FAMILY FAVOURITES
motivate little legs to walk back up the big hill – this always seems to help us a lot. Older children would enjoy this walk. Landcombe Cove is accessed off the a379, Dartmouth to Kingsbridge road and we parked in a layby just beyond Blackpool sands and walked up the road 200 meters towards strete, then turned left into the field, marked south West Coast Path. If this layby is full you would have to park in Strete and walk down the road a bit. The cove is just off the main south West Coast Path, but it is easy to see, you just walk down the hill and then follow the path along the edge of the stream to the beach. We walked the length of the beach, in the direction of Blackpool sands first and marvelled at the small group of houses up on the hill that look out over Start Bay, with their steep steps down to the beach. Then we walked the other way and as the tide was low, we looked round the corner into Forest Cove and then soon after that would be slapton sands. make sure you take all the precautions with tide, weather etc. and you might get this stunning beach all to yourselves. and to my final and possibly my favourite Family Fave
ever: a visit to Start Point Lighthouse. I have written about this lovely, buggy friendly walk before, in the days when all our walks needed to be suitable for the pushchair but we hadn’t been to start Point for a while. On the most beautiful day in march we drove to the car park (where you have to pay to park) and walked the mile down the hill to the lighthouse. It was a stunning, warm, clear day with phenomenal views out over Start Bay, Beesands, Hallsands, Slapton Sands and all the rest. We have always wanted to visit the Lighthouse but we have been told to wait until Tom was old enough to climb it himself, as small children are not allowed to be carried up the steps. We met the guide at the bottom of the lighthouse and he told us lots about its history, the pigsties, chicken coops, the families that lived in the lighthouse, the children’s walks to school up start Point – it all came alive. The climb inside the lighthouse to the top is very steep and the last few steps are more like a ladder and, as long as you are prepared for this, the reward at the top is amazing. The beautiful, spinning, glass set of prisms, that can reflect the light for such huge distances, are beautiful to watch going round and the views are outstanding. On the way up, you stop at each of the floors, for a little talk about what you can see, including the interesting red sector light that shines out over Start Bay and also to look down into the coves and hear about where the big boats pulled in carrying the man- power and the stone to build the lighthouse between 1834 and 1836.
On the practical side, there is a toilet and a few
souvenirs and books to buy as well as some drinks for sale. The tour takes about 45 minutes and our children
(4 and 6yrs) found it very accessible and interesting. It would be best to check the opening times online before you go and decent foot wear is advisable. There is a lot of technical information on the Trinity House website (search for start Point Lighthouse, Trinity House) and The start Point, Devon website has more of the visitor information, with ticket prices, opening times and so on (
www.startpointdevon.co.uk). I could say so much more about this but I will leave that to the tour guides, as the ones that were there when we arrived were fantastic. I think you will enjoy this as much as we did!
Start Point Lighthouse © Philip Halling
If you’ve missed any of Hettie’s columns in this magazine or want to research her recommendations, they are available on our website - go to
http://www.bythedart.co.uk/topics/family_favourites/
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