Latest news with #Exmoor
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Popular Exmoor footbridge closed over safety fears
A popular footbridge in Exmoor has been shut over safety Hinds Pitt bridge, near the Tarr Steps circular walk, in Somerset, has been deemed unsafe after structural National Park Authority (ENPA) said it was working on a plan for a long-term replacement, reinstating public access and recreation manager, Dan Barnett, said: "The bridge has been there since the 1950s and some key parts of the steel structure have deteriorated to a point where they are no longer safe." He said while they hoped to replace the bridge, the process would "take some time" to develop due to seeking agreement from relevant landowners and raising the "considerable funds required".Mr Barnett said temporary modifications of the bridge were possible, and they were looking into it "urgently" to allow the bridge to open while they planned for its replacement."In the meantime, the Tarr Steps site is otherwise open for everyone to enjoy, including short walks there and back on either side of the river and all the longer walks in the area are fully open too," he said."The popular long distance footpath the Two Moors Way is still passable using an alternative route on the west bank of the river," he added.
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘Five-star Exmoor views for £15 a night': a bothy-to-bothy walk along the North Devon coast
Where was Wilhelm of Prussia crowned German emperor? Which year did Ian Botham make his Test match debut? And how long can a sea anemone live? These were the big questions we considered, sitting outside Heddon Orchard Bothy, listening to the river gurgle through the steep valley (for answers, see * below). I had a fat Penguin book of trivia (1991 edition) balanced on my knees, gifted by a past guest who'd written on the yellowing flyleaf: 'This is your only entertainment.' The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. In some ways they were right. The bothy – a 19th-century apple store turned bare-bones bolthole – has nothing. No electricity. No running water – just space for sleeping and access to a loo, 100 metres away. In other ways it has everything you really need. Bothies are more often associated with Scotland. But since 2015, the National Trust has opened a scattering of bookable 'camps with walls' in the south-west, including Heddon Orchard and Foreland (a converted stable). This spring the NT unveiled a new one at West Challacombe, above the seaside village of Combe Martin, where five-star views cost from just £15 a night for exclusive use. Well-spaced along North Devon's Exmoor coast, these three spots make it easy to plan a low-cost bothy-to-bothy walking weekend, using the South West Coast Path or other trails. Both Combe Martin and Lynton (between Foreland and Heddon) can be reached by bus from Barnstaple station, so you don't need a car. And, although wild-feeling, each bothy is within walking distance of a pub. 'The bothies are about getting more people into nature – we're fighting to keep affordable accommodation down here,' said Amy U'Ren, the National Trust's Volunteering & Community Officer for West Exmoor. She was showing me and my husband around the green, gorse-bright slopes of West Challacombe, 41 hectares (100 acres) of former sheep pasture that the NT is slowly working to make more biodiverse. 'It's exciting – we're at the start of the project,' Amy added. 'It's about restoring nature and natural processes: sowing wildflowers, digging ponds, reconnecting rivers to floodplains, using pigs, cows and Exmoor ponies for grazing – all to create a mix of habitats.' So far, 20,000 trees have been planted here. In the midst of all this sits the bothy, an old stone barn freshly fitted with sleeping platforms and full-width doors that fling open to the outside world. The loo is a quarter-mile away, in an outbuilding of 15th-century West Challacombe Manor – a rather more refined National Trust place to stay. But we were more than content. Having toured the sweeping site, we sauntered into Combe Martin for vital supplies – wine and beer – and climbed up to raise a toast atop Little Hangman cliff. It was the early evening of dreams, low sun scattering diamonds on the Bristol Channel, ferocious headlands rolling on either side. Then we headed back to the bothy for a camping-stove supper as night not so much fell as exploded, the moon so bright it cast our shadows on the grass. I didn't sleep well, thanks to my wafer-thin mat and the spine-tingling calls of owls. But what a morning! Dew-glistened grass, songbirds in the blossom, blush-blue skies. It was like stepping into a Coleridge poem. The perfect day for a walk. From West Challacombe it's about seven miles east along the South West Coast Path to the Heddon Valley, and 9.5 miles from there to Foreland Point – a