Exmoor Walks: Roadwater
Here’s a hike local to where I live for my 50th lockdown diary. Many years ago I wrote an account of this walk for the newspaper - this is a slightly longer version than the article which appeared, probably more than 15 years ago…
If the lockdown can bring the nation to a halt, it can be a boon to the work of a humble, solitary, writer. But occasionally you need some inspiration…
Years ago I set out for this walk in my own back yard – which was a treat because the parish of Old Cleeve is a large and beautiful domain stretching from high hills to the sea. Much of it is inside the Exmoor National Park and the parish boasts no fewer than 71 different rights-of-way.
I know the exact number thanks to an excellent well-researched collection of the hiking routes available in the parish. Jeanne Web’s ‘Old Cleeve Parish Walks’ is just about the best example of an extremely local walking guide I’ve seen.
Not only is Old Cleeve one of the largest parishes in the region, it is one of the most diverse. Few mini-municipalities in the country contain such a range of countryside – from the 1,200 foot Brendon Hill escarpment in the south, to the fossil-bearing reefs of the Bristol Channel in the north. We have forests and we have tiny copses; we have meandering streams and mighty waterfalls; high grasslands and luxuriant, impenetrable, thickets.
There is limestone, sandstone and slate; and there are hamlets that appear untouched by the passing of time and we also have a busy main-road village.
So what I decided to do was follow one of the 24 walks which appear in Mrs Webb’s book, and lengthen it a bit. The hike starts halfway up the slopes of the Brendon Hill escarpment, above the village of Roadwater, at a place called Felon’s Oak (map ref: ST 018 389). This is a couple of miles south, up single track lanes, from the main Minehead-Williton road. There isn’t much at Felon’s Oak, save for the odd felon hanging from the boughs of the tree. Or, at least, there would have been a few centuries ago, but most of the sheep stealers have long gone and Judge Jeffries no longer dishes out harsh justice in these quiet backwaters.
There’s room to park on the five-cross way (obviously, I walked up from my home). Following Mrs Webb’s route we head of down the lane where we see a sign for Croydon Hall.
There’s an exciting and rather mysterious story attached to this large country house - a remarkable German gent once made a fast departure from here at the outbreak of the First World War. He was called Count Conrad von Hochberg – and as my old editor Jack Hurley once put it: “The imaginations were busy creating out of whispers on the wind the cloak and dagger elements of espionage.”
Was von Hochberg a German spy? Well, I am ashamed to say that long dead colleagues in the journalistic trade would have it that way. The Count was in fact, an Anglophile and the last thing he wanted was to take up arms against the country he had fallen in love with. He died in Berlin years later and the only hymns sung at the Church of England funeral service were in English and the sermon was preached in the same tongue.
But, back in the dark days of 1914, the hacks were making Buchanesque noises about his “Fortress on the cliffs”. They didn’t go quite as far as to mention the 39 Steps – but in the interests of accuracy I must tell you Croydon Hall is hardly a fortress and it is three long miles from a sea-cliff.
Back to the parish walks guide... We go past the hall and a couple of cottages then turn right onto a farm track which takes us along the contour of the hill before we take a left down the side of a long hedge that takes us due south. This field enjoys the luxury of wide headlands – which in spring is a wonderful thing to behold as all sorts of wildflowers grow attracting goodness what insects, and therefore birds.
In fact, Mrs Webb tells us: “The field scabious (knautia arvensis) and the pink musk mallow (malva moschata) can be found among the common hedgerow plants.” She adds: “The view towards the Brendon hills extends to Timwood and Comberow and the right-hand horizon and straight ahead Kingsdown Clump caps the skyline.”
It’s all most picturesque in a uniquely Brendon escarpment sort of way. We swing right – downhill – at the bottom of the hedge, and head for the woods. Once inside the trees we find ourselves walking down a sort of miniature coombe, in which, according to the authoress, we see: “male fern (dryopteris filixmas) and hart’s tongue (asplenium scolopendrium).”
My old friend Marcus Baker joined me on this hike many years ago
Now we enter the village of Roadwater via Tacker Street – which is a tiny southern annex of the community. Across the stream and past a few houses, we reach the Luxborough road where we turn left past the excellent Valiant Soldier Inn.
A minute after the pub (which i am very much looking forward to frequenting again one of these fine days) you will see a tiny road dipping down between houses on the right – walk 50 metres along this and you will come to a Y-shaped junction – keep left and hike 30 metres up the hill to find the Coleridge Way path (on the right through a field gate).
This splendid thoroughfare now strikes off south wards along the contours of the valley, taking you first across a field and through what used to be a pinewood – then introducing you to another field, which in turn is followed by a second wood.
The conifers in this photo are now long gone
This is a delightful stand of young beech trees and on its far side you will spy a beautiful hamlet consisting of a couple of classic West Country thatched cottages. This is Lower Hayne and you must stroll down to it by taking the footpath that leaves the Coleridge Way. Cross the lane, and another path leads through the gardens of the cottages before climbing the opposite slope of the valley.
This ancient overgrown track ascends until it reaches the Leighland lane where we turn left to walk the few hundred metres past Stamborough Farm. Just after this another lane veers to the right and we stroll up its length until it is dissected by the Stamborough Farm road.
Directly opposite you will see a path leading to the village of Treborough. This necessitates another climb across fields – which isn’t surprising as Treborough is about 1000 feet above sea level. The path eventually levels out and arrives at a junction where you will see the hamlet’s church straight ahead.
Make for it, but before you reach the old temple take the lane on the right by the old schoolhouse. This little used road climbs for a few hundred metres, then begins a long descent. We go down it for about half a mile until we come across our old friend the Coleridge Way again. It touches the road briefly here – and we must take its right-hand fork which will convey us down across fields and into Langridge Wood.
The long distance trail descends a ridge inside this forest to eventually reach the Luxborough road – and what we do is cross straight over, past the house called Peterswell Lake. Close to the garden gate, we join another footpath which takes us back - in a rather muddy and overgrown way – to the Washford Stream that we crossed at Tacker Street. There’s a wide wooden bridge – and then it’s up into the woods once more, to eventually debouche into a steep field.
The path climbs this to the gate at the high end and now we’re on the track to Greenland. Roadwater, by-the-way, is the only place in the world that has Greenland on one side and Egypt on the other – though why the folk of yesteryear should name their hamlets in such an international way, I have no idea.
And I must say it can feel like Greenland in the snow – Egyptian weather was like a dream from a distant planet.
Our track now turns into a tarmac lane, and we simply follow it back to Felon’s Oak, having enjoyed fine wintry views of the eastern slopes of Exmoor National Park.
Fact File
Basic hike: from Felon’s Oak (map ref: ST 018 389) down to Roadwater – taking in the Mineral Line valley and the Coleridge Way we climb eventually to Treborough before returning down to the Luxborough road and then back up to the start via Greenland.
Recommended map: Ordnance Survey OL 9 Exmoor.
Distance and going: Seven miles – can be muddy and a bit steep in places.
