Does anyone else struggle with too many places on their to-visit list, and not enough annual leave to get everywhere? Exmoor national park has been on my radar for a few years now, but it was only a few weeks ago that we finally managed to squeeze it in to our schedule – and what a fantastic decision it was to get ourselves down there.
My preconceptions of Exmoor prior to visiting were that there would be heather and ponies. For this reason I booked a trip towards the end of August in the hope that the heather would be at its best (it was), but we found that there is so much more to Exmoor than just heather and ponies: ancient oak woodlands, rambles along the South West Coast Path and lots of lovely quiet hikes!
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Dunkery Beacon
Did you even go to a new county, if you didn’t walk up to the highest point in said county? After rather long drive down on the Friday afternoon (setting off on 325 mile drive on a Friday lunchtime is always a terrible idea), we were both feeling rather knackered on the Saturday and so agreed that an easier walk was in order. Overcast but promising to stay dry, we perused our trusty Pocket Mountains guide for Exmoor and decided on a 1 hour walk to the summit of Dunkery Beacon, the highest point in both Somerset and Exmoor national park.
There’s a small National Trust car park close to the top of the hill (donations), from where we set off across the heather towards the summit. The climb is actually pretty gentle (although I suspect it would be more of an effort if we hadn’t started so close to the top anyway), and there are good views of the surrounding countryside. At the top of the hill there’s a large cairn, erected in 1935, commemorating the donation of the summit to the National Trust.
We didn’t hang around at the summit for long as there were quite a lot of people up there (although, considering it was a Saturday in the summer holidays, it was really rather quiet compared to what I’m sure would have been very busy in the area around Malham or the Yorkshire Three Peaks). The descent we took was very gentle, forming the remaining two sides of a triangle from the car park, and we didn’t really see many people at all on our way down – just a few ponies in the distance. Path wise, the route we followed was all on clear tracks, meaning you could get away with hiking trainers rather than boots if you preferred.
Dog friendly rating – 3.5/5. This is a stile free walk which shouldn’t pose any problems for dogs, although you can expect to see other people (with off lead dogs) and livestock at any point along the way – we saw ponies, cows and sheep (all rather far off in the distance, but they could choose to wander over at any time).
The Doone Valley
Literary fans may be aware of the novel Lorna Doone, written by R. D. Blackmore in 1869. I’d never heard of it, but the amount of ‘Lorna Doone campsite/valley/car park’ signs soon piqued my interest and a quick Google revealed that the valley we were staying in was the setting for the novel. It therefore would’ve been criminal not to do some exploring!
The Pocket Mountains guides can always be relied on to include a route around most of the places I want to visit, and on this occasion offered up a roughly 9 mile circular walk through the heart of Lorna Doone country and some of the nearby Exmoor countryside. Parking is free at the County Gate car park, just a 5 minute drive from our cottage (if it hadn’t been such a long walk anyway, we probably could have started from our cottage), where there is also a dog friendly tea room and some toilets.
From County Gate, the route immediately heads into a field, skirting the field edge to drop down fairly steeply to the valley floor – it was at this point I realised that we were almost certainly going to have a big hill to climb at the very end of the walk. Quiet country lanes took us to the village of Malmsmead, where there is a National Trust Lorna Doone car park, which could be used as an alternative starting point to make the walk a bit shorter, and to cut out the big hill at the end (some tinkering with the return route would be required).
In Malmsmead we passed a sign for the county of Devon, and then picked up a path to follow Badgworthy water along a beautiful riverside path through mature oak woodlands. With the sunlight streaming through the trees it really was stunning, and the dogs loved being able to jump in and out of the river as we went. Perfect dog walking territory!
We passed two campsites as we headed into the Doone Valley, both of which seemed fairly busy, but over the 4 hours or so that we were walking we only saw a grand total of 5 other people. We couldn’t believe it! Eventually we left the trees to start climbing steadily onto Brendon Common, which is a typical Exmoor upland grazed by sheep, ponies and cows. We only saw sheep on this occasion, but it was still very pleasant walking with absolutely no sign of civilisation in any direction. It would probably be a different story (and much harder to navigate) in the depths of winter though.
Soon after crossing a ford, we joined an extremely quiet country road to drop into the charming village of Brendon. Here we sat on the bench on the village green to have a snack and to give the dogs some water in the shade, before continuing on our way. Shortly after passing a farm with some emus strutting around in the field outside, a footpath (easily missed) leaves the road to climb steeply through trees, into a hilly field. This is the start of the climb back up to the car park – by this point I was rather hot and sweaty and asking myself why we hadn’t started at the Lorna Doone car park!
The path alternates between climbing steeply and then mercifully flattening for a while to allow you to catch your breath, before climbing steeply again. There are nice views though if you need to stop for a minute or two, and to our surprise we stumbled across a small band of Exmoor ponies snoozing in one of the fields – not what we were expecting, after seeing neither hide nor hair of them on the common! Eventually the car park at County Gate comes back into view and you can have a well deserved sit down at the Rambler’s Rest tea room.
