Guided Walking with Sightseeing at Selworthy

Up to 5 miles with some ascent.

Each day’s guided walking and sightseeing will be chosen from the following provisional programme.

Admission fees are not included in the cost of your holiday; please allow £30.  If you have a National Trust card, remember to bring it along.

Selworthy, Hurlstone Point and Bossington

Holnicote House was the holiday home of the Acland family and they developed an estate that reflected their interests. Around the ancient church at Selworthy they built picturesque cottages and on the surrounding hills they planted trees to give woodlands with pleasant walks and view points.  We head, through the woods, towards the National Trust village of Selworthy. We skirt Bossington Hill towards Hurlstone Point to admire the views across Porlock Bay and the Bristol Channel. From the attractive village of Bossington we continue to the Chapel of Ease at Lynch. We will see the much photographed packhorse bridge at Allerford.

Distance: 5 miles with 350 ft of ascent.

Tarr Steps and Knightshayes

In 1797 Robert Southey, writing about the inaccessibility of Porlock, referred to it as ‘the End of the World’.  Between 1843 and 1920 the famous hill had a stage coach and was first conquered by a motor powered vehicle in 1901. Only a small challenge for the modern coach but it provides spectacular views over Porlock Bay and beyond. From Porlock Hill we go to Exford, regarded by many as ‘the capital of Exmoor’ and from there on to one of the oldest settlements, Withypool. We follow the River Barle to the famous clapper bridge at Tarr Steps, before taking the coach via Dulverton to Knightshayes. This striking Victorian house was the home of the Heathcote-Amory family. Its gardens are a delight to explore. 

Distance: 4 miles with minimal ascent and descent. Some rough paths.

Dunster, Dunkery Beacon and Horner

A glimpse of Minehead before the coach leaves us at Dunster for the morning. Dunster town is dominated by a castle lived in by the Luttrell family for over 600 years, and now owned by the National Trust. Dunster has a famous yarn market, a beautiful church and a picturesque packhorse bridge. From Dunkery Gate we ascend Dunkery Beacon, before joining the coach to Webbers Post and following Horner Water to the village of Horner.

Distance: 5 miles with 400 ft of easy ascent and descent.

Watersmeet, Lynmouth and Valley of Rocks

From Hillsford Bridge, we reach Watersmeet and then the beautiful valley of East Lyn to Lynmouth. The town was developed some 100 years ago by George Newnes who made his money publishing Sherlock Holmes stories. One of the enterprises he backed was the cliff railway and we use it to ascend to Lynton. We walk along the coast path to the Valley of Rocks, idealised by poets such as Coleridge, Wordsworth and Southey.  There should be time to explore the town and exhibitions commemorating the great flood that overwhelmed Lynmouth in 1952.

Distance: 5 miles with approx 200 ft of ascent.

The Quantocks and Hestercombe

From the northern end of the Quantock Hills at the hamlet of East Quantoxhead we will walk along the coast. At Kilve Beach, we reach the preserved remains of an old chimney which once helped to produce oil from shale.  We ascend the Quantock Hills at Crowcombe Park Gate. The route passes the Triscombe Stone, goes beneath Wills Neck and reaches the car park above West Bagborough. We then travel to Hestercombe near Taunton to visit the formal gardens, designed and planted by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekell in 1904. Also to be enjoyed are the landscape gardens, created in the 1750s. 

Distance: 5 miles with 150 ft of ascent.