A selection of a few adventures and days out around Devon and beyond.

Laura Waddell 6/29/20 Laura Waddell 6/29/20

Exploring Cockington Village

Cockington Village (situated close to Torquay and Paignton) has been on our list of places to visit for a while…then lockdown happened! So as soon as we had the chance, we took a trip to this delightful little village and had a walk around to see what it had to offer. In the village itself, there is a pay and display car park, however it only takes coins, so we decided to carry on past the car park (on our right) and park a short distance down the road (Cockington Lane) where there were clearly marked (free) parking bays. From here we walked back towards the village.

As we walked back past the pay and display car park on our left, we noticed a path leading to Cockington Country Park. We decided to walk here first and have a look around. The first thing I noticed was a water mill nestled in the corner to our left which had a beautiful thatched roof attached to it. For anyone who doesn’t know of Cockington, it’s a quaint little village full of chocolate box cottages, it feels like you’re going back in time when you walk around this picturesque, charming little place.

The mill pond and the thatched mill house.

After having a look at the water wheel, we walked up some steps and sat at the top by the mill pond which had a few ducks and a moorhen nearby and a weeping willow shadowing overhead. After taking in the area and looking on a map to decide where to walk, we took the steps back down and turned right towards the Mill, which is now a little cafe selling refreshments (currently socially distanced!). Here was also the information centre and another thatched building, with gardens decorated with rose flower archways.

A rose archway adjoining a thatched cottage.

Gardens by the Tourist Information Centre.

We left the park through the main entrance, just ahead of the Tourist Information Centre. Across the road we spotted Rose Cottage, probably the most photographed building in Cockington. This iconic cottage is popular for its high tea in its tea gardens, it also stands out for the unusual sloping thatched roof! As we walked up the lane with the tea gardens to our left, I could see why it would be popular amongst visitors; the gardens were beautiful with ducks resting on the green lawn, a large pond at the top end and a little wooden bridge over the stream that passes through it. As we walked by, we both said we would have to come back and visit the tea gardens another day.

A short walk down this lane, with the stream to our left and beautiful cottage gardens to our right, we soon found a public footpath pointing us towards a wooded area that would lead to the seafront. Intrigued by the walk and what the beach was like at the end, we decided to take this route. From here we followed a clear gravelled path, with the stream now on our right. It eventually led us onto a boardwalk around a water meadow, with plenty of areas for dogs and children to play in the stream and climb on the fallen trees that form a bridge over the water to the grass bank.

The bridge we later take on our way back from the seafront.

The boardwalk that passes over the stream.

Eventually the path opens up again into a stretch of greenery before we left through a gate and crossed the road to walk down Cockington Lane towards the seafront. After just a few minutes walking we found ourselves spotting familiar sights of Torquay to our left and the sea right ahead of us. Crossing the road, we walked down the steps infront of us, which led us down to Livermead Beach.

We didn’t stop here long, as it was high tide, so there was no beach to actually walk on. It’ll be interesting to come back and see what the beach looks like when the tide is out. After a quick stop to identify the cliffs out to sea, (Berry Head was jutting out in the distance to our right) we then made our way back the way we came, but instead of walking the whole way back through the wooded park, we took the main bridge with the metal railings on our left, crossed the road and entered Cockington Country Park through the elegant entrance archway.

The Entrance to Cockington Country Park.

Once through the archway, there were several routes clearly marked with colour coded arrows and signposts, each showing the different ways to explore the park. We decided to take a route that led us around three lakes, where we were greeted by several ducks swimming by and damselflies darting about, zig-zagging above the water. There were several information points dotted around that gave a short description on what wildlife and flowers we may see. .

