Gibside (+44 (0)1207 541820, nationaltrust.org.uk/gibside), a Georgian landscape garden that we're working hard to restore, is a wonderful place to visit. It's so close to Tyneside, yet once you're there you could be a million miles away from anywhere.

This walk gives you a chance to escape busy life, and at this time of year, with the leaves off the trees (and as I write, snow on the ground), it will take you through the history of this great estate and give you the chance to get close to nature.

In winter you may not see signs of Gibside's protected species such as bats and great crested newts, as they're all tucked up for winter, but you'll have a great chance of seeing roe deer, red kites, winter birds and maybe even an otter or a fox, if you're lucky! If there's snow on the ground, look out for animal tracks and see if you can guess what left them.

Wrap up for the weather, and wear sensible footwear. Take advantage of the benches on the way round if you need to catch your breath and I would say end up in the tea-room for some great homemade soup.

For a pub lunch head to the Golden Lion in Winlaton Mill. Located on the other side of the river from Gibside, and on the bus route, it'll give you a chance to walk off your meal in the Derwent Walk Country Park and see Gibside from a different angle.
• Find out more at nationaltrust.org.uk/walks

Route and directions

Start: Gibside car park. Grid ref: NZ172583 Map: OS Landranger 88

1. Set off from the car park, making your way up to the portico of Gibside's Palladian chapel. The Column of Liberty lies a mile ahead. Walk towards it along the oak-lined Avenue. To your right lie fields that have been restored to hay meadows, interspersed with parkland trees.

2. Once you reach the end, turn right uphill and on to a yew-lined track. Keep to the track as it bends left after passing Gibside's grand stable block on your right (pop in for exhibitions and refreshments).

3. Follow this track as it skirts around the high bank of the Octagon Pond and starts a gentle climb. Carry on into Snipes Dene, leaving the formal inner pleasure grounds and moving to more wooded outer pleasure grounds.

4. Continue on this wide stone track. As you follow a hairpin bend left, an overgrown grassy track marks the original entrance to Gibside. To your right notice the earth embankments of early wagonways used to transport coal from nearby hills down to the Tyne.

5. After walking along Gibside's boundary track for ¼ mile, take the narrow track to your left, downhill into Snipes Dene. At the bottom turn right.

6. As you spot the river Derwent, the path turns left and opens out on to a wider stone track. Turn right down a narrower path and through a conifer plantation. As you emerge from the woodland, you'll see Lady Haugh field to your left ("haugh" is a local term for a floodplain).

7. Follow the riverside path and after about 300 metres you'll come to the biggest oak tree at Gibside. Turn left here and walk up a couple of steps, crossing Lady Haugh field to the left-hand side of the now ruined hall. Climb up steps beside the hall's service wing.

8. Emerge on to the Avenue and halfway back to the chapel, take a path to your right towards the pink stone of the greenhouse (now glassless but still spectacular). Carry on through the newly restored Victorian Shrubbery back to the Avenue and the exit.

Terrain and accessibility

Allow between two to three hours for this five-mile (8km) walk. Fairly easy walking along well maintained tracks and some grass, with a couple of steps and several gentle inclines – benches along the route. Walk not suitable for wheelchairs, though much of Gibside is accessible by using one of Gibside's "Trampers" (off-road mobility scooter). Free, but booking essential. Dogs welcome on a lead.

Getting there and local facilities

On foot: ½ mile from Derwent Walk, footpath/cycle track from Swalwell to Consett

By bike: National Cycle Network route 14, see sustrans.org.uk

By bus: Go North East "The Red Kite" 45, 46/A from Newcastle (passing Newcastle station and Metrocentre), alight Rowlands Gill, ½ mile

By train: Blaydon five miles; Metrocentre five miles

By car: Six miles south-west of Gateshead, 20 miles north-west of Durham. Entrance on B6314 between Burnopfield and Rowlands Gill. From A1 take exit north of Metrocentre and follow brown signs. Postcode for SatNav: NE16 6BG. Free car park, WCs, tea-room, farm shop (Gibside Larder) and shop