Our part of Devon is situated between Dartmoor and Exmoor to the north and south, and the Atlantic coast to the west. On a clear day you can see both moors from the top of the village.
On our doorstep:
1. The Tarka trail (link here)is within walking or cycling distance. Go to the top of our drive and turn right. When you reach the crossroads (5 mins) turn right again down the hill and carry on walking until you reach the old Petrockstowe station (20 mins) You are at the Tarka Trail and can either turn left or right. You can also, if you prefer, drive this route (5 mins) and park in the old Petrockstowe station and then walk straight out onto the trail.
2. Meeth Quarry Nature Reserve. This is also within walking distance and accessed from the stone lane immediately at the top of our drive. Don’t worry about the sign saying ‘Farm Traffic Only’. We have a right of way down this track. When you get to the very end, turn left onto the village road and walk for about 5 mins until you reach the entrance to the nature reserve. There’s a little parking area here for about three cars.It’s a half hour’s walk to reach this. You can alternatively drive to this little car park by turning left onto the village road at the top of our drive, driving out of the village until you reach the little parking area on your left. It’s shortly after you see a left turn onto the other end of the stone track. You can park (free) in the Devon Wildlife Trust's car park. The reserve consists of two huge lakes encompassed by grassland and woodland, 370 acres in all. Dogs welcome on most of the reserve. There is another entrance to the nature reserve at Meeth, a five minute drive away. In the centre of this village is the Bull and Dragon, which serves extremely tasty home cooked food and can thus round off your day to this fantastic site. Link to DWT's website here.
3. Halsdon Nature Reserve is an older reserve, also nearby. It's best to drive there (only 10/15 minutes), however there's only room for a couple of cars. It's not busy so you can usually park there. Near Dolton, there are beautiful walks through the woods and along the Torridge river. Another Devon Wildlife Trust place- free. Click here for more info.
4. RHS Garden Rosemoor. About 20 minutes to drive there Near Great Torrington. This garden the RHS's showcase garden for the west of England. Beautiful!!! Link is here for their website.
5. Great Torrington. Gill's favourite local town. 6 miles away. Lovely quirky shops including greengrocers, butchers, bakers, soapmakers, pannier market (open Thursdays and Saturdays), delicatessen, The Plough Arts Centre ( films, theatre, artwork). Click here for link.
6. Dartington Crystal. Good for a rainy day outing, or anytime. Watch the glass blowers do their thing at the visitor centre and then buy a gift of glasswork or mirror work at their shop, all on the same site. Click here for link.
Dartmoor:
1.Access to Dartmoor can be at Okehampton ( walk between Okehampton and Meldon reservoir and onto Dartmoor- http://www.devon.gov.uk/walk61.pdf
Meldon reservoir and dam.
2.Just beyond Okehampton is Belstone, a half hour drive from us, where you can park for free in the village and go straight out onto the moor. Here you will find the Nine Maidens, a bronze age stone circle, together with Belstone Tor, an extinct volcano. There are also pretty spectacular views over Dartmoor. Link here.
3.How about going to Lydford Gorge? This is the deepest gorge in the south west, with a 30m waterfall, all within a half drive down the A386. Link here.
Other places to visit on/near Dartmoor:
Castle Drogo. Drewsteignton. Dartmoor National Park War Horse Valley.Winkleigh. Buckfast Abbey. Buckfastleigh. Finch Foundry. Okehampton, Okehampton Castle http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/okehampton-castle/
The Coast: Rugged, dramatic coastline at Hartland and Hartland Point where rocks point straight down into the sea. There's a pub serving good food right down on Hartland Quay where you can watch the Atlantic breakers smashing up against the rocks on a windy day.
Sand and surf beaches: the following beaches are all good for surfing and body boarding and have plenty of sand, at least when it's not high tide.
Westward Ho! named after its famous citizen Charles Kingsley. There's a statue of Kingsley at nearby Bideford, 'The little white town'.
Northam Burrows: near to Westward Ho! but more sand at low tide and fewer people. Good for exercising dogs but not when the tide is right up as there is not much beach left.
Bude: lots of beaches but be careful about which parts to take dogs in the summer. Summerleaze beach is fine.
Widemouth Bay: One of my favourite beaches but it does get a bit populated in summer.
Croyde, Poughill, Croyde, Peppercombe (this one can be a bit difficult to get to - you have to walk a bit and go down a steep path), Duckpool, Woolacombe, Sandymouth, Northcott Mouth. All these are some of the beautiful beaches in our area.