Giggle Alley & Japanese Gardens, Eskdale

PLEASE NOTE: THIS FOREST IS CURRENTLY CLOSED DUE TO STORM DAMAGE AND FORESTRY WORKS. FORESTRY ENGLAND ARE WORKING HARD TO REOPEN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Giggle Alley & Japanese Gardens, Eskdale:

Please note Laura and her four children have not walked this walk, photos and words from @whereronniewalked:

This small woodland is known as Giggle Alley and hidden at the heart of this wood is the remains of a Japanese Garden. The woodland is a great place for a short family walk where children can enjoy playing hide and seek and exploring the many bridges and ponds! Giggle Alley is made up of woodland tracks, fell paths and a quiet lane. It is not suitable for pushchairs. There is a free car park in Eskdale Green by the entrance to the Forestry Commission’s Giggle Alley and public toilet. Postcode: CA19 1UB.

The route:

The route is approximately 2 miles long. For a detailed route description you can visit the Travel Zoo website here, a map is also available on this site.

We really enjoyed this walk, the Japanese gardens are amazing! So many little bridges, ponds and bamboo! Great for little legs to run about and over.

On castle rocks we stopped, had a play climbing over the rocks and had some lunch before carrying on the route, which takes you through Eskdale Green train stop, where a trip on the La’al ratty (a miniature steam train) would be a great addition to make a full day out ☺️?

This is an ideal walk to combine with a trip on the little trains.