A Dartmoor Outlier Above the Teign Valley

© The Automobile Association 2006. © Crown Copyright Licence Number 399221

1 Cross the road, following the signs to the youth hostel. Turn right up the concrete track, then left. When you reach the youth hostel turn right again, this time following signs for Heltor Farm. The steep path leads uphill through delightful oak, then beech woodland. At a T-junction of paths turn left and up over some wooden steps by the gate into a field.

2 Follow wooden footpath posts straight up the field. Go through the metal gate, then between granite gateposts; look right to see Heltor Rock. Pass signs for Lower Heltor Farm at a metal gate onto a green lane; turn left.

3 Follow the footpath signs left then right round the farmhouse to meet a track. Turn left up the farm drive, which becomes a tarmac lane.

4 At the top of the lane turn left (signs for Bridford). After 200yds (183m) turn left over a stile up the narrow fenced permissive path to Heltor, from where you can enjoy an amazing panorama. Retrace your steps to the road and turn left.

5 The lane eventually bends left, then right, to reach the edge of Bridford. Turn right down a small steep lane signed 'Parish Hall & Church'. Follow the path round the churchyard, down steps and right to find the Bridford Inn.

6 Turn left from the pub and follow the lane through the centre of the village. Take the third lane (Neadon Lane) on the right, by a telephone box. Just past where a bridleway joins (from the left) the lane dips to the right, downhill; take the left fork ahead to pass Westbirch Farm on the right. Turn left at the track to Birch Down Farm. Continue over two stiles by the barn and across the field, keeping the wire fence to your right. Go over the stile and up the right-hand edge of the next field to a stile in the top corner. Then cross over a tumbledown granite wall and carry straight on through an area of gorse bushes, heading towards a footpath signpost. Cross a stile by some beech trees.

7 Continue along the top of the field, through two metal gates and down a green lane to reach Lower Lowton Farm. Turn right to a footpath signpost, and follow the bridleway right (signed 'Woodlands'). Keep to the bridleway past a new looking barn on the left, then turn right through a wooden gate and downhill on a narrow green lane. Cross a track between the fields via two gates, then through a small wooden gate. Continue down the deeply banked green lane until you reach a surfaced lane.

8 Turn left through the middle gate, signed 'Byway to Steps Bridge'. At the edge of Bridford Wood (by the National Trust sign) turn right following the footpath signposts. The path is fairly narrow and quite steep. Go left, then right, to cross a sandy track, keeping downhill. The path then runs to the left, now high above the river to Steps Bridge where it meets the road opposite the café. Turn left here to return to your car.