New walking festival celebrates Autumn

The first North Devon & Exmoor Autumn Walking Festival will take place between Friday 18 and Monday 21 September with over thirty guided and speciality outings over the four days.

The walks cater for most levels of ability ensuring everyone will be able to discover the region’s beautiful and diverse scenery on foot. Exmoor is particularly beautiful at this time of year when there’s still a chance to catch some warm sunshine and the leaves start taking on the golds and russets of autumn.

Organised by West Country Walks, who are well known for their highly successful spring walking festival, and supported by Active Exmoor, the new autumn festival will feature several new routes as well as a number of firm favourites.

Highlights will include fungi forage and deer search walks with an Exmoor National Park ranger and special outings within the North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to mark their 50th anniversary year. Sir Hugh Stuckley will guide a group around the Hartland Abbey estate and their lovely old Blackpool Mill Cottage, which was used in the BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility when it was transformed into ‘Barton Cottage’ as a home for Mrs Dashwood and her three daughters.

The majority of walks are priced from £5 - £6 for adults and £4 - £5 for children. All have a ticket allocation and should be booked in advance; dogs on a lead are welcome on some walks. Reservations can be made online at walkingnorthdevon.co.uk (from early July).

Details about other things to see and do in the area can be found on exmoor.com.