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.
The gate to the coast path.
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.
Views of the cove below.
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.
Great Mew stone in the distance.
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.
Boats in the mouth of the River Yealm.
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.
The path draped with Camellias.
The view through the trees.
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.
Old Coastguard Cottages.
The path through Passage Wood.
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.
Old Ferry prices on a wall.
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.
The bell topped Village Hall.
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.
The views from Popes Quay.
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.
Rowden Court.
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.
Derelict Church, lacking a roof.
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.
Views of the coast in the distance.
The path through the gorse at dusk.
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.
