Exmoor's variety, part 1: Water

Exmoor National Park is not only incredibly beautiful, but incredibly varied. Some people hear the word ‘moor’ and think ‘bleak’ – but I want to show you that on Exmoor this is very far from the full story.


I’d intended to make this post about scenery and landscape in general, but this is such a huge subject that it needs breaking down into several episodes. So this time I’m going to concentrate on one theme – water. Who doesn’t love picnicking by a river, or relaxing by the sea?
 

 The river Barle at Withypool

 The moorland is criss-crossed by many small rivers, e.g. the Barle...







...and there are areas of marshland, rich in wildlife.

Porlock Marsh

Wimbleball Lake at dusk

We’ve a lake (a man-made reservoir but none the less attractive for that) at Wimbleball.








And Exmoor National Park has an amazing coastline, from Minehead

View from the Valley of Rocks, Lynton

to Porlock, from Lynmouth to Heddon’s Mouth and many places in between. Beaches, high and rugged cliffs, dramatic ravines, charming harbour towns…
 

Walking to Heddon's Mouth

There are plenty of water-based activities to choose from on Exmoor, including coasteering, kayaking, fishing - and of course coastal walking or cycling.





Find some ideas at Visit Exmoor

Exmoor House cereal bars recipe

We often get asked for the recipe for our cereal / granola bars, which are very popular (particularly as part of a picnic lunch as they are excellent for an energy boost if you are out walking or cycling on Exmoor). They were originally inspired by one of Ina Garten’s recipes, but the mix has kept on evolving: this is the latest version.   

Put these ingredients into a pan and heat gently until the butter has melted:
Butter 250g
Honey 150g
Malt extract or soft brown sugar 50g
Orange or apple juice 200ml
Dried apricots finely chopped (or any other dried fruit) 350g

Then mix with the following ingredients:
Self-raising flour 150g
Rolled oats or porridge oats 300g
Wheatgerm 100g
Ground almonds 75g
Dried coconut 100g

Put the mixture into a deep baking tray / traybake tray, greased and lined with baking parchment, size 12 x 9 inches, and bake at 180°c for 25 minutes approx, until lightly browned on top. Cut into bars or squares when cold.

Enjoy!

If you’d like to try them but would rather Frank made them for you, then you’ll just have to come and stay with us at Exmoor House, or visit our Snowdrop Valley tearoom in February.

Exmoor: What's happening in August 2013?

In Exmoor National Park there is always plenty going on. Here are some Exmoor events coming up this August:

Minehead and Exmoor Music Festival 1st - 3rd
National Parks Week 1st - 4th
Cutcombe village fete 3rd -one of the prizes in the Grand Draw is dinner for two at Exmoor House
Exmoor Explorer off-road cycle trial from Wheddon Cross 4^th – if you're taking part, you could make a weekend of it and stay at Exmoor House and enjoy our fab food
Exford Show 14^th  
Porlock Country Fair 11th
Minehead Summer Festival 14^th -  includes a display by the Red Arrows and Red Devils, also an arts, crafts & produce market & various other stalls)
Dunster Show 16^th - a great day out  http://thedunstershow.co.uk/
Exmoor Pony Festival 24th - 31^st to 1^st Sept - more info at http://exmoorponyfestival.wordpress.com/

There will also be lots of things happening at the National Trust properties in the area (for example on the Holnicote Estate, at Dunster Castle and in the Heddon Valley). Visit http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/whats-on/events/ where you can look up specific areas.

Exmoor National Park’s events in August include woodland and moorland walks to learn more about the area’s wonderful range of wildlife as well as to discover some archaeological sites; seaside safaris; Big Adventure days.

For even more ideas, have a look at...

http://www.activeexmoor.com/home

http://www.visit-exmoor.co.uk/must-see-and-do/events

http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/visiting/events

http://www.exmoorsociety.org.uk/Events.htm

http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Somerset/Minehead/TA24

Inspired to pay a visit? Check out our dinner, bed and breakfast breaks at http://www.exmoorhotel.co.uk

Showing off!

I’ve been in the media recently, on behalf of Exmoor House. And, because I love to show off, I’m including the links here to a video and a podcast, both starring moi.


The video is a testimonial I did for telnames, the company from whom we bought our mobile website – www.exmoorhouse.tel  Of course, it promotes their services (which I find very good, as you’ll see if you watch the video) but it also includes some nice shots of our place and mini-tours of some of the rooms. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjxcrru1iOA&feature=youtu.be

The podcast is by Walks Around Britain, and it includes an interview with me about walking on Exmoor. Here it is:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1244914-edition-015-a-walk-to-mam-tor-andy-leader-s-holmfirth-photography-exmoor-tom-heap-on-nettles

You can also download the podcast (and all the others they’ve done) free of charge to itunes. Walks Around Britain is an innovative video website; we’ll be working with them and West Country Walks shortly as they’re making a video about a walk on Exmoor near our place.

