The weather seems to be warming up slightly, and now the wind and rain have left us, I decided to take the dog on another coast path walk today. The best thing about living in a beautiful County like Devon, is that we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to where to walk. Today I decided on the West Down Beacon walk.

This walk is linked to the South West coast path between Budleigh Salterton and Exmouth. I decided to start the walk in the middle of both, at Castle lane. There is plenty of parking along Castle lane, it’s a popular dog walking area, as it also joins onto the the old railway line footpath between Littleham and Budleigh. (Another favourite walk of ours)

Once parked, I got the dog out, put my walking boots on, and headed towards the golf course. There’s clear public footpath signage throughout the walk, which is helpful, as you really don’t want to be walking in the way of any golfers! Although, at one point the footpath does go through the golf course, with warning signs to look out for incoming golf balls!

On this walk, every direction you look, there are beautiful views. Whilst walking through the golf course, there are views of Budleigh and Peak hill, as well as the blue sea in the direction we are walking…heading towards Exmouth. Once you leave the golf course, you can walk towards Exmouth, or Budleigh. I chose to do a bit of both today!

From this spot. We could see Exmouth, Devon cliffs holiday park, and of course the sea

First, we walked towards Exmouth. Amber enjoyed being off lead for most of the walk. She tends to walk fairly close to me, but if you have a dog that likes to run ahead or chase rabbits, I wouldn’t advise they go off lead, as the cliff drops are quite steep, and it’s happened a few times in the past, where dogs have gone running off, not realising they have ran towards the cliff edge. We walked towards Devon Cliff holiday park. It’s clear to see the holiday park, the town of Exmouth and the River Exe from this part of the walk. On a clear day like today, the views were gorgeous!

Quite a clear day, from one side you could see Budleigh, Ladram, Peak hill and the white cliffs of Beer. On the other side you can see the beautiful East Devon countryside

We then turned back the way we came, but then headed towards Budleigh Salterton. The views from this part of the walk are again beautiful. Today I could see the country side of East Devon (Newton pop, Yettington, Bicton area) as well as the Coast of Budleigh, Ladram bay, Sidmouth and Beer. This walk is fairly hard going in places, and can get quite muddy. Fortunately today, it wasn’t too bad, and there are plenty of benches along the path if you feel the need to rest, and they all have beautiful views of the coast!

We walked towards Budleigh for about half a mile before deciding to turn back. I’ve done the whole walk before in the past, and it is well worth it! I was just short of time today. For those of you that geocache out there, this walk has quite a few caches dotted around the area, some really clever ones too! And some have great viewpoints. There is a multi cache based on the West Down Beacon, which is what this walk is named after. The beacon is now a trig point that stands on the edge of the golf course next to the coast path, you can easily access it, and it stands out quite clearly on the walk.

It’s worth standing up next to the trig point, as the views from here of the coast path are beautiful! You can get a clear view of Exmouth, Sandy Bay and Dawlish Warren from here. As well as Budleigh and the rest of East Devon from the other direction.

Beautiful Jurassic coast. You can see Budleigh in the background.

On the way back to the car, we were treated to the beautiful colours of Autumn in the woodland that runs through the golf course. There are other routes you can take from the golf course, towards Exmouth and Budleigh, other than the coast path, but this route is my favourite, especially on a clear day like today!

You’ll find not all the places I post will be Devon based, including this one…Stourhead…

The beautiful lake is one of the main features of Stourhead. Especially in Autumn.

Stourhead is a beautiful National Trust estate. Based in Wiltshire, famous for its landscaped gardens, stunning lake and Palladian estate. There are plenty of walks to do around the gardens. We visited on Sunday 11th November. If like us, you like to take your dog for days out too, then check when you are visiting. Stourhead does allow dogs into the landscaped garden area but you do need to check what times. During the summer months Dogs aren’t allowed in until after 4pm, in November, they can come in after 3pm. And all day from December - February.

We arrived at Stourhead by 2pm. A little too early to enter the gardens with our 4 legged friend. So we decided to do a walk to King Alfreds Tower. This is another beautiful walk on the Stourhead estate, which is very dog friendly. There is plenty of free parking around the area and easy to follow signs and maps. You may pass monuments along the way, walking through woodland and breathtaking countryside views. The main focal point of this walk is of course King Alfred’s tower, a stunning grade I listed triangular folly tower.

Once we had done the King Alfred walk. We then went back to the main National Trust car park at Stourhead. You do have to pay to enter the estate and gardens, but in my opinion it is worth it! We have a joint NT membership which is well worth the money. We headed straight towards the lake at Stourhead, the main reason I wanted to visit. It was just as beautiful as I was hoping it would be! Especially in the Autumn glowing light just before sunset.

We decided to walk all around the lake, which took us about an hour, as I was stopping to take in the stunning autumnal colours reflecting on the lake, as well as exploring the different buildings and the grotto that surrounds the lake.

If you’re wanting to visit this National Trust estate, I recommend you give yourself at least half a day to explore the whole area. Unfortunately we ran out of time, so we didn’t get to visit the rest of the gardens, shops or mansion. So we will definitely be visiting again! There is also a pump house next to the lake, which has a waterfall running beside it. Everywhere you look there is something beautiful to admire.

There is also a charming pub and courtyard between the estate and the lake called ‘Spread Eagle Inn’. We didn’t get time to stop and have anything to eat or drink here, but we definitely want to next time, it looked really cosy! As we were walking towards the lake I noticed some country cottages owned by the national trust, which appeared to be holiday let cottages.

Despite the drizzle, the rain managed to hold off for our day out. And whilst we were walking towards King Alfred’s Tower, we noticed a double rainbow! Just adding to the beauty around us!

Stourhead was very busy on the November Sunday we visited, we struggled to find a car parking space at first. So do plan ahead and arrive early, especially if you’re visiting in the Summer or a weekend. I’m sure we will be back soon to explore the rest of the estate, and to view the gardens and lake in a different Season.