Malham Tarn

By Alan on October 1, 2013 in Out & About

Ideas for a garden can come from many places, it can be from other gardens, magazines, TV or just something spotted out of the car window in passing. But sometimes there are many hidden surprises where they perhaps aren’t expected – so off we went one evening during the summer to have a look at Malham Tarn http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/malham-tarn-estate/ a place I always thought was just a tarn and nothing more. It’s somewhere I’ve never been but have, typically, driven past many times. As I found out it’s worth visiting and following the footpaths.

: Malham Tarn with absolutely still water

Spider sculpture at Malham Tarn

Thankfully there’s information by the main house and also leaflets available by some of the gates to tell a little more about the estate and how it became part of the National Trust, the available maps are very useful.

Along the way there were some rather interesting features, for instance there was a quite fantastic steel spider perched on a building roof – quite why I’m unsure but it’s surprising what can be spotted.

Further along the tarn there is a wonderful boathouse with some quite ornate architecture, again an unexpected surprise to find a substantial building at the water edge.

Boat House at Malham Tarn

The most interesting section of the footpath takes us to Tarn Moss. This is a wetland area and can be accessed by a staggeringly long series of raised deck platforms. Not only is this seriously ambitious but it makes the whole area accessible (I strongly believe that paths and access through gardens is really an under used garden feature and this proves that creating a path draws people in!)

Tarn Moss is full of plant species with a vast array of grasses and flowers of which I took many photos. There’s wild cranberry, devils-bit scabious and lots of ragged -robin. There’s a fair bit of wildlife too and we spotted a few deer eyeing us up before dashing off through the trees. A few images of Tarn Moss are below.