My parents came to stay with us recently in County Durham, so we decided to visit a bunch of local attractions. One of those was the fantastic Raby Castle which posted about here.
The Raby Estate also contains a couple of waterfalls, so on a different day to visiting the castle we visited both of those sets of falls. The first one we visited was the High Force Waterfall, then we headed over to the Low Force Waterfall.
Based on their names, I assumed the High Force Waterfall would be the most impressive of the two. While that’s certainly the case in terms of the sheer power of it, the Low Force Waterfall was perhaps even more beautiful and is potentially an even more fun spot to hang out for longer.
High Force Waterfall
Where To Park At The High Force Waterfall
Despite both the waterfalls being on the Raby Estate, there’s a fee to visit the High Force Waterfall, but not the Low Force one. In fact, there are two fees for the High Force Waterfall when you take into account the parking lot.
You can find the 24 hour parking lot here on Google Maps. To park in the parking lot, there’s a ticket machine where you pay by card. It used to be possible to pay via an app, but there was a sign when we visited in August 2025 stating that had been temporarily suspended.
Parking is:
- £4 for four hours
- £6 for six hours
- £12 for 24 hours
The parking lot is run by a third party rather than by the Raby Estate or the adjacent High Force Hotel & Waterfall, so this doesn’t seem to be a money grab by them.
How Much Does It Cost To Visit The High Force Waterfall
There is unfortunately a fee to visit the High Force Waterfall, but it’s somewhat nominal. Admission fees when we visited in August 2025 were:
- Adults = £3.95
- Children ages 4-15 = £2.45
- Children under 4 = Free
These fees are used to help maintain the footpaths to and from the waterfall, as well as to pick up any litter left by visitors.
You can buy tickets online or in person at the small cafe/ticket booth next to the parking lot. They only had one person working on the Sunday we visited in the summer, so there was a bit of a line waiting to buy our tickets. If you’re planning on visiting at the weekend and/or in the summer, I’d recommend booking your tickets online ahead of time here.
Having said that, even if you book your tickets online you might want to swing by the ticket booth. That’s because they have a sheet with a map and information about the waterfall on one side…
…and details of the High Force Hotel & Waterfall on the other.
High Force Waterfall Trail
To get down to the waterfall, you have to cross the road to the other side. Take care with small children as some cars come rushing through with, uh, high force. You’ll show your admission ticket, then it’s just a relatively short walk down to the waterfall.
The trail goes downhill steadily rather than steeply. If you decide to take this trail back up and need a breather along the way, there were some benches to stop and rest at if needed.
High Force Waterfall is pet-friendly, so Truffles enjoyed getting to join us for some exercise.
As we got closer to the waterfall, we could see it in the distance.
It then only took a minute or two to get there.
High Force Waterfall
High Force Waterfall tumbles over the Whin Sill, an area formed from molten rock 295 million years ago. It’s eroded slowly over about 15,000 years, leading to the waterfall that you see today. The waterfall drops 21 meters (~70 feet) into a pool below.
As you can see in the photo above, the trail continues down some steps to the rocky area below. If you’re interested in having a picnic, this is a great place to have one.
The waterfall is indeed a high force one, even in the middle of summer when there hadn’t been much rain.
On the right hand side of the gorge there were some ledges leading to other ledges next to the waterfall. Some people had taken advantage of that opportunity to get closer.
I was interested in checking that out. It didn’t look like the route over there was particularly precarious, but it was a little damp. If I’d had my hiking boots on, I’d have happily headed over. However, I only had flip-flops on, so I decided against it. We’ll likely return to the waterfall in the future, so I’ll make sure I bring my boots then.
After spending a little more time at the waterfall, we started making our way back to our car. Rather than taking the same trail back, we decided to return via a slightly longer route through woodland.
High Force Waterfall Loop Trail
That part of the loop trail starts off with a fairly steep climb up some stairs.
Once you’ve made it up those stairs, it’s a much easier walk back through pretty woodland.
Keep an eye out as you walk back along this route as there are some nice carvings to enjoy.
Hiking To The High Force Waterfall From The Low Force Waterfall
A week after that visit with my parents, we headed to Low Force Waterfall with some friends. A couple of us were interested in hiking from there to the High Force Waterfall, so we did that while the others headed to a cafe.
The trail from the Low Force Waterfall to the High Force Waterfall is 1.5 miles along the Pennine Way in each direction. It’s a mostly flat route, although there are one or two sections with an incline.
When paying to visit the High Force Waterfall, you get to see the waterfall at ground level. The route along the Pennine Way on the other hand provides views from high up. Despite being a little bit of a distance away, you still get decent views.
The trail continues closer to the waterfall…
…and you can even view it from right above.
The Pennine Way trail continues well beyond the waterfall; the trail in its entirety is 268 miles long. Rather than heading on though, we hiked the 1.5 miles back to the Low Force Waterfall and then went on to the café where Shae and the others were waiting for us.
Low Force Waterfall
Where To Park At The Low Force Waterfall
After finishing at the High Force Waterfall, we drove a minute or two down the road to check out the Low Force Waterfall. There’s a lay-by on the side of the road which is the closest you can park. You can find it here on Google Maps; we didn’t park there ourselves though as it was full.
Instead, we parked up at the Bowlees Visitor Centre which you can find on Google Maps here. There’s a small parking area on the left when you arrive, with a much larger overflow parking area off to the right. Both parking lots are free, so it doesn’t really matter where you park cost-wise, although they do take donations.
Low Force Waterfall Trail
After walking back down the road that leads up to the Bowlees Visitor Centre, you cross the road and enter through a gate.
The path passes between two fields. I’m not sure if they’re there year-round, but there were lots of sheep the day we visited.
Similar to the High Force Waterfall, Low Force Waterfall is also pet-friendly. There was a sign listing various things that aren’t allowed there though.
An information board along the way provided some more details about the waterfall, local geology and other history.
Low Force Waterfall
The trail down to the Low Force Waterfall is even shorter than the trail to the High Force Waterfall, so it wasn’t long before we were at the falls. They reminded me quite a lot of Great Falls just outside of Washington D.C.
Crossing over the River Tees is the Wynch Bridge. There’s been a bridge at the site since 1741; although its current incarnation isn’t quite that old, it is a Grade II listed structure.
There’s a sign up advising visitors to cross one at a time. I’m assuming one person and a pup at a time is also fine.
You can see the lower part of the falls from the bridge.
I’d mentioned earlier in the High Force Waterfall section that it’s possible to walk there from Low Force Waterfall. On the other side of the bridge you’ll see a sign pointing you in the right direction, or you can continue along the Pennine Way in the other direction too.
Once over the bridge, turn right and head up the river a little. Along the way you’ll see a sheep sculpture carved out of limestone.
Stay along the path for a few more yards and you’ll get an even better look at Low Force Waterfall.
Although there are a few activities you’re not supposed to do at Low Force Waterfall, I didn’t see any signs saying that you weren’t allowed to go swimming. We didn’t take a dip, but there were one or two families in the water. A couple of people were also enjoying jumping in to the water from a rocky ledge above the waterfalls.
We spent a few more minutes enjoying the waterfalls, then walked back to our car and headed home.
If you find yourself in County Durham or the general area, the High Force and Low Force waterfalls are definitely worth a visit.
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