In the printed media, I did an interview for the February issue of Somerset Life magazine, as part of an article about Wheddon Cross and Snowdrop Valley. The magazine can we viewed here: http://somerset.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/digital-archive/ (the article is on pages 52-53). And, late last year you may have spotted comments in the Guardian magazine, by Frank and me, about what it’s like to live on Exmoor: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/dec/14/lets-move-to-exmoor-somerset-devon

If you need an inexpensive, easy to edit mobile website, do check out http://www.telnames.com/ and for loads of useful info including walking routes in many different areas, see http://www.walksaroundbritain.co.uk/

I mentioned http://www.westcountrywalks.co.uk/ (also known as Combe Walks). They produce a range of excellent pocket-sized walking and cycling books covering North Devon and Somerset, and they also organise the Exmoor Walking Festival, which this year has a particularly good range of walks for all tastes and abilities. It starts on 27th April: http://www.exmoorwalkingfestival.co.uk/

If any of this is making you feel that a visit to Exmoor is overdue, then we'd be delighted to see you! We've space for most dates at the moment, and there is even a special offer this month, if you hurry... take a look at our freshly-redesigned website for more details.

Summer on Exmoor and why we would take a holiday here

Here in the heart of Exmoor National Park we don’t really have what you might think of the as the normal ‘tourist season’. So there are no traffic jams on the roads and it’s unusual to see crowds of people. Exmoor is a lovely, relaxing destination for all seasons and could absorb many more visitors without seeming crowded at all. I keep banging the drum about this, and for good reason: quite a few people have told us that they’ve avoided visiting in July and August because they thought that everywhere would be too busy and all the Exmoor accommodation would be fully booked. It ain’t necessarily so, folks!


Would we holiday here, if we weren’t already lucky enough to live in this beautiful area? Well yes, we would. Here are just a few reasons why:

The pace of life is relaxed – Exmoor is a real escape from everyday stress.

There is a remarkable range of excellent accommodation (including Exmoor House Wheddon Cross) and great places to eat (including, again, Exmoor House Wheddon Cross!).

Exmoor is astoundingly lovely, with an incredible variety of scenery: from wild coastline, to rolling farmland, to pretty villages, to pleasingly bleak moorland.

There is plenty to do: visit National Trust and English Heritage properties, enjoy some fantastic walking, cycling and mountain biking (you can hire an electric bike from http://www.exmoorunplugged.co.uk/ if you want to make the ride a bit easier), fishing, golf, horse riding, some great attractions (although, hooray, no theme parks – who needs them when we’re surrounded by such real-life beauty?)… and a range of festivals and other events take place during the year. For more ideas, visit http://www.visit-exmoor.co.uk/must-see-and-do 

OK, so we know the English weather is never entirely predictable – but that’s just part of the fun. You can see some of my suggestions for things to do on a rainy day at http://exmoorhousewx.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/things-to-do-on-around-exmoor-when-its.html

If you need another reason to visit Exmoor, here’s a great incentive: the Exmoor Guineas promotion. Find some excellent special offers at http://www.visit-exmoor.co.uk/guinea - including some from - er – Exmoor House Wheddon Cross.

If you’ve never been to Exmoor, now is an excellent time to visit. If you have, then you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Take a look at our facebook page for photos of things to see and do on Exmoor, some of our favourite walks, and more: http://www.facebook.com/ExmoorHouse/photos

Another day out on Exmoor: Allerford, Bossington, Selworthy

Following on from my last post, here’s another idea for exploring Exmoor: a day out in Allerford, Bossington and Selworthy, on foot, by bicycle, using public transport and/or by car…

This trio of villages on the National Trust-owned Holnicote Estate are (as you would expect) lovingly preserved and maintained. They’re also chocolate-box pretty and each has interesting corners to explore. Start at any of the villages and you can walk or cycle to any of the others via various routes (some quite challenging) or drive via typically winding Somerset lanes.

At Allerford, the famous packhorse bridge (one of Exmoor’s iconic images) dates from the 15th century. Some of the cottages have round chimneys, very characteristic of this area. In the old school building you’ll find the West Somerset Rural Life Museum, which includes the Victorian Schoolroom and the West Somerset Photographic Archive. There’s an impressive collection of artefacts, mostly dating from the 1800s to the 1950s. Also at Allerford is a forge where Kyle Roberts and his team produce an amazing variety of ironwork. At Lynch, just a short walk (or drive) from Allerford, the Exmoor Owl & Hawk Centre offers flying displays and many other activities.

Many of the houses and cottages in Bossington have tall round chimneys, and bread ovens that bulge from the walls. Kitnors Tea Room and Garden (near the village car park) is a lovely place to stop for lunch or a snack. Take a wander round the village and if you can, walk down to the sea shore: you’ll see some spectacular hilly views and the famous pebble ridge, which sometimes gets breached if Horner Water is in spate (it’s happened twice so far this year!). The ridge mends soon mends itself though.