We followed the path around which then led us up to a green space with a large thatched building ahead of us. At first we wondered what this building would have been used for, as it stood out as rather unusual with a wooden grid on one side of it; as we made our way closer we spotted a sign informing us it was The Old Gamekeeper’s Cottage, which then made more sense as the grid could have served as a lookout point. From here we passed the Gamekeeper’s cottage and entered Manscombe Wood on our right, walking a clear wide path along the stretch of the woodland. This wood was popular with cyclists and dog walkers, as we walked along listening to the birds chattering away and the stream trickling past us on the right.

Once we reached the end of this path, we turned right up a hill, through a gate and across the road to enter another gate. This path took us around the outskirts of Cockington Court. We followed it through another gate then down a path to our right, which had a signpost informing us it was also a bridle path and cycle route. Once at the fork in the path we took the one to our right which lead us round the Arboretum. At this point it started to lightly rain, so we were grateful for a bit of tree coverage to shelter us. I could imagine this path is popular with children and dogs, as there were plenty of tree roots to hide and climb over, and different paths to explore that would all eventually meet up again. We eventually arrived at Cockington Court. From here we turned right and walked down to explore the beautiful Rose Garden.

The sundial in the centre of the Rose Garden.

One of the sweet smelling roses in Cockington Court.

As we entered the rose garden, the sweet smell of the flowers was prominent, and we were taken aback at how pretty is was, we really weren’t expecting it! There were plenty of benches here, so we decided to sit for a while and have a quick break and make the most of the surroundings. Afterwards we had a look at the map of Cockington Court (which is also very dog friendly), and headed towards the Sea Change Craft Studios. Most things were just closing for the day, but from what we saw, this area had a range of artists and craft makers in little studios, making high quality art and crafts.

The grounds are also home to a church, stables and Cockington Manor House. The Manor House hosts a tea room and the visitors welcome point. Sadly we arrived here after closing time so we couldn’t explore inside. Once we had finished looking around Cockington Court, we walked back past the Sea Change Studios and took a path leaving the grounds. Here we turned right down a leafy lane which eventually took us back onto Cockington Lane, where once we turned left, we soon found where we had parked our car. Cockington is definitely worth a visit, there seems to be something for everyone. It’s perfect for a lazy Sunday stroll, exploring the village, but its definitely perfect for families and dog walkers. Everywhere we visited today was dog and child friendly (as well as wheelchair and pushchair accesible), from the parks, public footpaths, woodland, rivers to paddle in and the beach, as well as Cockington Court itself. Torquay is just a short walk away, so Cockington is a great place to explore if you’re in the area for the day.

Laura Waddell 6/26/20 Laura Waddell 6/26/20

Morte Point and Bull Point Lighthouse

With the nice weather we’ve been having lately, we decided to make the most of it and explore another coastal walk. We decided on North Devon, mainly because we haven’t explored a lot of North Devon walks, but also because there’s a lighthouse on this walk, and anyone that knows me, knows I love lighthouses. The walk we did starts off in a little village close to Woolacombe, called Mortehoe. Here we parked in the main pay and display car park and turned left up the road where we spotted a pub (The Ship Aground) and then the local church (St Mary’s), looking beautiful in the sunshine with lots of flowers decorating the entrance.

St Mary’s Church to the left, and local pub, ‘The Ship Aground’ to the right.

From here we carried on walking down the road to our left, keeping the Church on our right. We then passed lots of pretty houses and another Church. Here we spotted a public footpath to our right, but we ignored this one and instead walked down a bit further until we spotted the National Trust gated footpath that led onto the coast path. Once through the gate we were treated to some stunning views of the glistening sea and the spectacular Woolacombe beach where we could see many families and surfers enjoying the sun, as we walked past lambs grazing on the land.

Footpath leading to Morte point, with sea views in the distance.

As we followed the footpath up a hill, we stopped to look back and take in the views; as it was such a clear day, looking past the numerous surfers on the water we were able to see Baggy Point jutting out in the distance. This path soon descended down a hill, still with views of the sea and Woolacombe beach to the left, and the small Churchyard to the right.

Views of Woolacombe beach and Baggy Point.

