Discover the Heddon Valley

Our trip to the Heddon Valley was my favourite walk of our recent holiday in North Devon. Ever since I’d seen photos of this beautiful spot, I knew it was going to be a great outing. Even the drive over there treated us to some spectacular scenery. We parked at the National Trust car park by Hunter’s Inn. There are also toilets, a shop and information centre on hand.

There are a variety of walks in the area catering for all abilities, you can also hire all terrain pushchairs and mobility scooters from the shop. We opted for a flat, circular walk to the mouth of the valley.

Passing Hunter’s Inn on our right, we followed the road and crossed over the River Heddon, after the stone bridge we picked up the footpath on the right hand side.

With woodland to the left and wild meadows to the right, it’s a great place to spot wildlife, including the rare high brown fritillary butterfly

We followed the gently undulating path, with the river on our right, for about a mile or so until it opened out and we reached the sea.

Luke and baby on the beach

Restored in the 80’s by the National Trust, the beach is home to a 19th century lime kiln

View from the lime kiln

The view looking back up the valley

We spent a while enjoying the scenery. It was a beautiful day and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We then hopped across the river via some stepping stones and made our way back. (There is also a footbridge a bit further down if you don’t fancy the stones!)

Stepping stones across the river

We followed the path back to Hunter’s Inn, where we stopped for a well earned lunch.

Lunch break!

All in all a lovely walk in an amazing setting, which I highly recommend. From the Heddon Valley it is possible to join the Tarka Trail or South West Coast Path for longer or more challenging walks. I would have loved to climb to the top of the cliffs for more awesome views, but it’s not so easy lugging baby up, especially on a warm day! There are some beautiful, secluded coves along the coast from Heddon, a couple of which we visited (and I’ll write up soon), I particularly liked Woody Bay which is just to the east.

If we’re ever in North Devon again, we’ll definitely return and explore this area further.

I’d love to know where your favourite walk is and what makes it so special.