Valley of Rocks, Lee Road, Lynton, Devon, EX35 6JH
The Valley of Rocks is one of the most otherworldly landscapes in England, and the fact that it is free to visit and accessible to almost anyone makes it one of the South West’s great experiences. A dry valley running parallel to the sea just west of Lynton on the North Devon coast, it is filled with extraordinary rock formations, towering stacks of Devonian sandstone with names like Ragged Jack and the Devil’s Cheesewring, that rise from the valley floor against a backdrop of the Bristol Channel.
What makes it genuinely strange is the combination of the rocks and the animals. A herd of feral wild goats lives in the valley year-round, completely at ease with you and remarkably photogenic. They roam the rock faces, graze the valley turf, and pose for photographs with an equanimity born of centuries of cohabitation. Ponies and Soay sheep are sometimes present too.
Coleridge and Wordsworth walked here together in 1797, and the valley appears in several literary works of the Romantic period. The dramatic landscape clearly made an impression on the poets, and on a stormy autumn day it is not hard to see why: the waves breaking on the rocks below the valley are spectacular, and the sense of being on a coastal edge of something is palpable.
The Valley of Rocks is a 20 to 25-minute walk west from Lynton along the cliffs, or directly accessible by car from the Valley of Rocks Road. Combining it with the Cliff Railway and Watersmeet makes for a spectacular full day in the area. About 22 miles from Woolacombe.
The valley is accessible year-round and the car park on Valley of Rocks Road is well-signposted from Lynton. In good weather the circular walk above the valley, combining the rock formations with the coastal path east back to Lynton, takes about an hour and offers some of the most dramatic cliff scenery on the Exmoor coast. The wild goats are a constant throughout the year and seem entirely unbothered by you. On a clear day the view from the western end of the valley across the Channel to Wales is remarkable, and in rough weather the waves breaking on the rocks below are a spectacular sight.
