Walking on Dartmoor

WALKS FROM HUNTER'S LODGE

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Walking on Dartmoor is an activity we guarantee you will never forget.  There are many interesting walks from Hunter's Lodge, ranging from a 30 minute stroll down the river to a serious day's hike over the high moor.  Some examples are listed below and we hope to add others before long.    These routes are now displayed on a map on our notice board, and we will supply route maps where possible.    

If you plan to have lunch at a pub, bear in mind that the Forest Inn and the Tavistock Inn serve meals strictly between 12 and 2.

The following walks are described below:

Up the East Dart River (four walks of varying length)

A short walk up the East Dart and back over Yar Tor

Three Tors

Down the River Dart

Sharp Tor, Mel Tor and back up the River Dart

All-day round walk, stopping at Poundsgate for lunch

Stepping stones to Combestone and the O Brook, with an optional detour to the Forest Inn at Hexworthy

Up the East Dart River

This route offers four variations so you can choose the length of walk you prefer, three of them returning to Dartmeet and one finishing in Postbridge.      Cream teas can be found at Brimpt's Farm and at Postbridge.    Unfortunately none of these routes are passable when the river is high after heavy rain, as the stepping stones will be covered.

From Hunter's Lodge, go over Dartmeet Bridge, turn left through the car park, through the kissing gate at the far end and follow the path round the back of Badger's Holt to rejoin the river.    Continue upriver until you pass through a wooded area and your progress is impeded by a brook (the Walla Brook) coming down from the right.    Turn right up the brook as far as a small stone footbridge.    This is an ancient clapper bridge of unusual design, rising in the middle.    Choose your route from here:-

1      Via Brimpt's Farm.

Cross the bridge and go back down the brook to the river, where you are now able to take the stepping stones over the Dart.     On the opposite bank turn left and follow the river downstream.    At the end of the forested area you reach "Dolly's Cot" and follow the track across the fields to Brimpt's Farm.    Go through the farm, down the drive to the road, then turn left and it is another five minutes down the road to Hunter's Lodge.    (Teas are served at Brimpt's Farm)            1 hour.

2      Through the forestry area.

Cross the bridge, go back down the brook to the river, go over the stepping stones, turn left down the river for a short distance till you are nearing the end of the forested area.    Make your way straight up through the trees until you join a track heading into the forest.    You will now be walking parallel with the river, upstream.    Follow this track as it curves just inside the perimeter of the forest and it will eventually bring you to a gate leading down to the road above Pixieland.     Turn left on to the road and follow it down to Hunter's Lodge.     1½ hours.   

 3    Via Laughter Tor.

Do not cross the Walla Brook, but continue up it till you reach a small road.    Turn left into Babeny Farm, go right through the farm and up a track leading north-eastwards over the hill until you can see Laughter Hole House ahead of you.     Continue along the path towards it and cross the river at the stepping stones.    A small footpath takes you up the side of the house and round the back of it to a track.     When the track forks, take the left fork, then at the next junction turn left so you will be walking southwards around the side of the hill.   At the end of the wall turn right and make your way up to the top of the tor.    This is Laughter Tor, with a fine outlook.    From there take the path directly south-east across the moor towards the plantation.    On reaching the plantation there is a gate halfway along it on to a track.    Inside the forested area turn right and follow the track to the end where a gate leads you on to the road above Pixieland.    Turn left down the road to Hunter's Lodge.     3 hours.

An alternative way to finish these three walks is to turn right at Brimpt'sFarm / Pixieland, left at the next junction, and walk the half mile through Hexworthy to the Forest Inn.     Timing is essential if you want lunch (between 12 & 2).

4    To Postbridge.

Continue as for route 3 as far as Laughter Hole House, but from there follow the right fork of the track in a northerly direction.    This takes you through a forested area to the village of Bellever.    At this point you can take the track left before Bellever and follow it round to Bellever Tor, continuing northwards from there towards Postbridge.    This will add about ¾ of an hour to your walk.    Otherwise you can bear left then right in Bellever and follow a small metalled road northwards up to Postbridge.    On reaching the road turn right towards the village.   There is a visitors' centre in the car park on your left, the fine clapper bridge to be seen, a small village shop,  meals to be had at the East Dart Hotel as well as cream teas nearby.    2 - 3 hours.     This route can also be made part of an all-day circular walk.

Short walk up the river and back over Yar Tor    

Estimated time:     1 - 1½ hours, depending on route followed

From Hunter's Lodge, go over Dartmeet Bridge, left through the car park, through the kissing gate at the far end, and follow the path around the back of Badger's Holt.     Here the path gradually rejoins the river.    Follow it upstream until you see a small ruined cottage on the opposite bank, and your path ahead is becoming tree-covered.    There is a small footpath heading up the hill on your right.   It goes through a lot of vegetation at the bottom, but becomes clearer as you ascend.   You will see a stone wall on your left.    

