Waterfall at Watersmeet
Standing at Watersmeet some 2,300 years ago you would have seen smoke rising from the hilltops, a sign of people living close by. Two fortified farmsteads known as Myrtleberry North and South camp provided a protected home.
Thatched round houses were lived in by Iron Age people and their animals. The village would have been surrounded by ramparts and steep-sided hills. Whilst not much evidence remains, the views are stunning from these now-scheduled monuments and well worth the climb.
Watersmeet is surrounded by 2000 acres of estate and is a dramatic river gorge clothed with ancient woodlands. At the meeting place of the East Lyn River and Hoar Oak Water stands Watersmeet House. Built in 1832 as a fishing and hunting lodge for Walter Stevenson Halliday, it is now a haven for many visitors. Originally a fishing lodge and romantic retreat, with connections to the romantic poets, since 1901 it has been a tea room. There are many paths leading along the riversides and up the valley sides to Lynmouth, Rockford and Countisbury.
Look out for otters, red deer, buzzards, dippers, herons and a variety of flowers and insects. You may spot the local whortleberry, a small bluish-black berry often used to make jam. Like a wild bilberry, it grows on shrubs from July to August.
A short walk upstream from Watersmeet House is Ash Bridge, a tranquil spot surrounded by crystal-clear waters and shady ancient woodland. Look out for dippers bobbing on the rocks, and if you’re lucky, the salmon that come here to breed.
For the more adventurous, canoeing is possible on the East Lyn River from Watersmeet House down to Lynmouth between 1 October and 31 March if there’s enough water.
