Enchanting Exmoor

This week’s issue of The People’s Friend (dated 6th June 2020) has my travel piece about Exmoor on the front cover.

Exmoor is a wonderful place to explore, and also a bit of a walker’s paradise. This huge hand-holding-open-a-map sculpture in Minehead marks the start of the South West Coast Path.

South West Coast Path Sculpture at Minehead

And at Lynmouth, near the park’s westerly edge, is another sculpture called “The Walker” because Lynmouth is on so many long-distance routes.

Of course, if you’re looking for thatched cottages and quaint villages, Exmoor has them by the beach bucket-and-spade-ful. Porlock Weir has some on the road to the harbour.

And we stayed at the charming village of Monksilver, where the church is believed to have been the venue where Sir Francis Drake married his second wife, Elizabeth Sydenham.

In the article I tease my nephew about how easy it is to see Wales from much of Exmoor. And it is. Even in this photo of Dunkery Beacon, Exmoor’s highest point, Wales is visible across the Bristol Channel.

For some history, check out Dunster. Not only is the castle a worthy visit (and home to only three families during its lifetime), the Yarn Market is also worth exploring. Cloth traders built it to keep their products dry during inclement weather (it does rain here on occasions), and the overhanging roof also helped to keep potential customers dry.