Geograph - photograph every grid square

The extensive heather moorlands between Weardale and Teesdale give way to an enclosure where sheep are grazing. Looking downhill towards the Meeting of the Grains where North Grain Beck and South Grain Beck converge.

This photograph shows a view of South Grain Back just before it merges with North Grain Beck (at the Meeting of the Grains) to form Ayhope Beck. The picture was taken looking in a Westerly direction towards The Loop.

North of Hamsterley Forest at 'The Meeting of the Grains', two streams, North Grain Beck and South Grain Beck join to form Ayhope Beck. Almost all ground about there is heather moorland but the ridge rising between those two... (more)

This rough track is a continuation of the Land Rover track on Pikeston Fell and runs down into Hamsterley Forest.

At the lower end of the North Grain Beck.

Tuley tubes are designed to give young trees a good start in life.

The pool lies just north of South Grain Beck and close to the location of Ayhope Shield, once a farmstead which stood near to the skyline trees. But the photographer knew it as another building, a bothy, managed by the Mountain Bothies... (more)

The Grains referred to are North Grain Beck - in the deep groove beyond the green fields, and South Grain Beck which flows out of view below the camera position. Their meeting place is out of view to the right of the image where the merged... (more)

A public footpath climbs from the valley of South Grain Beck close to The Meeting of The Grains, reaching the northern edge of Hamsterley Forest at Black Hill. The cairn in the image lies on the route of the path although not apparently... (more)

The Ayhope Shield bothy was maintained by the MBA - Mountain Bothies Association. It stood where the old farmhouse was in enclosures between North Grain Beck and South Grain Beck. It was badly abused, probably due to being too easy of... (more)

Ayhope Shield was once a farmstead in an isolated position between two streams, North Grain Beck and South Grain Beck; the 'improved' and enclosed land around it is still apparent, surrounded by heather moorland. The farm became... (more)

To the left, North Grain Beck, and to the right, the smaller South Grain Beck meet to form Ayhope Beck at Meeting of the Grains, a remarkably pleasant place for the middle of moorland in February. It feels quite an enclosed, sheltered spot... (more)

See NY8241 : Whitestone House. The two-storey farmhouse that once stood here had two two-storey barns attached to one side (both slightly longer than the house). Christine Ruskin gives records of occupation from 1698 up to the end of the 19th C. Her book... (more)