Continue up the hill until you see a gate on your left opposite a footpath on your right.    It is extremely difficult to walk directly to the top of the tor from here, so turn right and follow the path southwards along the contour of the hill.    Eventually it will reach the path which runs from Badger's Holt to the top of Yar Tor.    Take this path up to the tor.     

The easy option from here is to go straight back down to Badger's Holt for a cream tea.    Alternatively you can continue eastwards towards Corndon Tor, heading for a small stone cross that can be seen near the road between the tors.     On the right, before the road, if you search for it you will easily identify "Money pit cairn", a small stone circle containing a "cist" or tomb.    The cross on the other side of the road is a memorial to a young soldier of World War I.     From here you can head westwards back around the south side of Yar Tor to Dartmeet, taking in a settlement (stone wall containing hut circles) near the lower bend in the main road.    There is no actual path here but it is easy going.

Three Tors 

Estimated time: 2 - 4 hours, depending on time spent in exploration.

Departing from Hunter's Lodge, go over Dartmeet Bridge, cross the road, go through the gate by the cattle grid, and take a fairly easy climb up Spitchwick, heading southwards along the side of the hill parallel to the river.    A footpath follows the tree line along until you reach a low stone wall, the remains of an ancient settlement.   There is a good view from here of the river.     Continue above the wall, curving left around the side of the hill and gradually upwards.     From here you will see Sharp Tor across the Rowbrook valley.     Follow the contour north-east then south-east around the Rowbrook valley to the top of Sharp Tor, which commands a splendid view of the Dart valley.  From here head due north back to the road, over it and up on to Corndon Tor, giving a view on the northern side of the moor, then westward again to Yar Tor and descending to the cafe at Badger's Holt, on the opposite side of the river from Hunter's Lodge.

Ancient remains to be found on this walk:     (Further information to be found in our supply of books and maps)

Many of these remains are difficult to find and identify and can be obscured by the vegetation in summer, so winter walking is recommended for the archaeological enthusiast, as well as your own sources of information.    Good hunting!

Covering this area are numerous "reaves", or prehistoric stone walls which formed long parallel enclosures.    On Spitchwick common, if you walk around the hill to overlook the river,  there is a scattered settlement with a surrounding wall, 12 prehistoric hut circles and 2 medieval vermin traps.   On Sharp Tor there is a series of long parallel reaves and 3 separate settlements, each with one or two hut circles.

Crossing to Corndon Tor,  the Rowbrook settlement of 8 hut circles, at the head of the Rowbrook, straddles the road.  One of the hut circles, on the south side of the road, and west of the Rowbrook, measures 11.7 metres in diameter and is one of the largest prehistoric dwellings on Dartmoor.  On the north side of the road is the site of 3 medieval longhouses.  Further east, at the road junction, stands Ollsbrim Cross, an ancient wayside cross. To the north-east of it lies Ollsbrim settlement, which is in a poor state of preservation.    Proceeding up Corndon Tors, there are two cairns (ancient burial mounds) on the first of the tors, and two more on the second one to the north.  Between the first tor and the road to the east is another medieval longhouse.     As you come down Corndon Tor towards Yar Tor, the cross you will see is a modern one, built after the First World War to commemorate the death of a young soldier in Palestine.

Going west now to Yar Tor, just across the Sherwell road there is a triple stone row, not easily visible.   Not far from the road, to the south of the path is a very well-preserved "cist" or tomb, known as "money-pit cairn" because of the gold said to have been discovered in it in the 19th century.    On Yar Tor there are 10 prehistoric settlements, with a cairn at the summit of the tor.   If you ignore the track from Yar Tor down to Badger's Holt, and head southwards downhill towards the road, there is a fairly clear settlement near the road about halfway down the hill, and nearer the road the medieval "coffin stone", used to rest coffins as they were carried up the hill.     Latterly it was used as a place to set refreshments.   

In the 16th century there was a blowing house and mill for the production of tin down by the East Dart near Badger's Holt, but its site is not evident.   

On arriving back at Hunter's Lodge, take a look at the remains of the ancient pack-horse "clapper" bridge just above the more modern bridge.    This was probably built by the tenants of the forest to enable them to carry their corn to be ground at Babeny Mills, constructed in about 1300 about a mile upriver from here.    At that time oats, rye and barley were grown on the moor, and later wheat.    The bridge was then probably twice the width it is now, and you can get a better idea of the original route if you look from our side of the riverbank.     This bridge was still in use at the end of the 17th century.

