Heddon's Mouth circular walk
A beautiful walk through ancient woodland alongside the River Heddon to where it meets the sea between some of England's highest cliffs. Designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the Heddon Valley is home to a variety of wildlife including otters and the rare high brown fritillary butterfly. You will find a restored 19th-century lime kiln on the beach.
Total steps: 8
Total steps: 8
Start point
National Trust gift shop, grid ref SS655480
Step 1
With the National Trust shop on your right, walk down the road towards the Hunter's Inn. Keeping the Inn to your right, follow the road over the River Heddon and carry on as it curves up to the left and then to the right over the stone bridge. Please be aware of the traffic on this section.
Step 2
Head 33yd (30m) past the stone bridge then turn right and go through the gate along the footpath signposted for Heddon's Mouth. You will follow these signs all the way to the beach. Please close all gates behind you.
Step 3
Follow the footpath until you reach the next gate. As you are walking look across the river into the meadow and up into the woodland to your left, home to sessile oaks, ash and some rare whitebeams. If you are lucky you might even see an otter in the river. Go through the gate and carry on straight. The path is gently undulating and passes a stretch of traditional dry-stone wall, a thriving habitat for insects. You will also see large patches of scree left over from the last Ice Age.
Step 4
Carry on past the wooden bridge. The valley now opens out. Vast stretches of heather light up the slopes in August and in early autumn the air is tinged with the coconut smell of bright yellow gorse flowers. Just beyond the top of a slight incline the path reaches its end at the 19th-century lime kiln at the beach. For your own safety, please do not enter the kiln. This is a wonderful viewpoint down onto the pebble beach, up to the top of the cliffs and back along the valley behind you. Rest a while and absorb the myriad of sounds: waves crashing on the beach, pebbles rolling back and forth, and the birdsong. If you walk down onto the beach, please keep away from the base of the cliffs.
Step 5
Retrace your steps back along path, with the river now on your left, down the slight incline to the wooden bridge. Turn left and cross the wooden bridge over the river taking the time to look upstream and downstream. You might just see a heron or some dippers. At the end of the bridge turn right and follow the path upstream, keeping the river to your right.
Step 6
Stay on the path as it winds its way up a short incline past more scree slopes. In autumn and winter keep an eye out for robins, cheeky woodland inhabitants that will often fly alongside you as you walk. They sometimes stop on nearby bushes providing a perfect photo opportunity. Continue along the path, now on the side of the hill above the river. As you walk along look up and across the water to your right where the valley side reaches seemingly endlessly upwards, allowing you to fully appreciate the scale of the Heddon Valley and the way it was sculpted during the last Ice Age.
Step 7
You will start going down a slight incline to come level with the meadow that you first viewed from the other side when you walked down to the river mouth. In spring this meadow is filled with wild flowers. You might also see local Devon ruby red cattle grazing. Stay on the path past the stone bridge over the river. Where the path splits, follow the right-hand fork along the river bank. In autumn there are different types of fungi in the woods on both sides of the river. They are lovely to look at and fun for children to identify, but please do not pick any as some are poisonous.
Step 8
Carry on up an incline and a few steps to where the footpath joins a bridleway. Keep to your right down a slight slope where the path rejoins the river bank. Go up another short incline. Here the footpath meets an old carriageway built in the late 1880s by Colonel Benjamin Lake to transport tourists from his resort in Woody Bay to the Hunter's Inn in Heddon Valley. At the carriageway turn right and walk back down to rejoin the road past the Hunter's Inn public house on your right back to your starting point at the National Trust gift shop and ice cream parlour.
End point
National Trust gift shop, grid ref SS655480
Trail map
More near here
Heddon Valley to Woody Bay walk
Take in spectacular views along the coast on this challenging walk along an historic 19th-century carriageway.
Gentle walk to Heddon's Mouth
Follow this easy National Trust trail alongside the banks of the River Heddon and explore the area where it meets the sea.
Heddon Valley coast walk
A short but challenging walk along the highest and most spectacular sea cliffs in England.
Get in touch
Heddon Valley, Near Parracombe, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 4PY
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