Hemyock - Devon

About trip

• Circular Walk: 8.21 miles
• what3words address for parking: 
• ///canny.encroach.nearing

This was a really lovely walk through the Blackdown Hills, starting and finishing in Hemyock with lots of variety: woodland, hills, open fields and some tremendous views.

The what3words address above takes you to a small car park beside the post office. There’s a sign at the car park forbidding ‘long stay parking’ but there’s no definition of what ‘long stay’ is so we parked!

We walked this anti-clockwise, climbing out of the village towards Combe Hill before heading west. Just before Culm Davy the path traverses Goodall’s Farm, a chicken farm, and we detoured around a field to avoid following the public right of way that went through a fenced area for the chickens: I think you could walk through, there are gates at both ends, but it seemed churlish to us to do so and so we took the detour!

There are some great views from the ridges and especially from Culmstock Beacon; an original, stone, beacon hut. It is one of a chain of Elizabethan beacons used for lighting fires to warn of advancing enemies, for example, The Spanish Armada. The beehive-shaped building was built of flint and was rebuilt in 1870 after the original structure collapsed.

The route descends into the valley of the river Culm (where we stopped for lunch!) before climbing again and turning east, back towards Hemyock. There are tantalizing glimpses of magnificent views from this section but, unfortunately, most of them are hidden by the woodland.

We stopped at the village pub, the Catherine Wheel, for some refreshments at the end of our eight miles.