Hunter's Inn.

It was dry and sunny at times today so we headed out for a walk to Hunter's Inn (Lorna Doone) at the edge of Exmoor. After driving over the moor and following a steep but spectacular road we found ourselves in the dramatic valley that has been attracting visitors since Victorian times. It was a bonus to find a place to park by the side of the road rather than having to pay for the car park. We walked up to the inn then made a sharp turn back onto the path that runs along the Heddon valley to the stony cove of Heddon's Mouth.

The path rose and fell beside the small, fast running Heddon river through airy woods.

On either side steep scree slopes rose high above the narrow valley.

Eventually we came upon the pebble beach which was said to have been used by smugglers. 

Although I prefer to photograph only the scenery there must have been at least 20 other people there enjoying the dramatic scenery.

While the path had often been made up of angular red rocks from the scree slopes the beach itself was made up of rounded pebbles ranging from a few inches to 2ft long. The mostly grey stones are smooth and lovely to hold. Some have lines of white granite running through them and to me they are works of art and yes we did bring a couple back to add to the stone collection on the raised beds by the house.

Although the River Heddon is about 20ft wide when it arrives at the beach it conveniently disappears under a pebble ridge and then comes out 10ft further down the beach. Even though we were retracing our steps for the return journey there were many new views that we had missed on our way down. Even the drive back was stunning as first we wound our way up to the top of the moor and then out across the moorland. To one side at steep moor looked almost mountainous, sheep meandered across the road and on the other side was more moor ending in cliffs and the open sea. Not a sign of habitation, it felt like we were in a remote wilderness but actually were less than 10 miles from home.

Yesterday, when we had been walking around Linda's garden I had been taken with the shuttlecock ferns growing there. So when I saw them growing alongside the path today somehow several small ferns made their way into my bag. And have since been planted in a damp corner of the garden that I had been planning to weed anyway.