EXMOOR RIDES
Sample itinerary - please note all rides are bespoke.
Day 1: In the case of overseas visitors, you will be collected from your London hotel or Heathrow airport and driven southwest through Berkshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire to Ashwick Manor Hotel, located in the picturesque Barle valley within the boundaries of the Exmoor National Park in Somerset. We will stop for either a pub or picnic lunch enroute. Ashwick House offers old world hospitality and the chance to unwind in its elegant and secluded grounds.
Day 2: After breakfast we will the meet the horses that you will be riding during your stay on Exmoor before setting off for the day’s ride. We will follow the River Barle upstream through its winding and scenic valley where the fast flowing waters cascade dramatically over boulders and rocks on their way downstream. We cross the river by the ancient Tarr Steps and make our way to Hawkridge where on this Monday every year a small horse show and afternoon of entertainment known as the Hawkridge Revelry, is held. We will spend some time here enjoying the unique atmosphere of the occasion and eat a picnic lunch, before re-crossing the River Barle and heading out over the open moorland of Winsford Hill, a heath-covered common where three Bronze Age Wambarrows mark the highest point, with good views to Dunkery, Dartmoor and the Blackdown Hills. This is a likely place to see the purebred Exmoor ponies of the well-known Anchor herd. At Spire Cross there is a standing stone inscribed 'Caratacus Nepus', which means a relative of Caratacus, possibly the British leader who resisted the Roman invasion. The ride finishes as we reach the Royal Oak Pub in Winsford Village sometime that afternoon.
Day 3:: After breakfast we ride out of Winsford and follow the river Exe upstream to its headwaters and then ride over Kitmoor Heath to Dunkery Beacon, at 1705 feet, the highest point on Exmoor. It was on this hill that beacons were lit in the sixteenth century to warn the country of the invading Spanish Armada in the English Channel to the south, and celebratory bonfires are still lit today on special occasions. The views from this vantage point are superb, and we can look out across the Atlantic to the distant Bristol Channel, as well as enjoy a sweeping vista of Exmoor to the west, and the outline of Dartmoor to the south. We will ride on to Cloutsham Farm, a former hunting lodge owned by the Acland family, and designed in the ornate rustic style popular on estates in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. We will break for a light lunch at his delightful property. It was on the balcony of this farmhouse that the incomparable hunting and equestrian artist, Lionel Edwards, painted many of his wonderful works of art. After lunch we will drop down through the ancient sessile woodlands of the National Trust’s Horner Wood before climbing out of this steep and beautiful valley to continue over open moorland past Nutscale Reservoir and back into the sheltered village of Exford and the White Horse Pub. Exford is famous for being home to the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, as well as the hunting centre of Exmoor.
Day 4: Today we ride north into the heart of Exmoor forest, a vast treeless wilderness that comprised the ancient hunting domain of the kings of England. We will ride across open country to the headwaters of Weir Water, and then westwards over Chalk Water and on to the Deer Park. This woodland was planted for hunting purposes by Nicholas Snowe of Oare, the Master of the Exmoor foxhounds, who still draw this covert today, and are often referred to as the “Stars of the West”. We will stop close by to enjoy a picnic lunch. Our ride then leads up Badgeworthy water, and its tributary Hoccombe Water with its deserted medieval settlement. This area of Exmoor is famed as home of the legendary Doones, a family of seventeenth-century outlaws immortalised by R.D. Blackmore’s famous novel, Lorna Doone. On our return to Exford for the evening we recross the infant River Exe where it flows through a dramatic valley at Warrens Farm.
Day 5: Today we will attend a meet of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, who will be hunting in the area. We will follow the hunt’s progress by landrover, however anyone wishing to hunt mounted on that day will be able to do by arrangement. We will decide as the day progresses how long we wish to follow the hunting. Alternatives include a visit to the nearby coast at Porlock. We return to the White Horse in Exford for our final night at this pub.
Day 6: Today we begin our ride at Brendon Two Gates, a famous meeting place for both foxhounds and Staghounds, and ride out across the nearby Chains, a notoriously wild and boggy moorland ridge with its highest point at Chains Barrow - 1,599ft. A path leads along the southern edge of the ridge between Exe Head and Pinkworthy Pond, which dams the headwaters of the River Barle. The pond was created for landowner John Knight around 1830 but its purpose is unknown. Here is Exmoor's most extensive area of blanket bog; typical plants include deer sedge, cotton grasses, cross-leaved heath, bog asphodel, sundew and heath spotted orchid. This is also an area where we are likely to see the some of the wild red deer that comprise Exmoor’s famous herd that is managed to such good effect by the Devon and Somerset Staghounds. We follow the course of the River Barle downstream, crossing at Cornham Ford, close by the Exmoor foxhound kennels, and continue to the moorland village of Simonsbath, enjoying a picnic lunch along the way. As we follow the course of the River Barle we pass many well known Exmoor landmarks; the Eliza mines, Picked Stones, Sherdon Rocks and medieval Landacre Bridge, to name a few. Our final destination of Withypool lies a mile or so beyond Landacre Bridge, and we will spend the night at the cosy Royal Oak Inn.
Day 7: We leave Withypool on the final leg of our ride back to Ashwick House. We ride over Withypool Hill with its commanding views of the Barle Valley, and over Halscombe Allotments to cross the Danesbrook at Willingford Bridge. For lunch today we will drop off the moor and visit the delightful pub in Molland village. Afterwards we continue down the course of the Danesbrook to where it meets the waters of the River Barle at Castle Bridge, and then climb out of the steep valley through Ashwick woods to the Ashwick House Hotel. In the evening we will have dinner with the Yandle family, in their family farmhouse at Exebridge. The house is decorated with many fascinating pieces of hunting memorabilia and wonderful sporting paintings, and no visit to Exmoor can be considered complete without sampling the Yandle’s famous West Country hospitality.
Day 8: After breakfast we leave Exmoor for the drive back to Heathrow or your point of departure.
Notes: All our Exmoor rides are bespoke, therefore we cannot name a price as each one is unique. Please contact us by telephone or email to discuss the nature of your requirements. The organisers reserve the right to alter or modify all itineraries should circumstances necessitate changes. Itineraries normally are normally inclusive of all food, accommodation, transfers, but not drinks and liquid refreshments in the evenings; guests will be responsible for settling these expenses with pubs direct at the end of their stay.