Selworthy’s attractive limewashed church has an almost Mediterranean look about it. Set above the rest of the village, it’s visible for miles. The view from the church is beautiful and the inside of the building is very interesting, with some spectacular ceiling bosses among much else to see. The village itself, clustered around the green, is full of almost impossibly picturesque thatched cottages. Whatever you do, don’t forget to bring your camera. There’s a National Trust shop here, also the charmingly traditional Periwinkle Tea Room (which usually has a fabulous range of cakes, as well as other delicious things).

Public transport
Bus 39 runs between Minehead and Porlock (all year round)
Bus 300 runs between Minehead and Lynmouth (April – October only)
They both stop at Allerford Turn and Selworthy Turn. Bus 39 makes very occasional stops at Bossington Green (check timetables for latest information).

Useful links
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/things-to-see-and-do/page-1/item254184/
http://www.allerfordmuseum.org.uk/
http://www.allerfordforge.co.uk/
http://www.exmoorfalconry.co.uk/

Book
Shortish Walks on Exmoor by Robert Hesketh (Bossiney Books) has two walks that can be done separately or joined together: Allerford, Bossington and Hurlstone Combe plus Allerford and Selworthy Beacon. Each walk is about 4½ miles.

Maps
Explorer OL9 (Ordnance Survey) 
Exmoor for Off-Road Cyclists (Exmoor National Park Authority)

Days out on Exmoor

Running a guesthouse / bed and breakfast as we do (which we thoroughly enjoy) it’s not often that we get out to explore this beautiful area we live in. So it’s even more of a treat when we do! We both love walking, and you can find details in earlier posts about some of our favourite Exmoor walks. This time, I’m concentrating on trips that don’t necessarily involve much walking – though they still can if you like. Here are two suggestions. In keeping with our green ethos, I’ve included some public transport options to get you there and back, so that you can be car free. Of course, another way to be car free is to go by bicycle. Exmoor is fantastic for cycling, with routes as challenging as you like, on and off road. Both conventional and electric bikes can be hired locally.


Malmsmead and Oare

Lorna Doone country! You can do a shortish circular walk that takes in both places, a longer walk to explore the valley, or just take the shortest route between the two hamlets and have a mooch round each. Oare Church is where, in the book, Lorna was shot on her wedding day. Malmsmead has a pretty bridge and you can wander along the river as far as you like towards the Doone Valley. For lunch or other refreshments, two good options are the Café Deli Malmsmead and (on the road towards Minehead) the Culbone Inn.

Public transport: Bus 300 (Minehead-Lynmouth, runs April-October only) travels along the main road; you’d need to walk to Oare/Malmsmead from the nearest bus stop. You could, though, book the Moor Rover bus to take you to either of the villages, and pick you up later.


Blue Anchor, Watchet and Williton

If you do like to be beside the seaside, Blue Anchor is a good place to stroll along the prom, prom, prom (it’s much more scenic looking towards the coast than towards the caravans – sorry, site owners!). The Driftwood Café is something of an institution locally, serving fish and chips (and more) accompanied by sea views. For a longer walk, head inland for a while, or continue on to Watchet.

Watchet is very interesting to wander round, with two small museums full of local history, some good non-chain shops and a pleasant esplanade. There are several pubs and teashops; we’ve eaten at Chives Deli and the Star Inn, both of which we’d recommend. If you want to continue on foot to Williton, it’s a little over two miles via Doniford.

In Williton you’ll find an antiques centre and shops including a proper old-fashioned hardware store (which I always enjoy looking round). There are a couple of pubs and places for snacks and, a little way outside the village, the Bakelite Museum. This quirky paeon to all things plastic is almost guaranteed to cause cries of ‘oh, my mum used to have one of those!’. Also to be seen are some far less usual objects, such as a rather bizarre doll (you’ll see what I mean) and a Bakelite coffin. There’s a small café at the museum (check for opening times/days as they may vary). The museum has been threatened with closure because, being in an old mill, it’s difficult for them to comply with modern fire regulations. They’ve made some adjustments though, so we hope it will be open for the foreseeable future.

Public transport: there are West Somerset Railway stations at all three places, so if you book a Day Rover ticket (available at a discount from Exmoor House if you’re staying with us), and plan the day carefully, you should be able to fit in visits to them all. Bus 18 (between Minehead and Taunton) stops at Watchet and Williton; bus 106 (Minehead – Doniford) stops at Blue Anchor and Watchet.


Useful linkshttp://www.facebook.com/ExmoorHouse our facebook page, with photos of the area (more being added!)
http://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/ includes timetables and special events
http://www.bakelitemuseum.co.uk/ a taste of what there is to see
http://www.traveline.info/ bus timetables
http://www.exmoorcyclehire.co.uk/ bike hire
http://www.exmoorunplugged.co.uk/ electric bike hire