Synopsis: Civil War and duck paradise, this walk is a little out of the ordinary. A walk that connects a number of patches of heathland in the Bovey Basin. Includes a Civil War battleground and duck pond.
This walk was based on the walk ‘Bovey Basin Wild Walk’ from the Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) site. The Bovey Basin was created during the “Alpine orogenic phase”, apparently, but please don’t ask me to explain, as I’m no geologist. But I will just say it’s not as salacious as you’re thinking. As is so often the case, the weather was predicted to be excellent today, and yet I woke without a plan in mind. Why does that always happen? Anyway, I had stored a link to DWT in my ‘Ideas’ folder and browsing walk ideas on their web site I came upon this one. I hastily built the route for my handheld GPS and then had to dash to catch the bus, which I caught with only minutes to spare.
The walk is called Bovey Basin Wild Walk, but could just as easily be called Bovey Basin Wild Heaths, if that isn’t too suggestive of a Bronté novel. DWT have attempted to connect a number of patches of heathland to create this exploratory walk. I say ‘attempted’ advisedly, since the walk didn’t quite go to plan, as I’ll explain below. The need to improvise parts of this route didn’t however detract from my enjoyment of the walk, which proved to be a pleasingly different from the typical Devon country landscape.
Bovey Heathfield Nature Reserve - car park
This walk, if you’re travelling by bus as I was, starts rather inauspiciously in that it’s necessary to walk through part of the Heathfield Industrial Estate for about 1Km to reach the start of the walk proper. In fairness, it only took me about ten minutes to walk from the bus stop to the ‘car park’ (a dusty space that barely justifies the name) which is adjacent to the entrance to Bovey Heathfield. Once I’d entered through the stile I felt immediately immersed in the landscape that I’d come to see.
Bovey Heathfield Nature Reserve
I’d seen this savannah like terrain from the window of many a bus on my various journeys from Exeter to Bovey Tracey and on to Newton Abbot, but this is the first time that I’d stopped to explore close up. It’s a very wild and natural landscape, with only the occasional stunted tree breaking up sparse vegetation, mainly gorse and heather.
Bovey Heathfield Nature Reserve - Commonwealth Cross commemorating the Civil War battle of 9th January 1646
I noticed a cross shown on the map by the stile as I entered the heathland. I was curious, for what could a lone cross be doing here? I came upon the wooden cross and all that it has for explanation is a date carved in large numerals across its intersection, 1645. I recalled the information board saying something about the Civil War, and this date seemed about right to me.
Further into my walk I came across another information board, this one giving a more comprehensive explanation of the Civil War connection to this place. Apparently it was the scene of a quite significant battle at which the Royalists were routed by the advancing Parliamentarians led by General Fairfax. The Civil War Society elected to erect a Commonwealth Cross in 1977 in commemoration of this battle of 9th January 1646.
Public bridleway starts from here - at this point I picked up my planned walk route once again
On leaving Bovey Heathfield things began to go wrong. The path indicated on the DWT guide for this walk was supposed to be just across the road, but it was nowhere to be seen. I had to continue on down the road and turn into a lane on the left which soon connected me with my planned walk. I have it in mind to write to DWT and inform them of the inaccuracy in their walk guide.
See note ‘Corrected walk route’ below.
At this point I decided to make another alteration to the walk plan. I thought I’d follow the proposed route but change the sequence and visit the next two heathlands in reverse order. By making this change the latter heathland I would visit would be the one closest to Bovey Tracey and I felt I could find a route that would take me into the town from where I could catch a bus home. Note: the DWT walk guide, as is typical, is better suited to the car walker, in that it loops back on itself, than the bus walker.
Chudleigh Knighton Heath Nature Reserve
I soon reached my next heathland, Chudleigh Knighton Heath Nature Reserve, even if the way was dogged by a lot of mud. As it was now nearly two o’clock I decided I’d break and have some lunch. After a long cold spell the temperature had at last begun to rise today, and it was really pleasant picnicking in the sun.
Little Bradley Ponds Nature Reserve
After lunch I did a circuit of the heathland before retracing my way to the lane that I had followed. I then branched off right down a lane in the direction of my next heathland, named Little Bradley Ponds. There are two ponds at this location, one on each side of the lane. I looped around both. This is what I came to think of as duck paradise, although I only did see one duck. It seemed to me he had it made.
I thought there might have been a path from Little Bradley Ponds back into Bovey Tracey, but there wasn’t, so I had little choice but to follow the main road for a short distance. As this was quite a busy road, I had to keep my wits about me or I’d have become road kill. I’ve since read (p.55) in Bovey Tracey Rediscovered (by Elizabeth Westwood, published by Coombe Meadow Publishing) that there was once the Bradley Ford Tollhouse on the s-bend in this road. Apparently this corner is known locally as Bumpsie Berry Corner after a man who was killed there. It was obviously prudent for me to be wary on this road.
Bovey Tracey - ancient bus sign for ancient travellers like me
I entered the suburbs of Bovey Tracey and approached the picturesque village church. There was a most charming old granite water drinking trough by the church, known locally as St Mary’s Well, charmingly famed for golden frogs apparently. And alongside this was the oldest bus stop sign I’d seen in a good while. An ancient bus stop for an ancient traveller. This solitary marker was all there was to indicate what I presumed to be a working bus stop. I was a little hesitant as the last thing I wanted was my bus to sail on by as I waited here, but thankfully the bus came to a halt and picked up this antiquated traveller.
Oh, and I do believe that’s my bus coming now.
Navigational note: I would say that, for a bus walker, the route I took is pretty good. Doing it again however I would consider back tracking a short distance from Little Bradley Ponds to pick up the footpath that begins at this point. The reason I suggest doing this is that it would avoid walking along the stretch of the busy B3344 that I walked on my walk today. It may be possible to access this path from here.
Note: Corrected walk route: On re-examining the DWT walk guide used for this walk I now see the map is a little imprecise. The important navigational point is this intersection with a road leading into King Charles I Business Park. Walk north-east from that point and you will reach a stile providing access to the heathland.
A short walk, but enjoyable, interesting, and quite distinct from more typical Devon walks. There were surprisingly few people about, so it proved a good walk for this solitary contemplative walker.
Walk Statistics:
Total Distance: 6.3 miles
Moving Time: 2hrs 40min
Stopped Time: 37min
Total Ascent: 262 metres
Maximum Elevation: 63 metres
Buses: 39
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