This walk along the East Devon coast path from Beer to Branscombe and back is quite easy to follow as there are very clear signposts and paths leading you in the right direction so I won’t go into too much detail with this walk. We love this stretch of the South West Coast Path because Beer and Branscombe are two of our favourite beaches to visit. Both are small villages, with fishing boats moored on the pebble beaches. I’ve written a post before about Branscombe (here) and I’ll do another post in the near future about Beer as it deserves its own post; it’s such a lovely little Village to stroll round, visiting the independent shops and sitting in one of the deck chairs having an ice cream or chips on the beach, watching the fishing boats go out to sea.

We started this walk by parking in the main car park (Clapp’s Lane) in Beer as we first went down to the beach to have some lunch, but we resisted the urge to get an ice cream, instead promising ourselves we would have one once we reached Branscombe. If you aren’t planning on visiting the village or if there’s no space in the main car park, then there’s a larger one right by the start of the coast path called Cliff Top car park. To reach the coast path from Beer Beach, we walked past our favourite pub in the village, ‘The Anchor Inn’ and walked up Common Lane. From here we had beautiful views of Beer Beach, its white cliffs and the coastline over the well kept gardens, belonging to the beautiful terraced houses on the other side of this road. Once half way up this hill we then turned down a lane on our left called Little Lane. From here it leads us past the bigger car park I mentioned earlier, and a caravan park on our right. Going through a gate, and into a field, this lane joins onto the coast path.

For those of you who enjoy geocaching, there are some great ones along this route all the way to Branscombe. We actually ended up finding some of the ones we couldn’t find last time we walked this route, though it can be hard sometimes as this path can get fairly popular, so you need to have a lot of stealth!

Views of Beer and Seaton from the coast path.

As we carried on along the coast path the views just kept getting better, we did this walk on a hot and sunny day, but a word of warning, be prepared that there’s a steep hill on the way back from Branscombe, which can be made a lot more strenuous in the heat, there’s also a section of rather steep steps if you descend the cliff path, but the rest of the walk is rather easy going and the views make it even more enjoyable. On the way to Branscombe we took the lower path (called Hooken undercliff) when we were given a choice of two options, and on the way back we took the high path along East Cliff.

A lovely spot to sit and take in the views.

Views of Branscombe beach from the coast path.

The lower path takes you through twists and turns with the white cliffs on your right, and there’s a short cut to the Eastern side of the beach when you reach the end of this path. However, there are quite a few steps on this path, whereas if you choose the high path it’s just through several fields then down one set of steps and then down East Cliff hill. One thing to add, at the moment the path will be getting more and more popular as its peak holiday season, the lower path also gets quite narrow in places, meaning it will be difficult to socially distance from others at times.

Some of the steps you’ll encounter along Hooken Undercliff.

Both paths offer the beautiful views of the coastline and are clearly marked on how to get to the beach. Once we reached the end of the lower path, we could have walked further which would take us out to the bottom of the hill before the car park at Branscombe, instead we chose to enter the beach by a path on our left. This took us to the Eastern end of the beach.

This part of the pebble beach is a lot quieter than the main stretch close to the car park. We decided to sit here for a bit and watch a few dogs enjoying the water as the waves crashed against the pebbles. After a while, we decided to walk towards ‘The Sea Shanty beach cafe’ by the car park and the entrance to the beach, it’s a short walk along the beach to get here. This is the only cafe by the beach, but it has a good variety of food and drink options, including a good choice of ice creams which is what we came for!

The Eastern end of Branscombe beach is always a lot more quiet.

We sat and watched the waves crashing against the pebbles.

The busier part of the beach, with The Sea Shanty Beach cafe to the right.

After having a great ice cream and relaxing in the sun, we decided we had better start climbing the hill back onto the coast path, to return to Beer. From the Sea Shanty cafe, there’s an entrance to the hill ahead through a gate by the mouth of the river that’s just to the side of the car park. Look for the massive hill, it is hard to miss!

We sat and had an ice cream, while looking at the hill we were about to climb.

The hill does have some benches you can rest on if need be, we sat and looked at the views of the beach below before continuing on our walk, up some steps then through more fields which eventually took us back to Beer. Along the way we saw the remains of an old lookout building as we walked past a flock of sheep and down a path that took us through some gates and back to the fields we first started walking in.

The views of Branscombe village, beach and coastline from the top of the hill.

This walk took us about 3 hours to do, but we did it at a leisurely pace and stopped to do some geocaching. It’s best to give yourself plenty of time, as I’ve said before the hill and steps can be quite strenuous! The stunning coastal views really do make up for the hard work involved on some parts of this coast path though. Both beaches are dog friendly, Beer does have restrictions in place for certain areas (clearly marked) during peak season, but the whole of Branscombe beach is dog friendly all year round. If you are taking a dog on this walk, please bear in mind that there are steep drops from the cliff side so be very careful dogs don’t run off the edge, and as always, keep dogs under strict control around any livestock you may encounter (we walked through fields with sheep and cattle in them).

Views of Seaton from the coast path on the way back to Beer.

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With this beautiful weather we’ve been having lately, we thought we would take a trip to one of our favourite places in East Devon; the village of Branscombe. We’ve been quite a few times, but we wanted to explore the area more, instead of doing our usual walk along the beach then to the pub (which are all sadly closed at the moment!).

