HARTLAND SOUL

The nearby village of Hartland, with its cafés, pubs and clutch of artisan workshops and galleries, marks the start of a lovely walk inland along the Abbey River to 14th-century St Nectan’s Church, its tall spire (reputedly the highest in Devon) proudly visible on the hillside. The route loops through woodland, passing the British Geographical Society’s Magnetic Observatory, and rounding the coast at Dyer’s Lookout.

St Nectan’s Church sits above Hartland Abbey, which lies a mile or so inland in a valley winding to the sea. Built for the Augustinian monks in the 12th century, the monastery was the last in England to be dissolved by Henry VIII. Set in 50 acres of grounds (and open to the public between late March and early October), it also has a glittering screen career, appearing in the BBC’s recent 13-part adaptation of Malory Towers, and in the 2018 film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

The abbey’s gorgeous 15th-century Blackpool Mill Cottage is a star too, appearing as a charismatic location in the BBC’s The Night Manager (with Tom Hiddleston), the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility (Emma Thompson), and the 2006 mini-series The Shell Seekers (Vanessa Redgrave). You can walk from the abbey to the cottage through a woodland bejewelled with snowdrops and bluebells in spring, or via the coast path from Hartland Quay. And if you’re really smitten, you can rent the cottage for a holiday (hartlandabbey.com).

From Blackpool Mill, the coast path leads north for two miles of beaches and spectacular cliffs that culminate in rocky Hartland Point, with its remote lighthouse perched just above the pounding Atlantic waves.