Gateway to the Doone Valley
Malmsmead
A tiny border hamlet gathered around a stone bridge, a shallow ford and the wooded valley of Badgworthy Water.
- Best for
- Riverside walks and Lorna Doone landscapes
- Gentlest walk
- 2 miles, about 40 minutes
- Don't miss
- The hump-backed packhorse bridge and ford
The Fox verdict
A walk-led hamlet at the valley entrance
Malmsmead is small in scale but gives direct access to Badgworthy Water, the Doone Valley and a useful spread of short and long walks.
The visitor focus is compact: a listed stone bridge and ford, Lorna Doone Farm, a riverside café and immediate paths into a landscape of wooded river valley, farmed slopes and open moorland. The valley's literary associations continue on the routes to Blackmore's memorial, Oare church and the deserted medieval settlement known as Doone's Houses.
Where to go
Places in Malmsmead
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Buttery Café & Riverside Gardens
An independent café serving breakfast, lunch and cream teas, with indoor seating by a log fire and a riverside garden with picnic tables, direct paddling access and a children's adventure area.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 75 minutes
- Locality
- at Lorna Doone Farm, beside Malmsmead Bridge
- Access
- Dogs and children are welcome at the café, which has an accessible toilet.
Doone Valley Circular Walk and Ride
A seven-mile walking and riding circuit through ancient woodland to the deserted medieval settlement, then onto Brendon Common and back over the ridge.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 3 hours
- Locality
- Badgworthy Water, the abandoned medieval village and Brendon Common
- Access
- Dogs on leads are welcome; sections can be steep, uneven or muddy.
The Staghunters Inn
A family-owned traditional valley inn offering rooms and food, with a beer garden on the bank of the East Lyn River.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Brendon rather than Malmsmead
History & heritage
3 placesMalmsmead Bridge
A Grade II listed, probably 17th- or 18th-century packhorse bridge of coursed rubble stone, with two round arches, triangular cutwaters and a hump-backed profile.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 20 minutes
- Locality
- over Badgworthy Water at the county boundary
Church of St Mary, Oare
A Grade II* church with a 15th-century nave and inner chancel, a mid-19th-century west tower, a Norman circular font, 18th-century box pews and an unusual head-shaped piscina.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Oare
Badgworthy Deserted Medieval Settlement (Doone's Houses)
The deserted medieval settlement commonly called Badgworthy or Doone's Houses is protected as Scheduled Monument 1003886.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 30 minutes
- Locality
- out on Brendon Common
- Access
- Historic England records extensive significant problems, with bracken the principal vulnerability and the condition trend declining.
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Three ways to explore Malmsmead
Signature outings
The packhorse bridge and ford
Begin beside the bridge at Lorna Doone Farm, then follow Badgworthy Water towards Blackmore's memorial.
Doone's Houses on Brendon Common
At Badgworthy Water, banked enclosures, building platforms and drystone wall remains trace the former village.
St Mary's at Oare
Visit the church associated with Jan Ridd's fictional wedding, where Blackmore's grandfather served as rector from 1809 to 1842.
The village story
Malmsmead: Bridge, Ford and Doone Valley
A stone bridge, a riverside farm and walking routes into the landscape made famous by Lorna Doone.
Bridge, Ford and Riverside Café
Badgworthy Water runs beneath Malmsmead's hump-backed packhorse bridge, with a ford beside it. The listed bridge has two round arches and triangular cutwaters, and carries the Brendon–Oare road across the Somerset–Devon boundary. Lorna Doone Farm stands nearby at the entrance to the valley.
The Buttery at Lorna Doone Farm serves breakfasts, lunches, homemade cakes and Devon cream teas. It has indoor seating and a riverside garden with picnic tables, a children's play area and access to the water for paddling. The farm also has a gallery and gift shop, and a second-hand bookshop sits at the valley car park. Supervise children beside the river.
A Nearby Inn and Walks from the Valley
The Staghunters Inn in nearby Brendon serves pub meals and has a beer garden beside the East Lyn River.
The easy two-mile walk follows Badgworthy Water to R. D. Blackmore's memorial and the edge of ancient woodland. Allow about 40 minutes and keep dogs on leads. A three-mile circular crosses two small fords and climbs through woodland to Oare church. The seven-mile Doone Valley circuit reaches the deserted medieval settlement and Brendon Common. A separate ten-mile circular walk takes in Brendon, Watersmeet, Foreland Point and County Gate; expect climbs and uneven ground. Red deer and Exmoor ponies live in the valley, with heather and gorse on the higher slopes.
Oare Church and Malmsmead's Old Hall
The three-mile loop visits the historic church of St Mary's at Oare. Its nave and inner chancel are fifteenth-century; the west tower was rebuilt in the mid-1800s. Inside are a Norman circular font, eighteenth-century box pews, and a piscina carved as a man's head clasped between two hands. This is where Jan Ridd is married in Lorna Doone, the novel that made the valley famous, and Blackmore's own grandfather was rector here from 1809 to 1842.
The old village hall at Malmsmead opened in 1930 with a gymkhana, a fête and an evening dance. During the war, American soldiers from a nearby camp came to the dance nights. It later became a natural history field centre and closed in 2008.
Reaching the Valley
Tiverton Parkway is the nearest railway station. By road, take the A39 and follow New Road to Oare, then Hookway Hill towards Lorna Doone Valley. County Gate is about three-quarters of a mile from the valley by footpath.
At the Valley Entrance
The bridge and ford mark the entrance to the Doone Valley. From Lorna Doone Farm, paths follow Badgworthy Water into the wooded landscape beyond.
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Malmsmead Bridge — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- The Buttery Café & Riverside Gardens — buttery-cafe.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Doone Valley Circular Walk and Ride — nationaltrust.org.uk national body or asset manager
- Church of St Mary, Oare — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Badgworthy Deserted Medieval Settlement (Doone's Houses) — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- The Staghunters Inn — staghunters.com operator, sector body or destination organisation