East Devon’s Harpford Woods has a mysterious aura – its almost gorge-like sheer sides and rich-red soil often result in unique lighting and colours.

A newly updated car park area makes it even easier to access this Clinton Devon managed woodland, beckoning you in off the main road.

From the car park, walk down the wooden steps into the orange glow of this natural bowl – a small waterfall cascading gently down the rock to your right. (1) Stay to the right and continue on the path, avoiding the path on your left, before eventually coming to a footpath sign on your right, through a gate. 

(2) Go through this gate, out of the woods and into the open field. As you summit the hill the horizon will fill with rolling countryside views. I’ve lived in this area all my life and was still astounded by the far-stretching sights over Tipton St John, West Hill and beyond.

Follow this well-trodden path as it descends through the field, (3) before heading through what was once a gated entrance into an unusual long, thin copse that shelters the footpath from the abutting fields as it twists and turns its way towards a lane.

(4) Turn left before you cross the brick bridge, and follow the path down onto what used to be the old railway line before its closure in 1967. Continue ahead on this now bridlepath through towering tall pines.

After some time, on the right you’ll see a clearing which you can access through a gate, with a bench to rest while looking at rows of Douglas Fir. (5) 

Take the path on the left for a short route back to the start. Otherwise, continue as the path drops dramatically on either side creating a real spectacle. (6) You’ll reach a signed path on your left before you go over a bridge – go down these steps and follow a short but steep path climbing up to the top of the woods.

Stay right, and then before reaching the road, (7) turn left to follow the path behind ‘The Log Yard’ to return back to the car park.

Turn either route into a warming pub walk with the optional detour (continuing up the old route of the railway line) to the quintessentially English Bowd Inn pub with its charming thatched roof and low, beamed ceilings. Their Sunday carvery is one of the best!