Address: Watersmeet House, Watersmeet Rd, Lynmouth EX35 6NT, United Kingdom
Phone: +441598753348
Rating: 4.7
based on 237 reviews.
Scenery and Location
Pros:
"Breathtakingly beautiful walk and the house is stunning with the sound of the river running not too far away!"
"It is just simply stunning – we have visited it countless times whist on holiday down in Cornwall / Devon and I never tire of its stunning natural beauty."
"Absolutely stunning - no other words to describe it."
"The location of the lodge itself is quite magical, and is set in a clearing surrounded by trees, with a river running by, Idealic."
"Everywhere is dominated by trees and water. Lovely wild old deciduous forest setting, so much better than evergreen plantation."
"Beautiful place, the scenery is unreal."
"Great location set deep in the valley where two rivers meet and there is a lovely waterfall which is spectacular after heavy rain."
Cons:
"Expect to be walking up and down quite a lot on rough paths."
"Quite a small road to drive along, be careful and always put in watersmeet parking otherwise it will direct you to a very unfriendly car path to get to watersmeet."
"The carpark is on the A39 with parking bays at right angles, so not the easiest, but fortunately the road wasn't that busy."
"Quite steep in places so be careful!"
"House is a long way from the road with chargeable parking on roadside for all if there is space. House is down a steep path so not accessible."
"There is parking at the top of a hill and it's around 3 slopes to get down."
"Some paths are high above the gorge, narrow& with no barriers."
Cafe and Tea Room
Pros:
"Stopped in the cafe for some lunch, and was very pleased to find Celeriac Soup and a GF Cream Tea available and I wasn't disappointed - delicious!!"
"Inside the shop are lots of super gifts and the cafe is wonderful. You have to have a cream tea."
"Walked along the path from Lynmouth to watersmeet. It's national trust property, but it's open to everyone, the tea room is very good."
"The cafe was just in the best spot."
"Nice little cafe situated on the bank where we sat inches away from the river with a coffee."
"Very pleased cafe when we got there."
"The cafe makes a great rest stop with a good selection of food and drinks and a lovely outdoor seating area."
Cons:
"Reduced to 4 stars as the set up is a bit ridiculous and took ages to get our order done."
"The walks are nice but the national trust tea room needs some staff improvements."
"The tea stop at the NT shop was slow, the queue was not long but it took a very very long time to serve 8 people."
"Fantastic walk from Lynmouth, however the National Trust tea rooms are a joke. Insufficient outdoor seating, dirty toilets, overpriced and a poor selection of drinks."
"The tea room has declined over the years."
"Shockingly bad experience on a Tuesday visit. I queued for 40 MINUTES for a pot of tea....!!!"
"The only slight negative is the rather slow, and at times almost comical, service."
Parking and Accessibility
Pros:
"Car park was £1.30 for an hour."
"Free parking further up the road."
"Parking is £5 for the whole day, but you can pay by the hour if you wish."
"I bought a 4 day parking pass for £13.50 which includes most of the car parks in Lynmouth and Lynton as well as Watersmeet."
"Plenty of car parking at the Watersmeet Car Park."
"Car park right by the NT facilities, you have to walk down some steps and paths but easily manageable."
"Big car park on the road way above here."
Cons:
"Also parking is pay and display."
"Parking is not national trust, but cheap enough."
"There is no national trust carpark only a council one, it has ringo BUT good luck getting a signal, so bring change because no ability (stupidly) to pay by card."
"Parking is paid for national trust members too and costs £1 per hour."
"Note that you must pay for the car park even if you're a National Trust member."
"Cash only to pay for parking in the council run parking area."
"Car parking is available but limited number of spaces. watch out as the ticket machine is cash only!!"
Wildlife and Nature
Pros:
"Wildlife abounds if you look for it."
"Brilliant place to walk the dogs in lovely scenery and well marked paths."
"Dog friendly. Birdwatching was fun too!"
"The rivers are great and you will see all sorts of birds, the big fat dippers are lovely."
"The garden has lot of wild birds that will happily come to your table for crumbs, take some seed and they'll be there all the more."
"Beautiful wooded river valleys with lots of bird life."
"This is magical gorge with dippers and wagtails among the rushing water tumbling over the granite boulders to the sea at Lynmouth."
Cons:
"Nothing to do with the location but dog owners beware my dog was covered in ticks after walking around this beautiful place."
"Beautiful place however BEWARE..... I got back home after a lovely day out to find that my Daughter and Dog both had TICKS 😡 on them."
"Advice for dog walkers - take a tick remover, one of our dogs came back with 30+ ticks."
"Do not bring your dog here! I’ve never been somewhere with so many ticks."
"So disappointed and a very nice vet bill to go with it 😭"
"There were a few unruly dogs around the busy public places especially near the cafe."
"The other problem was abundance of dogs not fully under control and people smoking at tea room tables."