Hall Farm and then the path crosses 2 fields and exits on the road leading into Ponteland. This shorter walk is only 3 ½ miles but the finish is along the busy main road.
Prestwick Hall is sheltered by trees and was an early design, 1815, of the Newcastle architect John Dobson. It is still a family home even if it is within walking distance of an international airport!
The main walk continues along the FP for ½ a mile on the busy road until the roundabout on the A696 is reached. Turn L to the airport, still on a footpath, for approx 100 yards and it then opens onto a blind road with double yellow lines, but no traffic. Follow the path R and then cross the dual carriageway with care. Turn L still on a path and enter the Holystone site and join the BW back to Ponteland along the old railway track. The entrance to the Holystone Prestwick Pit Restoration is open when the site is working, otherwise before the closed gate there is a gap in the fence L where the BW leads off. It then crosses the site road and continues as a broad well-surfaced track, back on the old railway line, to Rotary Way. Many species of birds live in the hedgerows and can be observed by quiet walkers.
Cross Rotary Way with care and continue on the old railway line back to the start.
