Synopsis: A chance to roam around Woodbury Common for most of the day. Also included an unexpected visit to Bystock Wildlife Trust site, which was quite beautiful. Sunny with chill wind.
(selection of photos from Flickr photo set – use link above to view album)
A bright start to the day, and no definite plans for a walk. Sitting down to plan something on the morning of this walk, I had Woodbury Common in mind, and one of the reasons for that is the fact that it is relatively dry underfoot, a significant factor in choosing walks in February. Woodbury Common is described as a pebble health, for reasons all to obvious to anyone who has visited the common. It therefore drains fast, and makes excellent winter walking terrain.
Having planned my walk, made sandwiches, I caught a train from my local station, Digby & Sowton, to Lympstone. It is only a short journey, and I was soon standing on the platform at Lympstone, looking out over the sun-bathed village.
That’s the top of the Peter’s Tower, now run as a holiday rent by The Landmark Trust, that can be seen behind The Swan Inn. Good food and beverages can be had at The Swan Inn, but not for me today.
I walked along the main road through Lympstone village, passing the parish church on my way. I then had some fields to cross on my approach to A La Ronde (NT), and it was parts of these fields which were to prove the muddiest of my walk today, but nothing too sticky was encountered, my gaiters looking quite respectable as I began to climb towards Woodbury Common. It was a steady climb, the only slightly discomforting aspect being a short section along a busy road, which required a good deal of care.
I always think Woodbury Common is somewhat undervalued as a place to walk. The landscape is quite unique, being savannah like in many respects, and there is a good amount of it. A sense of escape enveloped me the moment I picked up a bridleway across the heathland.
It wasn’t long before I was in the main quarrying district of the common. The primary evidence for this industry apparent to me as I crossed the workings was the huge lagoons of standing water that fill areas of past quarrying activity, and signs aplenty to not enter these fenced off areas. Being the weekend, there were no workings taking place today.
My walking was easy and I was making rapid progress. The thought occurred to me, that it would be good to make Squabmoor Reservoir for my lunch. This did require me to strut out rather, and even then I had to postpone my lunch until quite late. I sought out a place to picnic in the sun, out of the chill wind, and found the ideal spot by the dam, and by 13:35 I was tucking into my lunch.
As soon as I’d finished my lunch, I began packing my rucksack to continue my walk, for as pleasant as it was sat by the deep blue waters of Squabmoor Reservoir, February just isn’t the time of year to be sat around for too long. I followed the path that skirts the easterly side of the reservoir, with the sun glinting off the water as I went.
I soon came upon a lane at which I turned left and after descending a small dip began to ascend when I came across a noticeboard for Bystock Pools Nature Reserve (Devon Wildlife Trust). I hadn’t realised this was there, and decided it looked very appealing, and so chose to take time out to do a circuit of the reserve following the path indicated on the information board.
This made for a lovely little diversion to my walk. I entered near a large pool of water where Canada Geese and ducks swam across to check me out (unfortunately by this time my bread was long gone). The circular path I followed then took me through marshy grounds with other small bodies of water, presumably the ‘fishponds’ of the reserve’s name, and then onto a high path that traced a course around the perimeter of the reserve.
The light was being playful, one moment stark, sharp, with deep contrasts, the next dull, subdued and rather forbidding. I felt I was almost chasing the moments, attempting to be in the right place, at the right moment, to capture nature at her best. Photography at its most fun, if sometimes elusive.
There were a couple of gates in the perimeter fence I noted as I made my way around the reserve, and these I’ve noted on the OS maps for this walk. Further information about the nature reserve, including an option to download an information leaflet (.pdf) that includes a map of the nature reserve, is available from the official link for the reserve given in the paragraph above.
I know very little about Bystock Court (Grade II Listed). Here is a link to Bystock Court location. I’ve gleaned a little by reading the property’s listing description, where it is described as: ‘… a good example of a modest country house in Edwardian neo-Baroque style, with confident deviations’. The present house was built in 1907, but a house on this site has been owned by a branch of the Drake family since at least the 17th century, possibly earlier. Since 1983 the house has been a care home for people with learning disabilities and mental health needs. An earlier build of the house can be seen as Bystock House, at Antique Prints.
Leaving the Bystock Fishponds Nature Reserve, I crossed a busy main road (very carefully), and began a leisurely stroll down the quiet St John’s Road. There was a lovely pink camelia in bloom in the front garden of Withycombe Barton, which stands at the entrance to The Church of St John in the Wilderness (Grade II* Listed). I could hardly pass by without briefly paying my respects to my great-grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Rockett, who lies buried there.
I then continued on down St John’s Road, entering the old Withycombe Raleigh district of Exmouth. I favour this route into Exmouth, as it is an historic attractive route, and there are a number of buildings of note along the route. At the lower end of Withycombe Road I dropped down to where the old Withycombe Brooke is to be found, on the edge of Phear Park.
Today, Withycombe Brooke looks rather a pathetic shadow of its former past, running as it does in a steep-sided concrete channel far below the height of the path I was walking. I was however delighted to find a small pond where once stood the mill pond that fed Withycombe (Marpool) Mill. At least this small memory of what went before exists there today. I doubt the children playing by the pond had any inkling of its history; they were more concerned, having jumped onto an island, in finding a way to get back off of it.
Withycombe mill pond on Old-Maps (1890, 1:2,500).
Apparently Withycombe Mill was destroyed by a severe winter flood in the 1960s. All that exists of the mill today is the old waterwheel, the centrepiece in a small floral display that pays tribute to the service the mill once performed. This can be found just outside Manor Gardens, sandwiched between the town and the seafront. This idyllic image from an old postcard shows Withycombe Mill in its former glory. Apparently the mill was once operated by the Long family. See them standing by their mill in this old photograph of the mill from the book Exmouth Through Time, by, who other than, Christopher Long.
One final box to tick. I wanted to see the sea before returning home, so off I set across the town and up The Beacon and along Louisa Drive from where I got my first sea views. On my way back towards the railway station I glanced briefly at the new Premier Inn on the seafront, a timid Art Deco pastiche. But what interested me more, was taking a closer look at The Temple (Grade II Listed), apparently a reproduction of the Temple of Theseus at Athens conceived as a summer house in 1824. Ironically, the Imperial hotel is not listed, but this building, standing in its grounds, is.
This is a superb painting of Exmouth seafront and harbour, that shows well how this scene looked nearly two hundred years ago. The river can be seen to be very busy with shipping, but Exmouth is not so busy with buildings. But, interestingly, one of the few buildings shown in this painting is The Temple, as photographed above. It is a building barely regarded today, but it is one that has withstood the ravages of time. By 1895 the view was considerably more built up, but The Temple remained clearly visible, as can be seen in this photo from the Francis Frith collection: Exmouth, From The Beacon 1895.
A reasonable distance walked come the end of the day, and I was feeling tired and relieved to see my train pull into Exmouth station. It had been a lovely walk and I was in good spirits as I journeyed home.
Walk Statistics:
Total Distance: 14.1 miles
Moving Time: 5hrs 24min
Stopped Time: 43min
Total Ascent: 481 metres
Maximum Elevation: 173 metres
Buses: (none)
Train: Digby & Sowton off-peak return (£3.60)
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