Rights of way

Darlington’s rights of way network covers a wide variety of landscapes: hills and valleys, rural and urban, short paths and circular walks. Some paths may be surfaced and many are tracks across countryside owned by farmers and landowners.

Public footpaths are not to be confused with highway footways, which are pavements to the side of the road.

We are responsible for 216 miles (346 kilometres) of rights of way. In the borough of Darlington, all but one of our rights of way are public footpaths and public bridleways. There is one byway open to all traffic (BOAT).

Within the borough there are a number of permissive paths, including through Skerningham Woods, and one at Newton Ketton, which offers panoramic views over to the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales.

The Teesdale way [external link], a long distance footpath, passes through the southern part of the borough of Darlington.

Many of our rights of way are ancient. Some of Darlington’s rights of way date back almost a thousand years. Over such a long time, some of these ancient paths and tracks have been widened, surfaced and become lanes and roads.

One example is the age-old salters’ route, which is still a rustic lane in one part of the borough and becomes a main road as it nears the town centre.