spectacular two-day hike. But we decided to plot a bolder route. We'd parked at Heddon the previous day and then walked to West Challacombe via the coast path, up 318-metre Great Hangman, England's highest sea cliff. Our plan was to follow a different course back, across the top of 349-metre Holdstone Hill, and continue through to Foreland, stay there, then return to Heddon for our last night, making the most of Exmoor's combe-dipping, stream-tracing trails. It sounds tiring and complicated on paper, but in reality it felt in keeping with bothying's adventurous spirit. It was a glorious mix too, combining the best of the coast path – hidden Woody Bay, idyllic Lee Abbey Tea Cottage – with other gems. For instance, though only millimetres from the official coast path on the Ordnance Survey map, the broad higher path east of Heddon, rising towards a Roman fortlet, affords a remarkably different perspective. Likewise, the route into Lynton via Hollerday Hill: here you get a gull's eye lookout over the Valley of Rocks, before a leafy path leads to the remains of Hollerday House, mysteriously burned down in 1913 – some say by suffragettes. We were weary by the time we finally found Foreland bothy, hidden in a cleft with a sea view. Despite being tired, we still hiked the mile to Countisbury's Blue Ball Inn – money saved on accommodation allowed for splurges on dinner. As we strolled there, a low sea mist cast the shore into romantic soft focus and deer grazed in the golden rays. On the return, at nautical twilight, a peachy ribbon blurred the horizon, while the full moon glared like a second sun – no need for torches. It was pure magic, and if we hadn't been bothying we'd have missed it all. Sign up to The Traveller Get travel inspiration, featured trips and local tips for your next break, as well as the latest deals from Guardian Holidays after newsletter promotion I didn't sleep any better, but was still eager for our third day's walk. First we headed east, passing an Australian, also on her third day – though, in her case, day three of a full 630-mile South West Coast Path hike. I envied her journey; she envied our bothies, having wild camped for the first time the previous night. We left her to her epic walk, and eventually circled back west, using the Coleridge Way to take in Exmoor's swollen hills then dip to wood-flanked East Lyn River as it swirled and gushed through its plunging gorge. We had lunch at Watersmeet, a fishing lodge turned National Trust tearoom in a deep, wooded valley where blue tits eat your crumbs, then picked up the coast path again at Lynton, this time following the classic route back to Heddon. It rained briefly, which made the sessile oaks' mossy, twisted fingers seem all the more fairytale. It dried up by the time we climbed the primrose-lined path to the bothy itself. Heddon Orchard is especially popular with families, Amy had said – there are nature trails and a beach nearby, and the Hunters Inn pub opposite. Indeed, sitting outside the bothy with the book of Penguin trivia, I watched Derek, the pub's peacock, peering through the guest-room windows like the most majestic peeping Tom. Then a buzzard soared. And wood pigeons began to coo. And the sun sidled out of the valley, a fascinating slow creep from light to shade. Entertainment? We had it in spades. * Answers: Versailles; 1977; 100 years The National Trust runs bothies at West Challacombe (from £15 a night), Foreland (from £25) and Heddon Orchard (from £30), all sleeping up to four, all exclusive use. Pack for camping, minus the tent
Telegraph
25-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Farmers face losing harvests under Starmer's Brexit reset
Farmers have said they face losing harvests because crucial agricultural chemicals will be banned under Labour's deal with the European Union. The UK will have to ban almost 30 widely used pesticides and fungicides after Sir Keir Starmer committed Britain to following EU laws. Growers warned that removing them could lead to significant falls in food production, further eroding their already tight profit margins. A raft of products will have to be taken off shelves, including treatments to prevent potato blight, which threatened crops during last year's wet winter. The move will be yet another blow to struggling family farmers already reeling from Rachel Reeves's inheritance tax raid. Olly Harrison, a cereal farmer in the North West, said he would have lost his entire potato crop last year had the treatment for potato blight been banned. 'It would be devastating if we had to ban all these products,' he said. 'The UK has taken a more science-led approach since Brexit on pesticides, whereas EU regulation is often based on emotion and green lobbying. 'We need to paddle our own canoe when it comes to food security.' James Wright, a farmer from Exmoor who stood as a Tory candidate at the last election, said many of the pesticides available in Britain are 'cheaper than in the EU'. 