Being a business based on a long-distance trail – St Oswald’s Way
St Oswald’s literally runs past the front door of St Oswald’s Way. It is great to offer walking holidays for our local trails and you do not get much more local than that.
Many people book walking holidays with Shepherds Walks Holidays as we have the local knowledge with trails like this, as we have walked them many times and have the local knowledge to enable us to deliver a truly brilliant walking holiday.
What is St Oswald’s Way?
St Oswald’s Way is a 97 mile long distance trail in the North East of England.
If you walk it from North to South you will start at the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, from there you will pass down the stunning Northumberland coast, before heading inland at Warkworth.
You head inland to Rothbury, the home of Shepherds Walks Holidays, before you climb up over the Simonside Hills on your journey to Heavenfield, the end of St Oswald’s Way.
Who was St Oswald?
St Oswald was an Anglo-Saxon king who introduced Celtic Christian missionaries to his Kingdom.
Oswald's father, King Aethelfrith (d. 616), had ruled over the two ancient Northumbrian kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira. Following Aethelfrith's death and the rise of Oswald's uncle, Edwin, to the throne in 616, Oswald and his brother Oswiu were forced to flee Northumbria. They found refuge on the island of Iona in the Hebrides, where they converted to Christianity.
In 633, King Edwin was killed in battle against King Cadwallon of Gwynedd (in present-day northern Wales) and Penda of Mercia. The following year, Oswald triumphed over Cadwallon in a decisive battle near Hexham, in what is now Northumberland.
Afterward, Oswald invited St. Aidan and a group of Irish monks from Iona to establish a monastery and missionary bishopric for his kingdom at Lindisfarne.
When and how was St Oswald’s Way put in place?
St Oswald’s Way was opened in August 2006.
The story of how it came about, in the words of Gary Campbell, the project manager of St Oswald’s Way –
It was with great intrigue that I made the short journey from Alnwick to Embleton to meet Michael Mountney late in 2004.
Michael had contacted Alnwick District Council for assistance with promoting Embleton Church Council’s ‘St Oswald’s Way’.
Within days of this first meeting it became clear that the St. Oswald’s Way project had far more to offer Northumberland than the fledging concept Michael and I had discussed.
From that point, a year of hard work left the project in excellent health with funding from Northumberland Strategic Partnership, Leader +, Northumberland Coast AONB and the four district councils along the proposed route. All of these partners must be thanked for their contributions towards the project in terms of both funding and expertise. With additional thanks due to Northumberland County Council and Northumberland National Park Authority for their technical support of the project.
November 2005 saw the appointment of the St Oswald’s Way Project Officer, Martim Paminter. Starting in December Martin was soon up to full pace in an effort to meet extremely demanding funding deadlines. By August 2006, after months of hard work St Oswald’s Way was open!
The efforts of the steering group, and not least Martin, had turned round the project the project in an amazing timescale. As Project Manager I must sincerely thank Martin. His knowledge, ability and determination are really what made St Oswald’s Way possible.
The finished project of a fully waymarked route, excellent map pack, informative and interesting guidebook, and a variety of other merchandise had far exceeded the original vision. Hopefully they will combine to provide a fantastic opportunity for people to enjoy for many years to come.
This leaves everyone involved in St. Oswald’s Way happy to welcome walkers to our project. We sincerely hope that you find the experience rewarding the enjoyable as you follow a unique walk through some on Northumberland’s finest landscapes.
Gary Campbell
Project manager
Some highlights – St Oswald’s Way
- St Oswald’s Way featured on Radio 4 ramblings
You can listen to the full series on the BBC iPlayer
Clare Balding walked it in x 6 sections –
- St Oswald’s Way: Holy Island – listen to it here
- St Oswald’s Way: Belford – listen to it here
- St Oswald’s Way: Alnmouth – listen to it here
- St Oswald’s Way: Warkworth – listen to it here (with the MD of Shepherds Walks)
- St Oswald’s Way: Rothbury – listen to it here
- St Oswald’s Way: Hadrian’s Wall – listen to it here
- St Oswald’s Way on Channel 5 - Kate Humble walked along part of it in one of her ‘Coastal Britain’ television programmes, first shown in 2022.
You can watch Kate Humble's programme here.
- Robson Green - Tales From Northumberland With Robson Green - S03, E05, St Oswald’s Way