Romantic Walks

For a truly special valentine’s day this year, why not head to the coast for a romantic stroll along the South West Coast Path before watching the sun set?

Discover secret coves and secluded beaches that can only be reached on foot. Or follow in the footsteps of generations of writers and lovers inspired by woodland walks and windswept cliffs to create some of the most profound and passionate love stories.

Daphne Du Maurrier's Loving Spirit

This walk takes in wonderful countryside, wooded creeks and stunning coastal views and takes you past the church where Daphne Du Maurier was married and which featured in her first novel The Loving Spirit.

Exmoor - Land of the Romantic Poets

Exmoor provided the romantic poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, Wordsworth and Percy Bysshe Shelley with material for their work around the turn of the 19th Century. However, nowhere on Exmoor has more literary associations than Badgeworthy, the location for Lorna Doone, the tragic heroine of the R.D Blackmore’s classic novel.

A Walk Along Chesil Beach - The French Lieutenant's Woman

A walk along the Fleet Lagoon and Chesil Beach, with its abundance of birds and rare plants, to the picturesque village of Langton Herring. Nearby Lyme Regis is where John Fowles set his novel ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ and is also where the film of the same name was set starring Meryl Streep. Fowles wrote of Chesil Bank:
'It is above all an elemental place, made of sea, shingle and sky, its dominant sound always that of waves on moving stone: from the great surf and pounding “grounds of seas” of sou’westers, to the delicate laps and back-gurgling of the rare dead calm….

Land's End - The Place for Romance

This is a bracing walk across the farmland above Sennen Cove, returning around the rugged and romantic coastline from Land’s End with its sandy beach and hidden caves. The lost land of Atlantis was once thought to lie offshore and the mythical world of Lyonesse is believed to have drowned just a few miles off the tip of the land. According to Alfred Lord Tennyson, King Arthur fought his last battle here, while long before him Thomas Mallory asserted that it was the birthplace of Tristan.

Burgh Island - The Perfect Getaway

This is a walk that's relaxing and bracing. Hop across the sand to pretty Burgh Island with its Art Deco Hotel popular with the likes of Agatha Christie and Noel Coward. At low tide you can walk across to the island from Bigbury on Sea and soak up the views from the Pilchard Inn or the Burgh Island Art Deco hotel. Watch as the tide rolls in and enjoy the sense of being marooned on this tiny island together.