'There's a lot of worry, particularly in arable farming at the moment, because the margins are really tight,' he said. 'The arable guys are really struggling at the moment, prices are way down, and this is just another kick.' Britain now faces having to ban the chemicals because previous Tory governments took a lighter touch approach to regulation than the EU after Brexit. The deal Sir Keir agreed with Brussels - under which he also allowed EU fishermen access to British waters for 12 years - explicitly states that pesticide regulations will be covered by the agreement. A paper setting out the 'common understanding' says that the pact 'should ensure the application of the same rules at all times by providing for timely dynamic alignment of the rules applicable to and in the United Kingdom acting in respect of Great Britain with all the relevant European Union rules'. The dossier adds that 'where necessary to ensure the European Union's level of food, sanitary, and phytosanitary safety' this should be done 'through the immediate application of the relevant European Union rules' in the UK. The deal includes scope for Britain to negotiate 'limited exceptions' to following EU regulations, which would have to be agreed with Brussels. But it makes clear these will only be acceptable where they do not 'lead to lower standards as compared to European Union rules' and that they respect the principle that only animals and goods compliant with European Union rules move into the EU. Brussels is renowned for being heavy-handed on pesticides, with farmers accusing the EU Commission of becoming captive to green lobbying groups. As a result a wide gap has grown between the two sides' laws, with the UK allowing the use of 28 existing and new products that the EU has not permitted. Earlier this year, Christophe Hansen, the EU's agriculture commissioner, suggested that Brussels would take a tough line on pesticides in the talks. Addressing farmers in Dublin, he vowed to introduce 'stricter' import controls on crops grown with chemicals banned by Brussels. 'This is something farmers do not understand, consumers do not understand either, and we have to be bolder on that,' he said. In return for Britain following its rules, the EU will drop almost all import checks on agricultural produce, slashing costly red tape for exporters to the continent. Farmers have widely welcomed the improved market access, with the border controls and bureaucracy put in place since Brexit negatively affecting many growers. But they have also warned that dynamic alignment will come with major pitfalls, particularly on pesticides, which are vital to the industry. Hazel Doonan, the head of crop protection and agronomy at the Agricultural Industries Confederation, said one benefit of Brexit had been the UK's nimbler approach to pesticide regulation. She said that four new active substances - two herbicides and two fungicides - had come onto the market in Britain that are still awaiting approval in the EU. Rules on weedkiller She also said there were questions over whether Britain will now have to apply EU conditions on products that are authorised for use. In particular, owing to the UK's wet weather, farmers in the north and west often use glyphosate, a weedkiller, to dry out their crops pre-harvest. The practice helps with harvests and reduces crop drying costs, but it is now banned in the EU. 'We have and will highlight to Defra that if we are to lose some active substances that are currently available then that could mean that growers face, in some areas and for some crops, very few alternatives to tackling weeds, pests and diseases,' she said. Environmental groups welcomed the move as a 'massive win for human health, nature and British farmers' and described the pesticides as 'harmful'. The Pesticide Action Network has compiled a list of 28 products that are banned in the EU but not in the UK, and 15 of them are actively marketed in Britain. Josie Cohen from the charity said: 'The agreement to align with EU pesticide standards is a massive win for human health, nature and British farmers. ' The reset deal draws a line under the past five years during which the UK government has been quietly weakening our national pesticide standards.' Downing Street did not deny that Britain faces having to ban more pesticides, but said the new EU agreement will give ministers input into EU policy making. A Government spokesman said: 'Our new agreement with the EU will support British farming by opening up access to EU markets and making agrifood trade with our biggest trading partner cheaper and easier. 'It will cut red tape and costs, benefitting British producers, retailers and consumers. We will be having detailed negotiations with the EU, and it's important not to get ahead of those discussions.'
