Struddicks Circular Walk
A short but fairly demanding route through an unkempt wilderness alight with vivid flowers and butterflies in the summer months. This walk climbs high above the cliffs to give spectacular views. Thanks to the landowners' conservation strategies, the area is brimming with wildlife. The rocks, steps and stile along the coast path give the walk an adventurous flavour.
Map
Start:
Seaton's Hessenford Road car park, grid ref: SX302545
1
Coming out of the car park on Hessenford Road in Seaton, turn left on the road and then turn right a moment later, up Looe Hill. There's no pavement, so be aware of traffic. Carry on up the hill, past the small turning on the left in the trees and then another on the right, to where the South West Coast Path leaves the road, up some steps on the left.
Seaton Valley Countryside Park
Adjacent to the car park at the start of the route - and an interesting diversion before or after you have completed the walk - is the Seaton Valley Countryside Park. Once a derelict caravan park, Caradon Council took it over in 1995 and turned its 53.8 hectares into a Local Nature Reserve. There are cycleways and footpaths through the reserve and disabled access on the main footpath and into its sensory garden. In 2005 it was awarded a prestigious Green Flag, recognising it as one of the best green spaces in the country.
2
Turn left onto the Coast Path and walk down the edge of the woodland to go onto the path leading seawards around the side of the hill. It runs through a stretch of open and rather scrubby land, over steps and stiles and a boardwalk and through a gate rising steadily beyond.
Woodland
Note the thorn bushes along the edge of the woodland, festooned with swathes of lichen. Hawthorns are an important habitat for many species of bird and mammal, providing shelter in a hostile environment often exposed to gale-force winds blowing in off the sea. In the spring their tumbling white blossom is a source of nectar for insects and the larvae of many moths feed on them too. The bright red berries appearing in the autumn, known as 'haws', are a major source of winter food for a number of different birds, including thrushes and waxwings.
3
At this point it continues up the hill through several small meadows coming out onto a narrow lane at the top.
Struddicks
The clifftop fields at Struddicks - as at most other National Trust properties - have undergone a substantial change in land management. Before the Trust bought the land in 1998, its coastal fields were intensively farmed, while on the cliff slopes scrub was allowed to smother other, more vulnerable, plants. With help from the Trust, its tenant farmer moved away from crop cultivation and back to permanent pasture and organic methods. Cattle and ponies are used to graze the area, which encourages wildlife like insects, birds and small mammals.
4
It turns right down the lane for a short distance before turning left at the top of Looe Hill. Continue straight ahead along this road past Penhale Farm and Struddicks Cottage and on to the sharp left hand bend beyond.
Whitsand Bay
From the top of the hill, there are tremendous sea views across Whitsand Bay to Rame Head, to the east, and across Looe Bay to the west. The rocks on this part of the coastline are known as the Whitsand Bay Formation Slate and consist of siltstone and sandstone. These sedimentary rocks were formed approximately 400 to 417 million years ago, during the Devonian Period, when clays, silts, muds and sands were deposited on the floor of lakes and lagoons. Whitsand Bay is also important for marine fossils.
5
Turn right onto the public bridleway which makes its way along Keveral Lane, passing through the buildings at Keveral and slowly descending around the back of the hill before turning into woodland and dropping into Seaton. Turn left at the T-junction at Keveral Gardens to return to Hessenford Road and the car park.
Keveral Farm
In 1973, a group of six people arrived at Keveral Farm from Chiswick with the intention of setting up an organic farm community. They went to market and bought a cow, a goat, a few hens, ducks and geese and a hive full of bees. With no experience of farming and no funds for machinery, they read up on how to manage the farm and set to with spades and forks. Almost 40 years later, Keveral Farm is a thriving community with an emphasis on conservation and wholesome living.
End:
Seaton's Hessenford Road car park, grid ref: SX302545
