A great taster of the South West Coast Path, this walk offers superb coastal views and a rare WW2 coastal defence battery. 

Coleton Fishacre lies in a lush corner of Devon between Brixham and Kingswear. There is a 24 acre estate which was once owned by the D’Oyly Carte family with a fine Arts and Crafts house built between 1923 and 1926 by Oswald Milne, who had been an assistant to Edwin Lutyens.

An exuberant garden runs down a steeply sided valley or combe  to Pudcombe Cove, the Gulf Stream allowing many exotic species. We came face to face with a giant leaf which I am sure I last encountered in Chile. 

The National Trust acquired the estate in 1982 and it is now open to the public. However, on this occasion, we decided to explore the coastal scenery along the South West Coast Path and visit the famous Brownstone Battery, a rare survival from our WW2 coastal defencess.

The Walk

Our walk started at Coleton Camp where a little gate in the top corner of the car park opened onto a dirt track. This led on to billowing fields, the sea tantalisingly close below us, a shimmering yacht studded blue.

We hit the South West Coast Path on a grassy promontory above Ivy Cove with good views along the coast line, the path wending its way precariously along the edges. I realised that this was probably going to be a very up and down walk as it wound around the headlands and bays, certainly one to get you fit!

We turned south towards Pudcombe Cove, a small rocky beach at the bottom of the Coleton Fishacre gardens. The path to the bay looked totally overgrown and inaccessible. There is an old disused quay and a bathing pool which can just be glimpsed from above – it must have once been a pleasant retreat for the D’Oyly Cartes.

The path continued steeply and we found a pleasant rocky seat overlooking the headland for our picnic lunch. Our view was slightly obscured by ferns.

We walked further around the coast, a series of impressions: yellow flowers, daisies, pillowing gorse, rocky islets out at sea, seabirds nesting and in flight. Long vistas of endless headlands and shades of grey to indistinguishable horizons. The walkers we passed seemed of the older variety!

Suddenly around a corner, we glimpsed our first building of the Brownstone Battery. This was a Coastal Defence Site built in 1940, at a time when a German land invasion was considered imminent. It was designed to protect the nearby beaches and the important naval base of Dartmouth. There were some 100 of these along the southern coasts of Britain but this is the only one to survive virtually intact.

A well trodden left led to a WW2 spotlight station within a reinforced round concrete building. Its wide opening gave a superb view over the coast; the spotlight had been housed within the building and was designed to pick up enemy shipping, with 5 men manning it in shifts.

 A little further on there was another, the narrow hidden entrance to Dartmouth Harbour now visible. From there, a gaspingly steep walk took us to the first of two gun emplacements . The 6 inch guns, which had come from WW1 battleships and had a range of about 14 miles, were long gone but we enjoyed superb views.

A rail system was used to bring the shells down the hill and we followed the old tracks up to an ammo store, from where we climbed yet more steps to the next gun emplacement, this one under the watchful eye of the local coastguard.

A final short ascent led to a flat clearing and more buildings. The Nissan huts have disappeared but there are a few brick buildings still standing: the officers mess, the generator room, a workshop, a storeroom.

The coastguard occupies the old observation centre from where range finders would relay the bearings of enemy ships to the gunners via tannoy. A seat in front of the building gives you the same view 80 years later. Some 300 men once lived on the base.

Leaving WW2 behind, our track continued through cool woods, pine needles making the track soft underfoot. A long flight of steps led down to a lane, the castellated building at the bottom apparently being a converted 19th century lime kiln . A quick right and an equally quick left and we left the lane behind.

There is a wooden gate here which gives access to the little beach at Mill Bay Cove under the lime kiln, a good place to draw breath as there is yet another steep climb to come through Warren Woods. 

Warren House stands above the beach and was once owned by Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Jones V. C. who was killed leading his men at Goose Green in the Falkland Islands on 28th May 1982, his V. C. being awarded posthumously.

Maybe he once ran through these woods to get fit: we were eventually decanted onto another minor lane in a very sweaty state! A plaque told us that this section of the South West Coast Path is dedicated to his memory.

The Path goes left towards Kingswear but we turned for home, following the lane to the right until it ended at a little farmhouse. From there, we ascended a steep track of sheer rock between old mossy walls to another road and a National Trust farm. A final stretch on bitumen took us back to the carpark at Coleton Camp, which also has a WW2 connection as the RAF once had a radar station there.

It was the end of a varied and very interesting walk. I certainly have a new respect for the ups and downs of the South West Coast Path but the scenery is stunning – I can imagine it would be a magnificent walk.

NOTES

From the AA 1001 Walks on Britain. Walk number 46, Devon. 4 1/2 miles, 3 hours. Map OS Outdoor Leisure 20 South Devon.