- Distance:3.25 miles
- Walk grade:Moderate-Strenuous
- Start from:Jacobstow Church
- Recommended footwear:Walking boots or wellies (involves lanes with fords)
Highlights
- Geocaching trail
- Jacobstow church
- Woodland rich in wildlife at Poulza
- Nearby pub at Wainhouse Corner
Directions
- From Jacobstow church, head south for about 30m to take the lane to the left, opposite the white house with a wagon wheel on the front.
- Go down the lane passing the school on your right and follow it all the way to Poulza, crossing a small bridge over a ford at the bottom of the valley and keep left on the track.
- Follow the track past the farmyard at Higher Poulza and keep going on the track until you see a footpath waymarker about 50m before the lane ends at gate.
- Follow the footpath to the left at the waymark into some woods.
- Follow the path through the woods keeping right along the wall and over a stile into a large field.
- Do not show any threatening behaviour towards calves (approaching them closely, making loud noises or walking between a calf and its mother) as you may provoke the mother to defend her young. Generally the best plan is to walk along the hedges.
- If cows approach you, do not run away as this will encourage them to chase you. Stand your ground and stretch out your arms to increase your size.
- Avoid taking dogs in fields with cows, particularly with calves. If you must, release the dog if cows charge as the dog will outrun the cows and the cows will generally chase the dog rather than you.
- Cross the field to the right-hand corner and go through the gate, turning left onto a track.
- Follow the track as it emerges onto a lane and go straight ahead down the lane passing South Dinnicombe farm after which it emerges at a T-Junction onto another lane opposite a pink house.
- Turn left on the lane and follow it back towards Jacobstow
- At the bottom of the valley the lane crosses a stream where wild garlic grows
- After ascending from the valley, turn left at the junction signposted to Jacobstow
There is a trail of 17 geocaches laid around this route by LizMar2010. The first on the trail is here.
Jacobstow parish church is dedicated to St James and there is evidence of a former Saxon church on the same site. An ancient altar stone is in the south aisle chapel: it was the main altar stone up to about 1550 in the reign of Edward VI when the Church of England was becoming more Protestant and an act required that all altar stones should be removed. This one became a footbridge over a stream. It was found and moved back to the churchyard as a seat in the 1800s, and installed in the south aisle chapel in 1972.
Being somewhat in away from civilisation, originally post wasn't delivered to Poulza but instead to a farm off the Headon Cross main road consequently known as "Lower Poulza Post". Although no longer the postal hub for Lower Poulza, Lower Poulza Post has carved a new niche for itself as Britain's only naturist farm campsite. Don't bother packing your binoculars though - this walk doesn't pass very close.
If you are crossing fields with cows in:
In spring wild garlic can be harvested. Unlike domestic garlic, the leaves are the useful bit rather than the bulb, so cut/pull off the leaves (don't pull up the plants). The leaves are quite delicate so you can use quite large quantities in cooking, so you'll want to harvest it in the kind of quantities you'd buy salad leaves in from the supermarket. There are some lillies that look fairly similar (and some are poisonous) but the smell is the giveaway: if it doesn't smell of garlic/onions then it's not wild garlic.
