While the Beach Haven is a mere 10-minute walk to the beaches and coast path, Bude is actually a wonderful base to explore not just Cornwall but Devon too. We’re only about 5 miles from the border!
One of our favourite spots when we venture ‘abroad’ is Lydford Gorge, on the edge of Dartmoor. It’s only about 30 miles from Bude so an easy and pleasant journey. Owned by the National Trust it’s best known for the spectacular Whitelady Waterfall and the ‘Devil’s Cauldron’, a swirling pothole of gushing water, deep in the gorge.
The steep-sided gorge is a spectacular chasm in the hills, about a mile and a half long with the waterfall and Devil’s Cauldron at either end. This provides a lovely 3-mile round walk which takes at least a couple of hours due to the tricky terrain. It can be wet and slippery so good walking footwear is essential.
We arrived at lunchtime so took advantage of the lovely tea room and garden near the entrance for some lunch before our walk. Proving that you can take a Cornishman out of Cornwall but you can’t take Cornwall out of the Cornishman, we both decided on a pasty and cream tea – potentially a risky choice in Devon! Being just ten miles the wrong side of the border we thought we should be ok though and were rewarded with a reassuringly good pasty which obviously had good origins! Despite being in Devon, our cream tea had to be done the Cornish way – jam first, cream on top. The alternative just doesn’t bear thinking about! 😉 Not being of the Instagram generation, it didn’t occur to me to photograph the offering until after I’d eaten it! Take my word though, it was excellent and very reasonably priced.
As it was approaching Halloween, the National Trust had created an excellent ‘Halloween Trail’ through a section of the woods with some very spooky goings-on. We didn’t have any children with us today but couldn’t resist a few childish photos anyway!! 🙂
We have some great offers in the low season at the Beach Haven so check out our Special Offers page if you fancy a relaxing autumnal break.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lydford-gorge
https://www.countryfile.com/go-outdoors/days-out/walk-lydford-gorge-devon/
