Exploring Cockington Village

Laura Waddell June 29, 2020

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.

Noss Mayo Coastal Loop

Laura Waddell June 1, 2020

It felt so good to be back visiting the South Hams again, for anyone who’s never been to this beautiful area of South Devon, it’s so worth a visit! To me, when I think of the South Hams I think of lovely little fishing villages scattered about, the beautiful rugged coastline with the bluest sea, and of course Start Point lighthouse. Sadly we didn’t see my favourite lighthouse on this walk, but we did visit Noss Mayo, a quaint little fishing village that I’ve been meaning to visit for quite some time.

Views of Noss Mayo and boats on the River Yealm.

If anyone is interested in doing this walk it’s handy to know that parking is quite limited in Noss Mayo, as it really is quite a small village. There’s two free car parks in the village itself (Tidal and Tennis court car parks) but we found these to be quite busy so we parked in another free car park along the coast path which was owned by the National Trust. There’s two of these car parks that join the coast path, we parked in Warren car park but there’s also Stoke car park just up the road.

Once parked up, there’s a map in the corner of the car park, by the gate that leads down a path. After having a quick look at the map we followed the path down towards the sea in the distance. Once at the end of the path we reached a gate and stile, from here we joined the coast path and turned right, which a sign post informed us we were 3 miles from Noss Mayo.

The beautiful coastline of the South Hams.

As we followed the path round there were beautiful views over a stone wall to our left of the sea glistening from the sun over head. In the little coves the sea was turquoise in colour and so clear, it really does make you feel like you’re on holiday somewhere else! Once round the corner we saw a lovely little stone house on our right, from here there were two paths we could take. We decided to take the path to our left and through a gate, which then went down a slope and carried on through some smaller lesser trodden paths. In hindsight this was a mistake as we then had to walk back up the very steep cliff carrying a 9 month old baby, I’d recommend instead sticking to the main path at this point, going past Warren Cottage. The path we took was nice though and there was also another path which leads down some steps to a little cove called Searush Cove. We decided against going down there today, as the tide was coming in quite quickly, and as it was already nearly 2pm, we wanted to crack on and get to Noss Mayo.

As we continued along the coast path, I spotted Great Mew Stone ahead, sorry to disappoint, but this island has nothing to do with pokemon. It’s actually an old english name for Herring gull, which are one of the many birds that now live here as it is now a wild nature reserve. This Island made me realise just how close we were to Wembury beach, which is another lovely place worth visiting, they have their own marine conservation centre there, but its also popular for surfing and rock pooling.

As we carried on the path and walked past another dry stone wall to our left, in the distance i spotted Wembury church and bay. We were then treated to stunning views of the mouth of the River Yealm, home to dozens of boats, with people on board enjoying the blue sky .

One sailing boat, you can just about see Wembury church and bay in the distance.

After watching the jet skis and yachts for a few minutes, we then descended down to a shaded path, draped with pretty pink camellias. As we walked along this path, the sweet smell of the flowers filled the air. Through the trees we still had a beautiful view of the boats on the river, as we walked closer inland, we could see paddle boarders and kayakers also enjoying the water.

At the end of this sheltered path, we exited ‘The Warren’ to discover some beautiful cottages; As I was admiring them, I noticed one was a holiday home called ‘Coastguard Cottage’, I can only assume because this is where the coastguard used to be based. We then walked past more beautiful houses before reaching another sheltered path. A map here informed us we were about to take some steps down into Passage Wood which would eventually lead us to Noss Mayo.

Through the woods, we still had the vibrant blue of the river to our left, after a short walk along this path, we were greeted to the Ferryman’s Cottage on our left and a house on our right that had old ferry prices marked up on a sign. We had a quick read of the board before continuing on a country lane that eventually welcomed us into the fishing village of Noss Mayo.

Views of the River from the country lane.

Once we left this country lane, we arrived into the heart of the village, from here we walked past countless cute cottages and a bell topped village Hall before finding a spot by the river called Popes Quay for our picnic. We had great views here of people enjoying the water, paddling, kayaking and paddle boarding, As we finished our lunch, it had become more quiet, as the tide had slowly gone out, so we decided to walk back on the riverbed to continue our walk.

We walked to the right of the Village Hall and round some roads to the left, where we found the tennis court car park. Here was also the entrance to Brookings Down woods, which is where our loop continued. We entered the wood from the right and followed the main path all the way round, we then took the left path when we arrived at a fork. Eventually we heard a river flowing through the woods as we arrived at a gate that exited this woods onto a country road. From here we crossed the road and followed a public footpath sign onto another wooded path. It was a bit of a steep climb up to the top before it opened up onto a road.

Walking the path to the top of the woods.

From here we carried on up the road, ignoring any turnings to the right. Eventually we passed Rowden Court on our right, which looked like a beautiful Barn Conversion, complete with a tennis court! From here we carried on straight ahead, ignoring a public footpath to out left, we eventually reached a crossroads with sea views ahead. We crossed this road and continued on down where we were eventually met with a caravan park.

From Revelstoke Caravan park, we followed the main road that leads through it, ignoring signs for Stroke Beach (somewhere I think would be worth a visit another day) to the left, At the bottom of this road was a red phone box converted into a book library. We had a little look but it was a bit neglected of books and rather full of cobwebs. What interested me more was the rather impressive derelict church. Having a look around, we discovered it was the Church of ‘St Peter the Poor Fisherman’, and is 800 years old. It is in remarkably good structural condition, although it is lacking most of its roof. Information inside told us this church was abandoned when it fell into a state of disrepair and a new one was built in Noss Mayo instead, although they do still hold services here twice a year.

St Peter the Poor Fisherman Church ruins.

After exploring the church, we took the road that continued to the right. From here we followed the coast path arrows through the caravans, then a little wooded area and finally through a gate and onto the coast path again. From here we were greeted with stunning views to the left of Bolt Head in the distance. We now followed a path through some gorse, and an abundance of fox gloves. Little lambs bleeted as their mothers grazed on the land infront of us. As it was starting to get late in the day, I could hear some stonechat birds chirping away in the gorse.

From here we were a mile or two from where we started. As we carried on along this path we spotted an old stone house on the hill to our right. The path widened out into a double width track, originally built by Baron Revelstoke to show off the coast to his guests via horse drawn carriage. As we were then nearing the car park, I spotted the familiar view of Great Mew Stone in the distance. From here we soon reached the footpath we started on where we now turned right, through the gate and back towards the car park. It was a long but satisfying walk. We both definitely want to come back again, possibly taking our kayaks with us to explore Noss Mayo via the water.

Great Mew Stone spotted in the distance, and a old stone house on the hill.