Newton Poppleford to Aylesbeare Common Circular

This walk starts out in Newton Poppleford’s free car park on School Lane (What3words: ///rummage.bends.cherished). It’s just under 5 miles/7.6km and does have some hilly pebbled tracks in places, the views definitely make up for them though! Sturdy footwear is required especially in the wetter months, but it’s completely doable in trainers or walking sandals in dry conditions. There are no toilets or cafes on route, but there is a pub (The Canon Inn) and a tearoom (Southern Cross Tearooms) in Newton Poppleford, check opening times online.

Taking Littledown Lane up towards Hawkerland

From Newton Poppleford’s car park, leave through the main entrance and walk up School Lane, passing the local primary school on your left. When you reach a footpath on your right, take this shaded path up the steps and continue on ahead, crossing the road at the end of the footpath to rejoin it again, until you reach a quiet residential road at the end of the path. Follow this road down past a house selling eggs on the left where you’ll come to the main road next to ‘Ye olde Tolle House’, Devon’s longest surviving toll house and also the UK’s shortest house. On this main road, turn left and keep to the pavement as you pass the mini roundabout and walk up the road. When it’s safe to do so, cross this busy road and walk up Littledown Lane, passing houses on your right, as you go up the hill where you’ll eventually spot a track to take on your right (opposite some farm gates). This lane is where I usually hear robins and blackbirds singing and flitting about between both sides of the road, there’s also plenty of sloe berries growing along this lane. I did this walk in late summer, so along this track there were still plenty of swallows flying over the fields on either side, chattering away.

Passing through the gate onto Hawkerland Common

This track will soon turn stony as it turns round a bend then downhill, now shaded by trees and ferns. It soon opens up again as you pass some beautiful houses on your right. Continue on this track, listening out for birds, I heard a great spotted woodpecker drumming on one of the trees here, as well as great tits calling out their distinctive ‘teacher, teacher’ two-note song. You’ll soon reach a gate informing you of livestock grazing in this area, enter through the gate and take the path to the right. This area is great for hearing the high pitched squeals of a goldcrest or jays loudly squawking in the trees above. Follow the yellow footpath signs as you walk through the woodland, passing a boggy area and then crossing over one boardwalk then another, smaller one, soon after.

This path soon opens up onto heathland, this is Hawkerland Common; try and catch a glimpse of the beautiful East Devon rolling hills through the trees on your right, but don’t worry if you didn't, you’ll have plenty more opportunities to view it again later. This part of the walk starts to become quite hilly as you navigate the pebbled track, ignore any paths on either side as you continue on ahead. The heather and gorse here were in full colour when I did this walk at the end of summer, with cloudy yellow butterflies taking full advantage of them. Walk between the pine trees to a clearing, then take the stony path, following a yellow footpath arrow again. Keeping on this path you’ll eventually enter through a gate, arriving at a car park. This is Joney’s Cross car park for Aylesbeare Common. Leave this car park and cross over the busy Sidmouth road, where you’ll enter Aylesbeare Common Nature Reserve. Feel free to look at the information board here as you pass through the main gate, but don’t forget to enjoy the beautiful views yet again of the East Devon Countryside on your right.

Following the track through Aylesbeare Common

From here, keep to the main track, following the pink-arrowed ‘East Devon Way’ posts along the way. Listen out for the scratchy sounds of the dartford warbler, that you may be lucky to see perched high on top of the gorse. Stonechat are also more easily spotted and heard around this area. You can clearly see Peak Hill now to the far right with a glimpse of the sea too, see if you can work out which towns and villages you can spot nestled into the countryside as you continue along this track. Ignore any paths that take you away from this main route, although it is worth exploring Aylesbeare Common another day, it’s a beautiful haven for wildlife with the ponds on the far right of the reserve always a popular spot for dragonflies and damselflies in the summer.

When you arrive at a cattle grid, pass through the gate and carry on down the hill which will soon become shaded by trees as you lose the view on your right. Pass through the second gate and continue to follow the East Devon Way arrows. The path will now turn stony again, make sure you keep an eye out for nibbled fungi if you’re doing this walk in late summer or autumn and listen out for coal tits calling out to each other. You’ll soon come to a little stream at the bottom of the track, cross the bridge and ignore the arrow signs, instead take the path to the right that goes up a hill and then opens up onto heathland again. Look out for rabbits here, I saw a couple run off into the gorse as I walked up this track. Don’t forget to also look back as you climb the hill, taking in the views of the beautiful heaths.

Those rolling hills will be closer in view now as you reach the top of the hill, continue on this path and when you arrive at a crossroads, carry on straight ahead, but keep an eye on the sky for buzzards circling above in this area. When you come to an option of three paths, take the middle path following the East Devon Way post as you now walk down a pebbled track under tree canopy, before leaving through a gate. Here I heard long tailed tits calling out as I continued on the path straight ahead, ignoring public footpath signs on my left. There’s a bench here you can rest on before turning left and walking down the hill past some houses also on your left. This lane will take you back towards Newton Poppleford, take a moment to enjoy the views over the gates on your left as you walk down this lane. At the crossroads, continue on ahead onto ‘Back Lane’ (with the finger post saying ‘Harpford’), you’ll pass a house on the left with a beautiful carved sign at the entrance. Ignore the footpath you first pass on your right, instead keep walking until you reach a gate on your left and a path on your right, Take this right turn and continue along this footpath, picking it up again when you cross through a residential street. Turn left at the end of this path and up some steps where you’ll arrive in Meadow Drive. From here, walk up the hill to the main road and cross at the pedestrian crossing to your left. Once across the road, take the public footpath behind the red telephone box library (to the right of the church), where you’ll then arrive back at the car park again.

