Readers of last week’s blog will know that we recently spent a week exploring in Exmoor national park. Exmoor straddles the counties of Devon and Somerset, and offers outdoor enthusiasts a wide range of walks, from ancient woodlands to coastal rambles along the South West Coast path. We’d spent the first part of the week climbing to the highest point in the national park, exploring landscapes which provided classic literary inspiration and visiting some of Exmoor’s historic buildings. We certainly didn’t slow down in the second half of the week, packing in more hikes and visiting some of Exmoor’s most celebrated landmarks.
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Tarr Steps
Located in the south of the national park, the Tarr Steps are a scheduled monument and one of the few ‘honey pot’ sites in Exmoor. Estimated to be anything from 1000-4000 years old, the Tarr Steps are a traditional clapper bridge spanning 50 metres across the river Barle. No record remains of their construction (hence the debate over their age), but local folklore attributes the creation of the bridge to the Devil himself – and if he’s out sunbathing on the bridge, you’ll find it to be impassable.
Knowing how popular this spot was likely to be, we saved it for mid week and planned to get there early. We arrived at about 10am, just after a torrential downpour had ended, and we were almost the first people there. Parking is pay and display in the Exmoor national park car park, and the Tarr Steps are a short, easy 10 minute walk away.
I have to say, we were both very impressed by the Tarr Steps – there’s something atmospheric about them that doesn’t quite come through when looking at photos. We spent 5 minutes admiring them and taking lots of photos, before setting off on the way marked circular walk set out on the information boards in the car park.
The route is around 2 miles and extremely easy to navigate. Crossing over the Tarr Steps, follow the way marked sign to follow the river for a mile or so, before crossing a bridge to return along the other side of the river. I was so glad that we did this walk in summer, as there were a hundred different shades of green from the trees and it was absolutely bursting with life: I expect it would be a bit more drab and grey in winter. Keep your eyes on the river too, with the woods home to species like kingfishers and otters. Sadly we didn’t see either of these, although we did spot plenty of fish when we peered into the water!
By the time we got back to the start an hour later, there were plenty of people at the Tarr Steps, many with picnics setting up shop for a few hours. Not many seemed to be setting off on the walk though, so that might remain a peaceful escape even if the Tarr Steps themselves are busy when you arrive. The nearby inn had also set up a takeaway trailer by the Steps, so of course Sam had to pop over to pick up a takeaway coffee (would’ve been rude not to).
Dog friendly rating – 5/5. This is an excellent dog walk, stile free and with no livestock to worry about. While the Tarr Steps themselves may get busy, I suspect the circular walk remains more quiet. Just keep in mind that the route passes through a nature reserve, and respect signs asking for dogs to be kept out of the water from August to December so as not to disturb the salmon breeding season.
Selworthy Beacon
Plan A for the afternoon had been to head to the Valley of Rocks however, on seeing how busy the Tarr Steps had become in the space of an hour, we decided that this was probably one to save for another early start. Plan B was decided and we drove across to the small village of Selworthy to climb up to Selworthy Beacon.
There is a National Trust suggested route in the car park, which we set out to follow and immediately accidentally went the wrong way, so we ended up making our own route. Fortunately, Selworthy Beacon is very well signposted with finger posts from the car park (National Trust, donations), and so we managed to get up there without any incident!
Our free-styled route took us through the woods above the car park to pick up the footpath running along Selworthy Coombe. This seemed to get a lot of climbing out of the way early on, even though it didn’t feel particularly steep or onerous. We picked up a good path to cross a road, with the path continuing on the other side to quickly arrive at Selworthy Beacon.
The views from the trig point were fantastic in all directions: we actually thought this was better than Dunkery Beacon, with superior views and no people at all. After some obligatory ‘dog on trig pillar’ photography, we set off downhill to cross the road and pick up the footpath running into the woods, which would ultimately lead us back to Selworthy (thank goodness for the OS maps app, making navigation a doddle). We saw plenty of evidence of cows and ponies in the woods here, but no actual cows or ponies.
Dog friendly rating – 3.5/5. This walk has no stiles or other dog obstacles, but you may encounter sheep, ponies or cows at any point in the walk – even in the woods. For this reason you may need to keep your dog on a lead for the whole walk if they don’t have solid recall.
The Valley of Rocks
One of the main reasons Exmoor caught my eye as a place to visit was that I was repeatedly spammed with the Valley of Rocks on my Instagram explore page. A dramatic coastal landmark, it’s also home to a herd of feral goats who rose to fame during Covid when they started invading gardens and causing traffic jams in the local village of Lynton.
Lynton was where we started our walk, a 3.5 km circular route from our Pocket Mountains guide. We parked in one of Lynton’s pay and display car parks (getting there at 8.45am meant we had plenty of choice) and began the long slog up the hill to join the South West Coast Path, which we would follow all the way to the Valley of Rocks.
