North Devon and Exmoor Autumn Walking Festival
1st – 4th October 2010
The North Devon and Exmoor Autumn Walking Festival, 1st – 4th October, will feature 32 guided walks including several foodie outings linking with the Exmoor Food Festival, which takes place from 2nd – 10th October.
Supported by Exmoor National Park Sustainable Development Fund, the Festival’s events are planned to suit a range of abilities, the walks will vary from 10 mile, full day hikes to more gentle strolls of around 4 miles. Guides will include local enthusiasts, landowners, wardens and rangers from Exmoor National Park Authority and two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).
Events linking with the Exmoor Food Festival include a circular, 7.4 mile moorland walk on Friday 1st October, which then drops down to the river Barle for lunch at Tarr Farm beside the famous Tarr Steps clapper bridge. A more strenuous walk over Selworthy Beacon on Monday, 4th October stops at Hindon Organic Farm for a delicious Exmoor Brunch and a chance to sample the farm’s own award-winning sausages, bacon and Aberdeen Angus beef.
Other foodie outings include a coast walk with a break at Hunters Inn for a ploughman’s lunch with local Exmoor cheese or home-made game pâté, and a more challenging hike to some of Exmoor’s highest points with lunch at Exmoor House. Two further walks finish with delicious cream teas at Brendon House in the East Lyn valley and the Fox & Goose at Parracombe.
The walking festival also coincides with the West Somerset Railway autumn steam gala; enthusiasts can take a ride on the impressive railway from Dunster to Washford and then walk back to the start point.
Exmoor has a good choice of outings taking in sections of the South West Coast Path as well as stunning open moorland and the area made famous by RD Blackmore’s novel, Lorna Doone. October is the perfect time to hear the red deer rutting; two walks led by Exmoor rangers on Friday 1st and Sunday 3rd October go in search of these majestic animals to experience the spectacle. Also taking place on 3rd October is a 4.5 mile, circular walk beside Wimbleball Lake, the largest reservoir on Exmoor which is well known for its excellent watersports facilities.
The North Devon walks include several within the North Devon AONB, which covers the beautiful coastal strip, plus additional scenic inland outings. For the first time on Saturday, 2nd October a warden from the Quantocks AONB is also giving a 7.6 mile, guided linear walk along the Ridgeway giving excellent views across to Exmoor and over the Bristol Channel to Wales. It finishes in the attractive Quantock village of Holford with minibus transfer back to the start.
Prices range from £5 per person up to £16 (to include a two-course lunch); dogs on a lead welcome on all walks apart from the Selworthy Beacon / Hindon Farm foodie event