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Jonathon Cauchois 9/4/26 Jonathon Cauchois 9/4/26

Woodbury Castle to Stowford Woods Circular

This walk starts at Woodbury Castle car park (what3words ///icon.insulated.product) on the Pebblebed Heaths. Parking is free, and there is additional parking across the road if needed. It’s a fairly easy going 3.5mile/5.6km walk which is very dog friendly. There are lots of places for dogs and children to play in streams and enjoy the nature and wildlife that the Pebblebed Heaths has to offer. Sturdy footwear is advised, but in the drier months it’s easily doable in trainers or walking sandals. There aren’t any toilets or cafes along the walk, but Clyst Coffee do park their coffee van up in either car park each week (check their social media to find out which days they are there).

The first set of steps leading to Woodbury Castle Fort

From the car park, take the path to the left, past the Woodbury Castle information sign and walk down (and then up!) the steps in front of you which leads to the old castle fort. From here, take the path to the right and continue on ahead until you spot some more steps over a small bank. Once over these steps, turn right and walk down along the leafy path signposted as the East Devon Way.

The leafy path that opens up onto the heaths

When the end of this path opens up onto the heathland, take the pebbled track to the left and enjoy the views of East Devon as you continue on ahead. On a clear day it’s easy to spot Peak Hill, Fire Beacon Hill, as well as the sea. I last did this walk in late August when the heather and gorse had really popped with colour. It was also very dry at the time, so the boardwalks you’ll soon walk over weren't necessary that day, but in the wetter months they’re definitely needed to safely cross without getting wet feet! Following this track you’ll soon go down a hill then past a large puddle, again in winter this is much more impressive. Listen out for goldcrests in the trees here, we saw a couple on the right hand side, very well camouflaged in the trees.

When you get to a hill, take the path to the right where you’re treated to more views of Peak Hill ahead of you now. Don’t forget to look up too, we saw house martins flying over, still here before making their impressive journey back to Africa soon. There were also plenty of stonechats flying around and landing on the gorse around us. We always hear them before we see them, making their iconic ‘stone scratching’ calls. When you arrive at a crossroads on the track, go straight ahead up the hill. Turn left at the end of the path then turn right, Keep a look out for blank bullet cartridges on the ground, used by the Royal Marines when training on the heaths, we usually find some on this walk. Soon you’ll get an option of a path to the left or straight on, here we turned left, spotting a meadow pipit foraging in the long grass as we walked down the hill.

A blank bullet found on the heaths from Royal Marine training

Up ahead you should spot the Royal Marine Grenade Range as you carry on straight ahead, then passing a sign warning you about the Military training site. We stopped at one point to have a look in the stream on the right where we spotted plenty of pond skaters and water boatmen. Turn left at the end of this path and walk up the hill towards some pine trees. When you spot an opening in the trees on the right, find a path amongst them and take this route through the woodland of tall trees and towering bracken. Listen out for birds in here, we heard lots of coal tits calling out to each other and a buzzard continuously calling for food from its parents. At the end of this path you’ll meet a gate, turn right down the track, where you’ll soon spot a wooden bridge over a stream. Walk over this bridge then immediately turn right, taking the path into the woods alongside the stream. Here we heard a green woodpecker as we walked up the small bank on the left and continued following the leafy path straight on until it opened up onto a pebbled track. Turn right over some wooden boards then take the path on the right up the hill, continue along this track, where soon you can choose to take a quick detour down an opening on your right, (opposite a bench). Here there is a great stream hidden away, great for dogs and children to play in. After this detour, continue back along the path following the blue arrow sign pointing at the track straight ahead.

The stream we found water boatmen and pondskaters in

When you spot a small opening in the woods on your right, take this path between ferns and very old trees with roots wrapped around their trunks. The stream will once again be on your right now as you walk through this woodland. The path will become a little more uneven with tree roots underfoot, so be careful as you navigate along this route. Follow the path around, walking over branches on the ground used to help cross in wet, muddy weather. Look out for fungi as you turn another corner and walk between trees which then opens up again onto a pebbled track. Leaving the woods behind, turn right and walk up this pebbled track where you’ll pass a ‘pool’ on your right, a popular swimming spot for dogs. We heard long-tailed tits in this area as we continued on ahead, ignoring any paths that branch off of this main track.

The bridge crossing a stream at Stowford

Take a detour down to the stream amongst the trees

You might be able to spot the path we took earlier, on the right hand side of the heather and gorse where the grenade range is. This is a steady track you’re now walking, back to Woodbury Castle Fort, (the trees up ahead surround the fort). When you get a choice of paths to take by a blue arrow post, turn left and continue along this path, ignoring any paths on your right unless you want to walk back through the fort again. We’re taking the track around the outside of the hill fort where soon you’ll complete the walk, ending back at the car park we started in. If you liked this walk, keep an eye out on my instagram page for more walks going up soon in this area.

Nearing the end of the walk, looking back on the path we walked

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