This one’s a lovely walk if you want to make a full day of it without an epic hike. The Appledore and Northam Burrows circular is mapped on AllTrails, comes in at around four and a half miles, and takes a couple of hours at a relaxed pace with plenty of stops along the way.
Starting the walk at Appledore Bridge
Parking right by the estuary front in Appledore can be a bit hit and miss, it fills up fast on a nice day, so a few AllTrails reviewers suggest heading a street or two back and parking on Pitt Hill instead. From there it’s a short stroll down to Appledore Bridge, which is where the walk starts.
From the bridge, join the path that follows the line of a tidal stream called The Pill. It’s flat and easy going here, crossing a couple of small streams and ditches, and after about 950 metres you’ll come out onto a tarmac lane right by the clubhouse of the Royal North Devon Golf Club, which happens to be the oldest golf course in England. Turn right and follow the lane for another 850 metres or so, and you’ll reach a car park near Sandymere, a seasonal lake that’s a great spot for a breather.
Sandymere and the Visitor Centre
From Sandymere, walk alongside the lake to reach the Visitor Centre, which has toilets and refreshments and is open from May to September, useful if you’re planning to stop for a coffee partway round. There’s also a fully accessible bird hide here if you and your dog fancy a look at whatever’s on the water that day.
Along the estuary edge
The path carries on past some dune-protection fencing, with the golf course running along on your right, before it settles alongside the wide Taw-Torridge estuary. This stretch has lovely views straight across to Appledore and Instow on the far bank, and on a clear day you can see all the way out toward Lundy Island too. Somewhere along this open, grassy section of the Burrows, you’re actually walking over the site of the Battle of Northam, fought between Saxons and Normans back in 1069. There’s nothing there to mark it now, no plaque or sign, you’d have no idea otherwise.
The whole of Northam Burrows is a genuinely special bit of ground, a Site of Special Scientific Interest covering over six hundred acres of grassy plain, salt marsh and dunes. It’s mostly short, grazed grass rather than hard paths, so it can be a little tricky underfoot if you’ve got a pushchair or wheelchair with you. Sand dunes and low cliffs run along toward Westward Ho! in one direction, and the Burrows sit directly across the estuary from Braunton Burrows, though the two have a completely different feel despite being so close together.
Back along the foreshore
Continuing on, the path skirts the edge of the tidal mudflats at a spot called Skern, a great place to slow down for a minute, there’s always something going on with the birds here. From there it’s back along the foreshore toward Appledore itself, past the old lifeboat station. Appledore’s lifeboat tradition actually goes all the way back to 1829, years before the RNLI as we know it even existed, and at one point the village ran three separate lifeboat stations at once.
If the tide’s in and the foreshore’s not passable, there’s a simple detour up onto Torridge Road and back down via Jubilee Road, which brings you out at the same spot anyway. Either way, you’ll end up on Irsha Street, a lovely old street running right along the water’s edge, and from there it’s just a short walk back to the bridge to finish the loop.
The practical bits
Your dog can be off the lead for most of this walk, so much of it is open grassland or firm path, though clip the lead back on near the golf course itself and anywhere livestock might be grazing the Burrows. Bring water for your dog regardless, a fair stretch of this walk has nowhere obvious to fill up until you’re back at the Visitor Centre or the village.
Appledore itself is well worth a look once you’re back, it’s a working shipbuilding town rather than a place that’s been dressed up for visitors, and the quay, the little shops and the old streets are worth the extra half hour even after a full loop of the Burrows.
