Walks

This Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty features hundreds of miles of popular walking tracks and coastal paths enjoyed by thousands of visitors each year. You can join one of the great heritage trails or guided walks available and learn about the local landscape whilst taking in the jaw-dropping scenery. And with so many walks to choose from you are certain to avoid the madding crowds. Here are just a few of the highlights.

Dartmoor National Park

Dartmoor really does have something for everyone; history lovers can explore castle ruins and learn about local myths and legends by visiting the museums or on a guided walk, families have plenty of exciting attractions to choose from, while there’s lots of opportunities for rambling over tors, cycling up challenging hills and staying active in the great outdoors.

South West Coast Paths

Bigbury to Salcombe

Much of this stretch of the South West Coast Path is owned by The National Trust. There are spectacular views as the Path passes through fields above beautiful sandy coves, all part of the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Your journey begins on a boat across the Avon to Bantham and from here the Path offers fairly easy walking past Thurlestone (watch out for golf balls!), until it begins to dip up and down to the sea on its way to the beautifully sheltered Hope Cove.

Bigbury to River Yealm

This undeveloped stretch of coast is recognised as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is part of the South Devon Heritage Coast. The path provides a mixture of easy, high open walking and some fairly strenuous climbs up and down steep slopes and steps to reach beautiful coves. After the ferry crossing over the Yealm, the Path passes out of Noss Mayo the ancient oaks of the Brakehill Plantation and along the wide, sweeping track known as Lord Revelstoke’s Drive, built in the 1880s to provide an impressive carriageway for his visitors.

Ringmore to Bigbury

This walk visits the picturesque thatched village of Ringmore before returning to Bigbury along open clifftops where the breeze is laced with the smell of the sea. The peaceful chocolate-box village has a colourful history, including a vicar who hid in the church tower for three months after firing on Cromwell's Roundheads, and smugglers who hid their booty in a secret chamber in the village inn. Use the walk to visit the sandy beaches at Ayrmer Cove and Challaborough.