Down the River Dart

There is a path running down the side of the river to Newbridge.      This makes a beautiful and sheltered walk, whether you just go for 20 minutes, or the 3½ to 4 hours it takes to cover the full distance.     During the summer holidays there is also a bus which will bring you back to Dartmeet, or the route can be part of a full-day round walk.    There are numerous pools delightful to swim in, and rocks to sunbathe on, weather permitting.    However you have to scramble in places, and the slippery rocks can be treacherous in wet weather. 

To join the path, cross Dartmeet Bridge, turn right down the river, then follow the path through a kissing gate leading round the back of a small field.    The path then rejoins the river and stays close to it.    The terrain becomes very rocky around Luckey Tor, an outcrop a couple of miles downriver, but if you stay near the river you will soon find the path again.

As you get near to Newbridge the path moves away from the river, leaving a forested area between you and the river.     You rejoin it at Newbridge.   

The only food to be had at Newbridge is ice creams, the nearest hostelry being a mile up the hill at Poundsgate.

Sharp Tor, Mel Tor and back up the River Dart

Estimated time:    2½hours

From Hunter's lodge, go over Dartmeet Bridge, cross the road and go through the gate by the cattle grid.    Walk up the hill, keeping the road on your left.

From the brow of the hill you will see Sharp Tor south-east of you.    A footpath follows the contour round the head of the Rowbrook and up to Sharp Tor.    From there you head due east until you cross a small metalled road and can join a broad track which eventually goes between some walled fields round to Mel Tor.    Turn right off the track to get to the top of Mel Tor, which gives a superb view of the Dart valley.

From Mel Tor double back to the west, keeping the walled fields on your right, until you find a small footpath leading to a stream called Simon's Lake (no lake to be seen).    A good path follows the stream down to the Dart.

On reaching the river turn right to walk upstream along one of the most beautiful and unspoilt stretches of the river all the way to Dartmeet.     

Highly recommended.

Yar Tor, Corndon Tor, the Tavistock Inn at Poundsgate for lunch, Aish Tor, Mel Tor, Sharp Tor (or River Dart)

Estimated time :  6 - 7 hours

From Hunter's Lodge, go over Dartmeet Bridge, turn left across the car park, and go through the kissing gate at the end.     Behind Badger's Holt follow the path going straight up to the top of Yar Tor.     From there you will see the 2 Corndon Tors to the east.     Follow the path down towards them, past Money Pit Cairn on the Yar Tor side of the road and the memorial cross on the other, and go up to the top of the first Corndon Tor.     

Make your way down the hill slightly north-eastwards on the other side of Corndon Tor.    There is no footpath.     Head for a farm building where you can join the small road below you.    Turn right along the road, past Foxworthy Farm, straight over the crossroad and turn left to join the road to Poundsgate.     Continue for about half a mile till you reach the Tavistock Inn.    Three hours would be a generous estimate of the time so far.

From the Tavistock Inn continue out of the village towards Ashburton, but as you reach the open moor take the track up on to it on the right and follow it round the side of Aish Tor.    From here you will have some wonderful views of the river valley.    The track continues around the contours westward to by-pass Mel Tor (worth a short detour) and then up to Sharp Tor.    From Sharp Tor a small footpath continues around the contour, over Spitchwick and down to Dartmeet.

As an alternative, if you would prefer to walk up the river on your return route, go up to Mel Tor, then from there walk down the hill between the river and the wall and find a small path which leads to a stream down the side of the hill.   (Look for the trees).    Follow the stream down to the river, turn right up the river and continue until you reach Dartmeet.    Slightly longer but a very beautiful walk.

Stepping Stones to Combestone Tor and the O Brook

Estimated time:   2 hours

Not passable after heavy rain

From Hunter's Lodge, cross the road to Dartmeet Cottage and take the path on the right of it down to the stepping stones.     Cross the river and continue straight up the hill through the trees and up the field, keeping Combestone farm on your left, to Combestone Tor.

From Combestone Tor, turn right on to the road which leads to Hexworthy, walk down the hill a little way until you come to a small bridge over the O Brook.    Turn right before the bridge on to a footpath which takes you over a stile and along the side of the stream down to where it joins the West Dart.     Cross the stream, then go over the stepping stones across the West Dart and follow a track up between some fields.    Eventually you come to a gateway opposite Huccaby Farm.    You don't go on to the road, but instead bear right on to another path eastwards across a field, joining another track down the hill between the fields until you can see Pixie's Holt and Dartmeet Cottage across the field on your left.    The footpath goes straight across the field to Dartmeet Cottage and Hunter's Lodge.

As an alternative, when you reach the O Brook bridge you can continue along the road as far as the Forest Inn in Hexworthy.    From there you can walk down through Hexworthy to Huccaby Farm and take the last part of the route described above.