As we followed this path through another gate, we found that it becomes a bit narrow as we walked between some gorse. We then turned left onto a wider path that would lead us to Morte Point. It was here that we realised we could have taken a clearer path earlier on, that would have also joined onto Morte Point and not been so narrow, but the one we walked was still passable and took us to where we aimed to go.

Views of Morte Point from the Coast path.

The views from this part of the coast path are far from disappointing. We stopped for a moment to watch the waves crashing on the jagged rocks below before climbing up some rocky steps to continue along the coast path. As we turned a corner we could spot our destination, Bull Point Lighthouse, in the distance. which in the intense heat felt like miles away!

Taking in the views of the sea and surf.

A glimpse of Bull Point lighthouse in the distance.

Looking down at the bay of rocks below, I remarked to Jo that we hadn’t yet spotted any seals, and at that moment, I then saw a seal pop it’s head out of the water, and then as we walked a bit further on, we spotted another seal, bobbing about in the waves. We decided to take a drinks break here on one of the benches at the top of the hill to see if we could spot any more seals (we didn’t!) before heading in the direction of the lighthouse.

Sea views and Bull Point Lighthouse in the distance.

As we carried on, we reached a fork in the path with a signpost telling us Mortehoe Village was to the right. In spite of the heat we thought we’d press on to the lighthouse, so we took the path to the left to carry on along the coast which eventually lead us through a gate and more steps to climb. From here we had views of Whiting Cove, which can sometimes be popular with sunbathing seals. As we got a closer view of the cove we looked out for any more seals but couldn’t see any, so we carried on down more steps, through yet another gate and followed the signpost for Bull Point.

Views of Whiting Cove below, before taking the steps down towards Rockham Bay.

We spotted Rockham Bay with a boardwalk staircase leading down to it, but as we got closer, we saw a sign saying these steps down to the bay were closed... We quickly realised why: the wooden steps had collapsed, possibly in a recent storm, and now left the bay inaccessible.

Rockham beach, you can just about see where the wooden steps have collapsed.

From here, we had a bit of a hill climb, which was made more strenuous in the heatwave we were having this week. Once at the top, we had a quick stop to admire the views around us before taking the steps down and then up yet another hill. From this post, you can probably tell there’s several hills and steps to climb on this stretch of the South West Coast path, but the views make it worth the effort! Once at the top of this hill we looked back at the frothy surf crashing on the rocks below before reading the Informative map about Bull Point. Once we reached the top of the next slope, we were greeted with Bull Point Lighthouse standing proudly on Bull Point itself. This lighthouse was actually relocated here from Mortehoe back in the 1970s. There is no public access to the lighthouse itself, but there are holiday cottages here that you can stay in, owned by Trinity house, which if like me, you have a (strange?) interest in lighthouses, you’ll know Trinity House are a charity that own and run most lighthouses in the UK.

Looking back at yet another hill we just climbed.

Bull Point Lighthouse and holiday cottages.

After a quick break to look at the lighthouse, we decided to take the road to the right, which as a signpost told us, would lead back to Mortehoe, 1 mile away. We would have carried on to Sandy Cove and Lee Bay but it was already nearly 5pm so we decided we would do that walk another day. This route back to Mortehoe took us up a country lane decorated with plenty of foxgloves. A short walk up the lane and we were soon met with a holiday park and houses. From here, we took the road straight down the hill into the village, with views of the sea peeking between the houses on our right.

I soon spotted the post office at the bottom of the road, which I recognised from the start of our walk as it sold quirky and cute holiday souvenirs that were displayed in the windows. After having a quick glimpse in the post office window, we crossed the road and entered the car park that we had began our walk in. For anyone wondering, I worked out we walked around 4.5miles today, it’s a little strenuous in places but can be walked at a leisurely pace and is worth the walk for the views of the North Devon Coast and beaches. If you have the time, Woolacombe beach is well worth a visit, and maybe try out a bit of surfing while you’re there!