Eden Valley photographs - Gavin Dronfield photography

Dufton Ghyll Wood

brougham castle medieval keep surrounded by grazing sheep beside river eamont under pink dawn skies

Brougham Castle on the River Eamont

ruined farmstead high hall on high way track above mallerstang under dark brooding skies with wild boar fell in the background

High Hall on The High Way

rutter force in hoff beck and old water mill holiday cottage surrounded by colourful autumnal trees under grey skies

Rutter Force water mill

wildflowers lining a dry stone walled track in smardale under overcast summer sky

Smardale walled track

flakebridge wood footpath through thick carpet of flowering bluebells in spring

Footpath through Flakebridge Wood

contemporary eden benchmark water cut sculpture above mallerstang under spring blue skies

Water Cut in Mallerstang

high cup nick at the head of high cup gill valley bathed in red light during dusk seen from the pennine way footpath

Sunset at High Cup Nick

high cupgill beck meandering down u-shaped high cup gill valley from high cup nick during golden winter sunset

High Cup Gill sunset

dufton village in the eden valley bathed in winter sunshine from the pennine way track near bow hall

Dufton from The Pennine Way

Pendragon Castle

ancient beech under a yellow and green autumnal canopy in gelt woods

Gelt Woods ancient beech

wild boar fell silhouetted stone men at red dawn above mallerstangdale

Stone Men silhouette

red sunrise over cloudy high seat ridge above mallerstang

Sunrise over Mallerstang High Seat

unnamed tarn and fence on wild boar fell with distant howgill fells at sunset

Wild Boar Fell tarn sunset

evening view of yorkshire three peaks from stone cairns / stone men on wild boar fell

The Stone Men of Wild Boar Fell

track through bluebells in flakebridge wood beech woodland in spring

Flakebridge Wood bluebells

yellow leaved gelt wood beech sapling above river gelt

Beech sapling and the River Gelt

About the Eden Valley

Obviously there is more to Cumbria than the Lake District. Every so often I’ll take a break from the National Park and head somewhere in the Eden Valley - its easy to get to as my home town of Penrith is in it.

The River Eden’s source is in Mallerstang from where is flows northwards into a widening valley called the Vale Of Eden. From here the Eden takes a long sweeping course through north Cumbria before reaching Carlisle and the Solway Firth.

In 2016 the Yorkshire Dales National Park was extended to include the upper reaches of the Eden Valley south of Kirkby Stephen. As this gallery covers the whole valley I'll keep it separate from my Dales galleries.