As we slogged up the hill, I was cursing myself for not just parking at the car park right by the Valley of Rocks and exploring from there, but once the path levelled out my ire was soon forgotten. This section of the South West Coast Path is rather impressive, and as we’d set off so early we almost had it entirely to ourselves. Even the feral goats were still snoozing from their perches on the top of the rocks!
We spent fifteen minutes or so poking around the Valley, before walking along the road to pick up a footpath which would take us back to Lynton through the woods. While this was very pleasant, I’m still not sure it was worth the extra uphill and downhill at the start and end – going down the hill was almost as unpleasant as going up, as the tarmac is slippy underfoot and it’s easy to slip and lose your footing.
Dog friendly rating – 2.5/5. Dogs will need to be on leads for most of this walk, either due to walking through Lynton (pavement) or due to steep, sheer drops off the South West Coast Path. You may also come across the feral goats, so be prepared to brace yourself if needed. There are no stiles or other dog obstacles to worry about on this walk.
Haddon Hill
Our last full day on Exmoor dawned with torrential rain and blustery winds. The weather had been changeable all week, but had always brightened up after around 10am: not so on this day. A dry window was forecast between 1 and 3pm, so I was frantically flicking through my Pocket Mountains guide for a walk we could comfortably complete in this timeframe, when I found a short walk of roughly 2.5 miles taking in Wimbleball Lake and Haddon Hill.
We parked in the Haddon Hill pay & display car park, and set off along the start of the route. I was rather disconcerted that we were heading determinedly downhill, until I realised that the car park was at the top of the hill and therefore we needed to go down to be able to come back up.
Eventually we passed through a gate to arrive at the edge of Wimbleball Lake, where we popped out onto the dam to have a look over the water. I have to say we weren’t much taken with the view, but then it’s hard to give your best showing when it’s overcast and threatening rain.
We left the dam to carry on a little bit further downhill, before heading up some steps to enter a wood. Here we started to climb steadily uphill, leaving the woods to emerge onto the hillside where the path steepened (although it was still nothing like some of the gradients I’ve hauled myself up on other walks).
As we climbed, the sun came out and the views got better and better. The view of the lake is much nicer from higher up than it is from the shore! Heather and gorse were out in full force and carpeted the hillside – this is the largest area of uninterrupted heath in the Brendon Hills. It’s a good thing it was so lovely, as at this point the path deteriorated into a narrow trail with lots of overgrown bracken – which was drenched following the morning’s rain.
Thankfully, this soggy section ended fairly quickly and the gradient eased off too. The trig pillar at the top of the hill soon came into view, and the are multiple path choices to return back to the car. The heath here is grazed by a herd of Exmoor ponies who you have a good chance of spotting on your walk – we had no chance of missing them, as they were hanging out by the gate to return to the car park.
Dog friendly rating – 3/5. This is another walk where you can expect to come across livestock at almost anytime, and given the large about of overgrowth you may also want to check your dog for ticks after the walk. There was one stile to navigate, which has a dog gate, and some of the downhill sections have moss growing on the surface of the path, making it slippery underfoot if your dog pulls.
Where we stayed
It took me quite a while to find somewhere to stay in Exmoor. It just seemed like none of the usual suspects had what I was looking for in terms of location, quality or number of dogs allowed. And then I stumbled across the Best of Exmoor website, and my problem was solved – I then had too much choice! If you are looking to book an Exmoor holiday, they have shared a ‘refer a friend’ code with me which you can use to get £40 off your booking – enter code EmmaJRI when booking.
In the end we settled on The Hayloft in Oare. Location wise it was perfect, with everywhere in the national park within an hour’s drive, and with many places (such as the Doone Valley) just a stone’s throw away. The cottage itself is done up to a very high standard, extremely comfortable and had everything we needed for a week away. Part of a farm, the owners live close by and they were super helpful in suggesting walks and places to go with a reactive dog.
Dog friendly rating – 4.5/5. This cottage is fabulous for dogs, with two welcome to join you at £15 per dog. Inside there is plenty of space, and the floors in the kitchen, boot room and living room are all hard and easy to keep clean. The garden is absolutely enormous, and Coal loved zooming around to his heart’s content. It’s enclosed, but not escape artist proof – fine for dogs like Coal but not for Merry. One last thing to bear in mind is that the owner’s dogs are often roaming loose (under supervision) in the main courtyard (but they can’t get into the garden) – we explained about Coal’s reactivity when we arrived and the owners were fantastic at putting their dogs away when they saw us get in, but this is something to keep in mind if it’s likely to upset your dog.
And that’s a wrap on our Exmoor adventures! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about what we got up to, and perhaps feel inspired to visit Exmoor yourself one day – it really is a wonderful place, and very quiet compared to many of the other national parks we’ve visited.
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