With almost 1,000 miles (over 1500 km) of public rights of way in the East Riding this complex web of footpaths, bridleways and byways is available for public enjoyment. It offers the most significant opportunity for relaxation and makes a major contribution to health and welfare through healthy recreation and exercise.
Visit the East Riding of Yorkshire Council's W@lking the Riding website for further details.
The Market Weighton to Beverley Rail Trail (previously the Hudson Way) is a walking trail to the south of Goodmanham, and also a haven for wildlife. It follows the course of the old track bed of the long-abandoned York to Beverley railway line was originallly named after George Hudson (1800-1871), the Railway King. On the trail towards Market Weighton there is an ancient spring called St Helen’s Well, where water streams from a natural grotto in the hillside beneath an elder tree and pours into a shallow stone-edged bath. Across the valley on the north side is an area of grassland with mounds and ridges, known as Howe Hills. On the part of the trail between Goodmanham and Beverley, lies Kiplingcotes Chalk Pit. This was a quarry until 1902 but is now a nature reserve with a wide range of flora and fauna to enjoy, especially in the summer months.
Rifle Butts Quarry which was used as a rifle range until World War II is located 1 mile south east of Goodmanham. It displays a geologically important Cretaceous “unconformity”, where sediments from the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous periods were eroded away. When the area was covered again by sea, red chalk was deposited followed by white. In the 1930’s and 1940’s whenever the Home Guard used the range for target practice, a red flag was put up. Since the 1950s it has been a Site of Special Scientific Interest, ensuring that its geology and biodiversity are protected. In this small nature reserve more than 150 plants have been recorded.
The Yorkshire Wolds Way is a 79 mile trail stretching from Hessle to Filey offering ideal walking terrain through peaceful and gently rolling countryside interspersed with charming villages. The Wolds contain one of the highest concentrations of archaeological sites in the UK, and provide the most northerly occurrence of rare chalk grassland in the country. From the direction of Arras, the Wolds Way route enters Goodmanham along Spring Wells at the south-eastern end of the parish, and leaves the village going north along Wateringdike Lane and on towards Londesborough.