an exmoor b&b owned and managed by sue & andy north
guest house and b&b, lynton, north devon
34 lee road, lynton EX35 6BS tel: 01598 753328
We tried one of the walks from our new book of short Exmoor walks today. The book covers all the favourite areas of Exmoor and the average distance is about three miles. The one we tried was in the area surrounding Dunster. Before we started, we did the 20-minute walk to the Conygar Tower, which can be seen from the main road. Built in 1775, the folly looks impressive from a distance, but when you get close it is hollow. The main walk starts the other end of town at the Castle Water Mill, and takes a loop through the woods and fields inland from Dunster. The walk gives excellent views of Dunster Castle and the other villages on the West Somerset Railway line towards Taunton. As you enter the woods behind the town several walks of varying distances are shown on a map and are clearly marked.
Many thanks to our guest David for painting us this wonderful watercolour. As with previous paintings and photos our talented guests have given us it would be lovely to hang them in their usual rooms, but it seems a shame that only people in those rooms get to see them, so this one has pride of place in reception where everyone can see it. There is so much detail in the picture. We must put a bigger version on the website somewhere soon.
We finally got round to doing the Horner Wood walk featured in the Autumn edition of the Exmoor magazine yesterday. The eight-mile loop starts at Horner Mill (near Porlock) then on to Webber's Post via the Horner Hill Sculpture Trail. There are excellent views of the Horner Valley on the way to Cloutsham and Stoke Pero, where it is worth visiting the little church. The walk finishes through the woods on a path called Granny's ride back to the Horner Wood car park over the packhorse bridge. We really enjoyed this walk. It takes four to five hours, but it would be possible to make it a bit shorter by cutting a corner off instead of taking the long way round Horner Wood. As usual we have taken copies of the walk for the folder in the lounge.
Yesterday the Ministry of Entertainment returned to Lynton Town Hall with Mrs Gerrish's Guesthouse, a musical comedy production about a Weston-super-Mare guest house owner. The show was extremely well-attended and all proceeds go the the Town Hall refurbishment. There were lots of jokes about guest houses and their owners . . . ho ho!
The Exmoor Food Festival is this week. Various food-related events are happening at venues all over Exmoor. We had a look at the Lyn Food Fest in the Town Hall yesterday, which was opened by TV personality Johnny Kingdom. Loads of locally-produced cakes, chocolates etc. which all needed sampling. A full list of events, some of which are in Lynton and Lynmouth is available at www.activeexmoor.com
