On our brief visit to Exmoor back in June, we spent a pleasant couple of hours at Watersmeet near Lynmouth. The two hours was not enough, but also the weather was quite grey at the time, so we vowed to return.
This place is a beautiful National Trust property just inland from Lynmouth - where two rivers meet and with plenty of woodland walk routes available. We set off early for our drive, but the original planned route was scuppered by a part closure of the A303 - one where wonderful Highways England failed to advise how far it was closed for, so we took our own detour that added a lot to the journey time.
Arriving eventually at Watersmeet, we paid for 4 hours this time so that we had enough time to explore more. There is a steep and well maintained woodland path down from the car park to a couple of bridges that lead to a quaint old fishing lodge that now serves as a Café and the NT shop. The Café has several picnic table and benches outside, mainly on a grassy area alongside the river- a fantastic spot to enjoy one of those gorgeous Devon Cream Teas and a lovely coffee.
Having partaken of the refreshment, we were ready for our stroll around - mainly alongside the river and looking for suitable spots for interesting photos. There are a couple of bridges on the routes, so getting across to the other side is simple enough. There are also many small 'paths' to access the rocks at the edges of the river to allow for creative composition for the photos. The hoped for Autumn colour had not really materialised yet, but I managed to find a few nice spots and below are what I came back with.
We walked for quite a bit of our stay, but without covering any great distance, though the uphill climb to the car park is a bit of an energy sapper at the end of 4 hours of activity.
We left very happy with our wonderful afternoon at one of the most beautiful places we have found around the UK.
For our return journey, I deliberately went a different route, but again Highways England managed to completely ruin the plans - this time with part closure of the M25. Chaos ensued as a great many motorists needed to get off the motorway and into just one lane to exit. At least an hour was lost in this very poorly managed debacle, where also earlier signing of the problem would have seen us take an alternative route. This ensured a much later arrival home than expected, but did not ruin a wonderful day out.