This circular walk we did starts off at the main car park in Branscombe, right by the beach. We first enjoyed a picnic on the beach in the sunshine, then started on our walk towards the village. From the beach, we followed a public footpath to the left of ‘The Sea Shanty Beach Cafe’. and followed a path along side a stream which flows from the village into the sea.

I can imagine the stream is popular with dogs going in for a dip to cool down on a hot day like today, as there was quite a lot of worn down tracks leading to the water. It’s also handy to note on this walk there were a few picnic benches dotting around, so if you wanted a quiet place to sit and have a picnic away from the busy beach, this path, alive with meadow flowers and birds singing would be perfect.

We followed the path straight ahead, past the Manor Mill which is owned and run by the National Trust. Here there were sheep grazing in the field with their curious lambs watching us as we walked by. There were also doves cooing on a barn roof to the right. I stopped for a moment to watch the lambs playing before carrying on towards a kissing gate.

After we left the trail through the gate, we continued to follow the stream straight ahead and onto a road where we were greeted with the thatched roof of the National Trust Forge. Despite Branscombe being well known for its many quaint little cottages, the Forge definitely stands out amongst the others. Reading a little about the Forge on a notice board, it is known to be the oldest working forge in Devon, and was built around 1580.

Branscombe Forge, blacksmiths here make decorative ironworks to sell.

As we turned left towards the hill, we admired some of the ironwork the blacksmiths had made at the Forge and had on display outside. You can just about make out in the picture above, the gate on display to the left, which had decorative bluebells on it.

Forge Cottage, available to let through the National Trust.

As we continued up the hill, on the opposite side to the Forge is the Forge Cottage, a big yellow thatched cottage which I believe is a holiday let. It definitely stood out amongst all the other houses. As we walked up the hill I took one last look down the road, and couldn’t resist one last photo of the cottage and forge together before carrying on with our walk.

With the sun bearing down on us, we decided to take a break once we got to the top of the hill, but first we admired some more beautiful cottages along the roadside, this is one of the roads out of Branscombe I always remember, the cottages are all decorated with beautiful flowers which really bring out the character of Branscombe.

One of the beautiful cottages in Branscombe.

Once we walked past these cottages, we found a bench by the village church, St Winifred’s. We sat here for a drink and took in the views down into the valley and admired some more cottages as we walked further along the road. As well as the cottages, a garden just up from the church really stands out as you walk past, its called ‘Doreen’s Garden’, I assume because its owned by a lady called Doreen! She lets people walk around this garden for free, but does ask for any donations to Devon Air ambulance. We didn’t walk around the garden today, but next time we visit I definitely want to, especially when our little girl will be old enough to enjoy the full colour of the flowers, ornaments and the doves cooing above in the dovecote.

Just a small section of Doreen’s impressive and intriguing garden.

Once we walked past all these pretty cottages, we then approached a public footpath on the left. We didn’t follow this route, instead we carried on towards yet more cute cottages, and towards the Fountain Head Pub. Normally, it would be a perfect place to take a break and grab a bite to eat, but today it is of course, like every other pub, closed due to the pandemic currently happening, so we sadly had to walk past and remember it will soon be back to business and open again to enjoy.

Some more beautiful cottages Branscombe has to offer, and the Fountain Head in the background.

We turned left at the pub, and once we had rejoined another road, we needed to find a footpath sign heading towards the coast. We first walked up the hill, as we couldn’t easily see the sign, but once we were up the hill, and failed to see it, we walked down again and realised it was in fact slightly down the road, hidden by a hedge. If you decide to do this walk, don’t make the same mistake as us!

This footpath takes you up towards a trail shaded by trees and surrounded by wild garlic, which welcomes you with a National Trust sign informing you it is called ‘Pit Coppice’. We followed this path for a while until it then leads you through another gate and into an open meadow. We followed this path all the way along until we reached a signpost pointing us to the left, back towards Branscombe.

Once turning left towards the coast path, you’ll follow another trail for a short while, it will boast beautiful views of Branscombe village to the left when it opens out into a field occupied by cows. Carry on walking the trail and eventually you’ll spot a lookout point to your right, which teases you with views of the blue sea and Branscombe pebble beach below.

The view of the sea and Branscombe beach from the coast path.

We carried on this coast path until it opens out to beautiful views of Branscombe beach and the cliffs beyond. You can also see the green hills that are part of the coast path leading to Beer. We’ve done that walk before, and although quite strenuous it is worth doing for the views and feeling of accomplishment. Here there is a bench you can sit and take in the views before heading down towards the beach.

Beautiful views of Branscombe beach and the coast path to Beer.

The walk was now quite easy going as we walked down some steps and through a gate into a field of grazing cows with their calves. From here we followed the path along side a beautiful house on the hill, and soon spotted the familiar beach huts and the pebble beach infront of us.

Beautiful houses on a hill overlooking the beach.

From here we had one last look at the beach, I love the iconic fishing boat that’s always here, representing Branscombe beach well. As we walked back to the car we were reminded of the shipwreck that happened on the beach in 2007 with the anchor of MSC Napoli that now sits at the entrance to the pebble beach greeting everyone who walks by. For anyone who hasn’t visited Branscombe before, its definitely worth a visit, the drive into the village is narrow country roads, but the character this East Devon village has to offer is a must see.

Branscombe beach with the iconic anchor and fishing boat.

Beer to Branscombe Coast Path (and back again)

Branscombe Circular Walk