St Hilary walk near Hayle hides ponds, woods and a butterfly house

Follow the Hayle river out of the valley today and you would never guess what this ground used to be. Where mineral workings once stripped the land bare, water now sits in still ponds under new woodland, and the only industry left is whatever the herons are doing at the water’s edge. A new route from iWalk Cornwall has been added to take walkers straight through it.

The walk, called St Hilary and Hayle Valley, is a 5.4 mile circular route graded easy to moderate. It leads out along the Hayle river valley before finishing at St Hilary church, tracing a stretch of Cornwall where nature has spent decades quietly reclaiming what was once a barren industrial landscape.

Woodland, heath and water where there was once bare ground

📷Credit: iWalk Cornwall

The valley’s transformation is the walk’s main draw. What used to be scarred, open mining ground has grown over into a patchwork of woodland, heath, lakes and streams, and the route stays close to the water for much of its length. Wildlife along the Hayle river and its ponds is listed as one of the walk’s highlights, rewarding anyone willing to slow down and look rather than march straight through.

A church at the end of the valley

The route’s second landmark is St Hilary church itself, reached after the walk has wound its way along the river valley. It gives the circular route its name and its natural turning point, a solid, centuries-old anchor at the far end of all that reclaimed green space.

A detour to the butterflies

📷Credit: iWalk Cornwall

Along the way, walkers have the option of dropping in on Guy’s butterfly house, though pre-booking is recommended if you want to make the most of the stop rather than turning up on the off chance. It is billed as an optional extra rather than a fixed stage of the route, so the choice is left to whoever is walking it.

Dogs on the route

The walk is a manageable one for dogs. The only stiles on the entire route are cattle-grid-style coffin stiles, and there are just three fields to cross in total, two on the way out to the church and a smaller one after the butterfly house.

Full directions, the route map and the day’s distance and difficulty rating are on iWalk Cornwall’s website, ready for whoever fancies swapping a Saturday stroll for a walk through what the Hayle valley has quietly become.

📷Credit: iWalk Cornwall