Westward Ho Walks
Westward Ho! is a lovely seaside village in North Devon with a nice beach and some great coastal walking. This circular walk takes you from the town to the nearby Northam Burrows Country Park using a section of the South West Coast Path National Trail.
The park includes fine views over the estuary of the River Torridge with 600 acres of grassy coastal plain, salt marsh, sand dunes and grasslands.
You start the walk on the front in Westward Ho! where you can pick up the waymarked footpath and follow it north to the park. You'll pass the pretty Sandymere before rounding the headland, where there are fine views over the beach and river estuary. The route then passes Appledore Bridge before following a minor road back into the village.
You could extend the walk by continuing east to Appledore. The village is located at the mouth of the River Torridge and includes a ferry service over to Instow where you can pick up the Tarka Trail and visit the lovely Braunton Burrows Nature Reserve and Crow Point. Heading south along the coast path will take you to Buck's Mills woodland nature reserve and Clovelly.
Westward Ho Ordnance Survey Map 
- view and print off detailed OS map
Westward Ho Open Street Map 
- view and print off detailed map
Westward Ho OS Map 
- Mobile GPS OS Map with Location tracking
Westward Ho Open Street Map 
- Mobile GPS Map with Location tracking
Walks near Westward Ho
- Northam Burrows Country Park - Explore over 600 acres of grassy coastal plain, salt marsh, sand dunes and grasslands in this coastal country park in Devon
- South West Coast Path - This incredible 600 mile walk follows the coast from Minehead in Somerset, through Devon and Cornwall and onto the finish point at Poole in Dorset
- Appledore - This pretty Devon village is located at the mouth of the River Torridge, near the towns of Barnstaple and Bideford
- Tarka Trail - This wonderful walk through Devon follows the path taken by Tarka the Otter in the book of that name
- Braunton Burrows - This circular walk explores the expansive sand dune system of a beautiful nature reserve on the North Devon Coast
- Bucks Mills to Clovelly Walk - This walk follows the coastal path from Bucks Mills to Clovelly in North Devon
- Brownsham Wood - This circular walk on the Devon Coast explores the woodland trails of Brownsham Wood before heading to the secluded Mouth Mill beach where you can see the impressive Blackchurch Rock.
- Codden Hill - This circular walk climbs to Codden Hill from the village of Bishop's Tawnton in North Devon
- Instow - This delightful Devon village sits in a lovely spot where the rivers Taw and Torridge meet
- Crow Point - This walk visits the Crow Point Lighthouse near the town of Braunton on the North Devon coast
- Westward Ho to Clovelly - This walk follows a popular section of the South West Coast Path from Westward Ho to Clovelly on the North Devon Coast.
- Westward Ho to Abbotsham - This circular walk takes you from Westward Ho to the neighbouring village of Abbotsham in the North Devon Coast AONB.
Further Information and Other Local Ideas
The village name comes from the title of Charles Kingsley's novel Westward Ho! (1855), which was set in nearby Bideford. The book was a bestseller, and entrepreneurs saw the opportunity to develop tourism in the area.
Just to the west of the village you can visit Peppercombe Castle. Here you will find an Iron Age Hillfort and the small stream of Peppercombe Water which is a little over a kilometre long, but its valley is relatively deep. It ends in a waterfall consisting in a series of cascades, each between 0.5 and 1.5 metres high, that have formed due to the unequal hardness of the different beds of the underlying rock. The area is also geologically significant, with distinctive red cliffs that extend for about 2 km inland. Near here you will also find the little village of Bucks Mills where there's a woodland nature reserve. You can find out more on the Bucks Mills to Clovelly Walk.
Just to the south of nearby Barnstaple you can enjoy a climb to the viewpoint on Codden Hill from the village of Bishop's Tawton. Here you'll find the monument to Caroline Thorpe, wife of local MP Jeremy Thorpe who became embroiled in the Thorpe scandal of the 1970s. There's also some splendid views over the area and waterside trails along the pretty Venn Stream to enjoy.
Photos
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Westward Ho! beach
The seafront at Westward Ho! in North Devon. Twenty-first century apartment blocks can be seen on the left of the image, some still in a state of construction.
Cliff walk at Westward Ho! Devon taken 1967 Cliff walk at Westward Ho! with the rocky shore on the left and the wide sweep of the bay in the distance.
Holy Trinity Church, Westward Ho!
Northam Burrows A large spit jutting out north at the entrance to the Torridge/Taw estuary. This is access land sharing with the Royal North Devon Golf Club.
Northam Burrows. Rough coastal grassland grazed by horses.
Coastline at Northam Burrows
The beach at Northam Burrows