Sydney Morning Herald
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Farming left them in deep debt – so they let nature take back the land
WILDING ★★★½ (PG) 75 minutes Isabella Tree and her husband, Charlie Burrell, were deep in debt when they stopped farming 25 years ago. Their soil, which was never very fertile, had been further degraded by pesticides, fertiliser and all the other chemicals they had been using to coax their crops to grow. Seeing no future for the farm, they sold their dairy herds and agricultural machinery, paid their debts, and let nature take its course. It was not an easy decision. To give Burrell his full title, he is Sir Charles Burrell, 10th Baronet of Knepp, a West Sussex estate that has been in his family since 1787. Selling the land and moving on from his ancestral home, a castellated mansion alongside the medieval ruins of Knepp Castle, was unthinkable. But he and Isabella were up for an experiment. They were both environmentalists, painfully aware of the many species of birds and mammals heading for extinction in Britain, and they wanted to see if anything would change if the land were allowed to return to its natural state. Tree has written a book about this transformation and she guides us through David Allen's documentary with her account of the couple's experiences as the land gradually changes its shape and its character. The couple's most radical decision is prompted by a meeting with Dutch ecologist Frans Vera, who bucks conventional wisdom with his belief that the landscape can be enhanced by permitting large animals to roam free. It's too late for Charlie and Isabella to find an aurochs, it has been extinct for centuries. But they bring in the next best thing – old English longhorn cattle, together with Exmoor ponies and, as a substitute for wild boar, Tamworth pigs. All are left to forage for themselves and dig up the ground as they please. There are some early disasters. At a gathering on the estate, one of the ponies raids the catering tent and disrupts a polo game. And later, at a meeting with the local farmers, rewilding is criticised as a potential threat to farmland. Nor do the farmers like the messy appearance of a landscape left to its own devices, and they fear the dangers posed by the spread of invasive plants.
The Age
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Farming left them in deep debt – so they let nature take back the land
WILDING ★★★½ (PG) 75 minutes Isabella Tree and her husband, Charlie Burrell, were deep in debt when they stopped farming 25 years ago. Their soil, which was never very fertile, had been further degraded by pesticides, fertiliser and all the other chemicals they had been using to coax their crops to grow. Seeing no future for the farm, they sold their dairy herds and agricultural machinery, paid their debts, and let nature take its course. It was not an easy decision. To give Burrell his full title, he is Sir Charles Burrell, 10th Baronet of Knepp, a West Sussex estate that has been in his family since 1787. Selling the land and moving on from his ancestral home, a castellated mansion alongside the medieval ruins of Knepp Castle, was unthinkable. But he and Isabella were up for an experiment. They were both environmentalists, painfully aware of the many species of birds and mammals heading for extinction in Britain, and they wanted to see if anything would change if the land were allowed to return to its natural state. Tree has written a book about this transformation and she guides us through David Allen's documentary with her account of the couple's experiences as the land gradually changes its shape and its character. The couple's most radical decision is prompted by a meeting with Dutch ecologist Frans Vera, who bucks conventional wisdom with his belief that the landscape can be enhanced by permitting large animals to roam free. It's too late for Charlie and Isabella to find an aurochs, it has been extinct for centuries. But they bring in the next best thing – old English longhorn cattle, together with Exmoor ponies and, as a substitute for wild boar, Tamworth pigs. All are left to forage for themselves and dig up the ground as they please. There are some early disasters. At a gathering on the estate, one of the ponies raids the catering tent and disrupts a polo game. And later, at a meeting with the local farmers, rewilding is criticised as a potential threat to farmland. Nor do the farmers like the messy appearance of a landscape left to its own devices, and they fear the dangers posed by the spread of invasive plants.