Dog friendly rating – 4/5. The big draw for dogs is the long section by the river at the start of the walk. Badgworthy Water was very calm when we visited, shallow in many places with a few deeper pools where the dogs could swim, however in winter or after heavy rain you should always exercise caution. We were able to have Coal off-lead in some places on Brendon Common, always putting him back on the lead if we couldn’t see clearly ahead or if a sheep appeared in the distance. If you are visiting in summer, it is worth keeping in mind that much of the terrain on Brendon Common and in the return fields could be good adder habitat, so keep your dogs on the paths. There are a few longer sections of quiet road walking (we didn’t see any cars) and no stiles to worry about. Carry extra water for your dog, as there are no opportunities for them to have a drink after crossing the ford on Brendon Common.
Dunster Castle
The Monday of our trip dawned gloomy and overcast, and was forecast to stay like that all day. After a big walk the day before we were both happy to take it easier, and made a plan to spend the day getting our money’s worth out of our National Trust and English Heritage memberships (always a satisfying feeling). Stop number one was a trip to Dunster Castle, the largest National Trust site close to our base and offering a free morning out that if we weren’t National Trust members would’ve cost over £40! There has been a fortress or castle on the site for about a thousand years, but much of what you can see today only dates from the Victorian period (even if it looks older!)
We arrived shortly after the castle opened, and spent an hour or so exploring the gardens – there’s a lot more here than I first expected. While many of the flowers were sadly past their best, there was still plenty of colour, and I imagine on a sunny day the gardens and the view over to the sea would make you feel like you were abroad.
We walked down to see the working watermill, and while we were there we found a quiet riverside section for the dogs to have a paddle. It was starting to get pretty busy by this point, and with many of the garden paths being quite narrow and twisty (not ideal with a reactive dog), we decided to call it a day and head on to our next stop.
Dog friendly rating – 4/5. Dogs on short leads are welcome to join you everywhere apart from the inside of the castle. There were a few water bowls dotted around the site too, but just keep in mind that it can get busy, so arrive early if this is likely to be an issue for your dog.
Cleeve Abbey
Sticking with the historical theme, after lunch we drove across to Cleeve Abbey, which is perched on the fringes of Exmoor national park. This was another opportunity to get free entry rather than paying, with this site managed by English Heritage. It was much, much quieter than Dunster Castle – the National Trust seeming to have cracked the marketing for family days out better than English Heritage – and there were only a few other people wandering around the site at the same time as us.
They Cistercian abbey is rather impressive, with many buildings actually having a roof, unlike the ruins we’ve visited before at Fountains and Rievaulx – I’m not sure if this is why it looks and feels so different, or if it’s a different style of architecture completely! In addition to the more complete buildings there is an impressive tiled pavement you can view, as well as an original painted wall (viewed from the safety of a glass viewing panel so as not to damage it).
We spent around an hour exploring the site, before it started drizzling and we hopped in the car to move on to the next place on our list. I couldn’t believe how quiet our visit had been – even with plenty of other visitor attractions in the area, I had expected at least 5 or 6 other groups to be there at the same time!
Dog friendly rating – 5/5. Dogs are welcome to join you everywhere at Cleeve Abbey, including inside areas, and it was a lovely quiet spot when we were there.
Blue Anchor Beach
Something that had totally passed me by when planning for this trip was the fact that as well as plenty of upland and heath walks, Exmoor also has a decent stretch of coastline, with the South West Coast Path starting in Minehead and running all the way into Devon and beyond. When the weather is ‘sub-optimal’ for hiking, a trip to the beach is always a good fall back option to let the dogs have a good run without being out for ages, and so on the Monday afternoon we headed to the coast to visit Blue Anchor beach.
Blue Anchor probably isn’t going to win any prizes any time soon for prettiest beach, however, this sand and shingle beach is dog friendly all year round and has enough space that you don’t need to worry about being crammed in next to other beach goers. That being said, that wasn’t a worry for us any way as there were hardly any other people there when we visited.
There is plentiful free, roadside parking along the sea front, and the beach is easily accessed via steps directly onto the sand. Once you’ve finished (or before you start if you need some energy), there are a few beach front cafes where you can pick up lunch.
Dog friendly rating – 5/5. This beach is dog friendly all year round, and we found it nice and quiet when we visited mid-week in August. It was however a bit grey and gloomy, so I’m not sure if this would still be true on a sunny weekend!
This took us to about the half way point in our holiday to Exmoor – already you can see how varied this national park is, with beaches, woodlands and uplands, as well as plenty of history. Come back next week to read about the rest of what we got up to – with plenty more ponies, as well as some of Exmoor’s more famous landmarks.
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