{"id":242,"date":"2010-06-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=142"},"modified":"2011-01-24T16:30:01","modified_gmt":"2011-01-24T16:30:01","slug":"import142","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=242","title":{"rendered":"Fingle Bridge and Castle Drogo, Devon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">window.onload = setupZoom; function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk;\nvar walkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=700,width=800,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script>First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('CastleDrogo.gpx');\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4645159864_e7700445ff.jpg\" title=\"Castle Drogo\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4645159864_e7700445ff_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4645159678_aee8b403e0.jpg\" title=\"Castle Drogo and the Teign gorge\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4645159678_aee8b403e0_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4645159332_c14581b6f0.jpg\" title=\"Fisherman's Path in the Teign gorge\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4645159332_c14581b6f0_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4645157502_4cb408965c.jpg\" title=\"pony on the path\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4645157502_4cb408965c_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4644543541_c4c58afc6d.jpg\" title=\"Drewsteignton\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4644543541_c4c58afc6d_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4644541995_d6c696fc97.jpg\" title=\"Fingle Bridge\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4644541995_d6c696fc97_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4644541491_175111e52a.jpg\" title=\"path through woods to Fingle Bridge\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/images-global\/4644541491_175111e52a_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=242\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\">I hadn&#39;t made a mistake after thirty years &ndash; the ridgetop village of Drewsteignton, perched on the northern edge of Dartmoor, was still totally charming. There were the pretty cottages and the Drewe Arms as I recalled them, bowed low under thatch on the diminutive village square, all presided over by the tall tower of Holy Trinity church. When I was last here the pub had been run as a front-room business by Mabel Mudge, 83 years old and spry as a lamb. &lsquo;Oh, you remember Mabel!&rsquo; smiled the man I got chatting to on the path over to the River Teign. &lsquo;Yes, she retired when she got to 99. Seventy-five years she ran that place, and it never changed a bit.&rsquo;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\">There was a wonderful view from the neighbouring ridge back to Drewsteignton huddled on its hilltop, and a sight of moor ponies grazing the gorse with streaming manes and tails. The bridlepath ran at the rim of the Teign&rsquo;s steep wooded gorge, then slanted down through oak and silver birch to where the river ran flashing with sunlight under the three ancient arches of Fingle Bridge. I lingered, watching children skimming stones between the cutwaters, before following the Fisherman&rsquo;s Path on its rocky, rooty, twisting way, close above the river. <\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\">A gang of four tiny tots hooted and squeaked as they fished for bubbles with sticks, and high overhead a buzzard went circling over the walls of Castle Drogo. At the bridge below the castle I struck up a side path, climbing past the L-shaped thatched house of Coombe, snug among fruit trees in its peach of a dell. <\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\">If there was ever a fairy-tale castle &#8230; Castle Drogo looks down from a spur of rock, 300 feet to the Teign in the wooded gorge below. Edwardian tea tycoon Julius Drew excavated himself a Norman ancestry, decided to build himself a proper old castle, and got Sir Edwin Luyens to make his dream come true in stark granite. No Mad King Ludwig touches here &ndash; all is plain, strong and massive, a triumph of restraint. Marked ways lead from the gorge paths to the castle by way of beautiful gardens of roses and spring flowers. No wonder Drogo is called &lsquo;the last great castle in England&rsquo;.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\">When I got back to Drewsteignton and into the Drewe Arms, I saw it had changed &ndash; more than a bit. But it&rsquo;s still a cosy place to raise a glass under the beams in celebration of Mabel Mudge and all that&rsquo;s great about the West Country village pub.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\"><u>Start &amp; finish<\/u>: Drewe Arms, Drewsteignton, Devon EX6 6QN (OS ref SX 736908)<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\"><u>Getting there<\/u>: Bus &#8211; Dartline 173 (Exeter-Chagford), Country Bus 279 (Totnes-Okehampton; Sundays, public hols). Road: From A30 east of Okehampton, A382 through Whiddon Down. In &frac12; a mile, Drewsteignton signed to left. <\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\"><u>Walk<\/u> (6 miles, moderate, OS Explorer OL28): From Drewsteignton Square, left; round right bend; 20 yards past old school, left (&lsquo;2 Moors Way&rsquo;\/MW) down lane. Ahead in bottom of valley (&lsquo;Castle Drogo\/CD&rsquo;) up steps. Follow fence up fields and over ridge. Through kissing gate; in 15 yards, left (732900); follow &lsquo;Fingle Bridge&rsquo; fingerposts for 3\/4 of a mile down to road (743901). Right to Fingle Bridge; don&rsquo;t cross; right along river (&lsquo;Fisherman&rsquo;s Path, CD&rsquo;) for 1 &frac12; miles to bridge below Castle Drogo (721895). Right uphill (CD). In 1\/3 of a mile, right (720900; &lsquo;Hunter&rsquo;s Path&rsquo;); follow MW back to Drewsteignton.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\">Some steep steps; some rocky ledges in gorge with handrail (watch kids\/dogs!)<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\">NB &ndash; Online map, more walks: <font color=\"#0000ff\"><u><a href=\"..\/\/\" class=\"western\">www.christophersomerville.co.uk<\/a><\/u><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\"><u>Lunch<\/u>: Drewe Arms, Drewsteignton (01647-281224; <font color=\"#0000ff\"><u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedrewearms.co.uk\/\" class=\"western\">www.thedrewearms.co.uk<\/a><\/u><\/font>); Fingle Bridge Inn (01647-281287; <font color=\"#0000ff\"><u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.finglebridgeinn.com\/\" class=\"western\">www.finglebridgeinn.com<\/a><\/u><\/font>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%\" class=\"western\"><u>Castle Drogo<\/u> (NT): 01647-434118; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationaltrust.org.uk\/castledrogo\/\" class=\"western\"><font color=\"#0000ff\"><u>www.nationaltrust.org.uk\/<\/u><\/font><font color=\"#0000ff\"><u>castledrogo<\/u><\/font><font color=\"#0000ff\"><u>\/<\/u><\/font><\/a><span style=\"font-style: normal\">)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\"><u>Mabel Mudge<\/u>: <font color=\"#0000ff\"><u><a href=\"http:\/\/yeosociety.com\/biographies\/Aunt%20Mabel.htm\" class=\"western\">http:\/\/yeosociety.com\/biographies\/Aunt%20Mabel.htm<\/a><\/u><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\"><u>More info<\/u>: Okehampton TIC (01837-53020); <font color=\"#0000ff\"><u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.visitdevon.co.uk\/\" class=\"western\">www.visitdevon.co.uk<\/a><\/u><\/font>; <font color=\"#0000ff\"><u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ramblers.org.uk\/\" class=\"western\">www.ramblers.org.uk<\/a><\/u><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" class=\"western\" align=\"justify\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If there was ever a fairy-tale castle&#8230; Castle Drogo looks down from a spur of rock, 300 feet to the Teign in the wooded gorge below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}