Tavistock is a thriving, beautifully friendly market town. An ancient stannary town and home of the cream tea, Tavistock is the only town in Devon to hold world heritage status. It has a range of beautiful local independent shops in addition to a famous pannier market. It is situated on the River Tavy, from which its name derives.
We enjoyed a stroll around the lovely old town, visiting the pannier market and indulging in a cream tea. Cream on the scone first followed by the jam. It’s the other way around in Cornwall and there’s a bit of rivalry between the two counties over which is the correct way to eat your scone!!
Time for another pub lunch and walk in the country before heading back to Stokenham. So off to Lydford and the lovely old Castle Inn pub.
After lunch we descended into the deepest part of Lydford gorge and braved the Devil’s Cauldron pothole on a platform over the river. This is a circular walk and we followed the narrow, winding paths next to the River Lyd as it changed from peaceful stream to raging torrent. We then headed through the deep ravine, stopping off at the viewing platform in the Devil’s Cauldron (a large pothole full of gushing water and encircled by rock walls) before heading back out again.
From there we continued on to the Gorge which is a combination of geology, water power and climate change that has created the deepest river gorge in the south west providing a truly breathtaking experience which has been enjoyed since Victorian times.
The steep-sided wooded gorge hidden on the western fringe of Dartmoor inspires many myths and legends and no wonder with features such as the 30-metre Whitelady Waterfall at the end. Quite a challenging walk!
A great day and now back to Stokenham and a G & T!!!!