You can also find out more about WHere is Wilhelm of Prussia being crowned German Emperor? In which year did Ian Botham debut in a Test match? How long can sea anemones live? We pondered these questions as we sat outside Heddon orchard Bothy and listened to the river gurgle down the steep valley. (for answers, see * below). On my knees I had a large Penguin book of trivia (91 edition), gifted to me by an old guest who wrote on the flyleaf, “This is your sole entertainment.”
In some respects, they were right. The bothy – a 19th-century apple store turned bare-bones bolthole – has nothing. No electricity. No running water – just space for sleeping and access to a loo, 100 metres away. It has all the essentials.
Scotland is more commonly associated with bothies. Since 2015, The National Trust has opened several “camps with wall” that can be booked in the South-West, such as Heddon Orchard (a converted stable) and Foreland. This spring the NT unveiled a new one at West Challacombe, above the seaside village of Combe Martin, where five-star views cost from just £15 a night for exclusive use. Three places are conveniently located along the Exmoor Coast in North Devon. They make it easy for you to plan a cheap bothy-tobothy weekend. South West Coast Path Or other trails. Combe Martin, and Lynton between Foreland Heddon can be reached from Barnstaple by bus. Each bothy has a pub within walking distance, despite its wild feel.
“The bothies are about getting more people into nature – we’re fighting to keep affordable accommodation down here,” said Amy U’Ren, the National Trust’s Volunteering & Community Officer for West Exmoor. She took my husband and I on a tour of the gorse-bright, green slopes at West Challacombe. The NT is working slowly to improve the biodiverseness of this former sheep pasture, which covers 41 hectares. “It’s exciting – we’re at the start of the project,” Amy added. “It’s about restoring nature and natural processes: sowing wildflowers, digging ponds, reconnecting rivers to floodplains, using pigs, cows and Exmoor ponies for grazing – all to create a mix of habitats.” Here, 20,000 trees were planted so far.
The two-bedroomed bothy sits in the middle of it all, a renovated stone barn with full-width sliding doors and sleeping platforms. The toilet is located a quarter mile away, in a 15th century outbuilding. West Challacombe Manor – a rather more refined National Trust place to stay. We were satisfied. Having toured the sweeping site, we sauntered into Combe Martin for vital supplies – wine and beer – and climbed up to raise a toast atop Little Hangman cliff. The early evening was a dreamy one, with the low sun scattering diamonds across the Bristol Channel and ferocious cliffs rolling either side. After a quick camping stove supper, we returned to the bothy. Night had not fallen so much as exploded.
My wafer-thin mattress and the spine-tingling owl calls kept me awake. But what a wonderful morning! The grass was glistening with dew, the songbirds were in bloom, and the sky was blush-blue. It was as if I had stepped into a Coleridge poetry. A perfect day for a hike.
From West Challacombe it’s about seven miles east along the South West Coast Path to the Heddon Valley, and 9.5 miles from there to Foreland Point – a spectacular two-day hike. But we chose a route that was more daring. The previous day, we parked in Heddon and walked up the 318-metre Great Hangman – England’s tallest sea cliff – via the coast path. We planned to take a different route back and cross the 349-metre Holdstone Hill. Then, we would continue to Foreland. After spending the night there, we would return to Heddon to spend our final night. The plan on paper sounded exhausting and complex, but it was in line with bothying’s adventurous spirit.
It was a glorious mix too, combining the best of the coast path – hidden Woody Bay, idyllic Lee Abbey Tea Cottage – with other gems. For example, though it is just millimetres off the official coast route on the Ordnance Survey Map, the wide higher path east from Heddon that leads to a Roman Fortlet offers a very different perspective. The route to Lynton via Hollerday Hill: here you get a gull’s eye lookout over the Valley of Rocks, before a leafy path leads to the remains of Hollerday House, mysteriously burned down in 1913 – some say by suffragettes.
We were exhausted by the time we found Foreland bothy. It was hidden in a cleft and had a view of the sea. Despite being exhausted, we still hiked a full mile to Countisbury’s Blue Ball Inn – money saved on accommodation allowed for splurges on dinner. While we walked there, the low sea mist made the shore romantic and soft. Deer were grazing in the golden rays. On the return, at nautical twilight, a peachy ribbon blurred the horizon, while the full moon glared like a second sun – no need for torches. We would have missed all of it if we had not been chatting.
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I had a bad night’s sleep, but I was eager to start our third walk. First we headed east, passing an Australian, also on her third day – though, in her case, day three of a full 630-mile South West Coast Path hike. I envied her trip; she envied us, as we had both wild camped the night before.
We eventually circled west using the Coleridge Way We swam in the East Lyn River, which was surrounded by woods and swirled through its gorge. We had lunch at WatersmeetA fishing lodge, now a National Trust tearoom, is located in a deep valley with a lot of trees. Blue tits will eat any crumbs you leave behind. We then continued on the coast path at Lynton following the classic route all the way back to Heddon. The rain briefly soaked the mossy fingers of the sessile trees, making them look even more magical.
Amy had said that Heddon Orchard is especially popular with families – there are nature trails and a beach nearby, as well as the bothy. Heddon Orchard is especially popular with families, Amy had said – there are nature trails and a beach nearby, and the Hunters Inn The pub next door. Sitting outside the bothy, with a book of Penguin trivia in hand, I saw Derek, the pub peacock, peering into the windows of the guest rooms like he was the most majestic Peeping Tom. A buzzard then soared. The wood pigeons also began to coo. And the sun slowly crept out of valley. It was a fascinating, slow transition from light into shade. Entertainment? Entertainment?
* Answers: Versailles: 1977; 100 Years
