Pebbled heights, mossy depths

This literary soundwalk follows part of the East Devon Way, moving through a rich variety of landscapes, exploring the nature, landscape, wildlife, and layers of history that make this place unique. It features rich, spatial sound, recorded on location by Ellie Williams, and with sound design and production by Nicholas Allan.

The route begins at Woodbury Castle, an iron age fort overlooking the sea, then wends its way across the pebbled heathland nature reserves of Woodbury and Harpford Commons, exploring its complex and ancient history, and its reams of wildlife. It dips down to the mossy depths of Harpford Wood, past a ghostly tunnel and a waterfall, and then heads up again, through a donkey meadow, to the crest of Fire Beacon Hill for an exhilarating buzzard’s eye view. You can scroll through a gallery of photos of the route below, and see an illustrated map of the route.

The complete soundwalk lasts over two hours. The long-form audio narrative is intended to give a sense of being on a walk in real time in the landscape.

I have also divided the soundwalk into chapters, or segments, which you can download separately in podcast form from my podcast page. You can listen to these in situ if you would like to follow the route in person in a series of stages – and there’s a route map and instructions to help with this below.

Top listening tip: please use high fidelity speakers or headphones in order to access a more immersive listening experience.

Images of the route

  • Woodbury castle – fort wall – dappled light

  • Woodbury castle – looking out from the woods across the common

  • Heath spotted orchid on Woodbury Common

  • Woodbury Common – English savannah

  • Aylesbeare common – bench

  • Aylesbeare Common – Dartford Warbler in gorse flowers

  • Aylesbeare Common – looking over towards Harpford Woods

  • Harpford Wood – flowers and hairy tree trunk

  • Harpford Wood – waterfall and ferns

  • Harpford Wood – path with sunbeams

  • Fire Beacon Hill – bench with a sea view

  • Fire Beacon Hill – donkey

Illustrated route map

The illustrated map depicts the route and indicates the starting point for each part of the soundwalk. If you are able to walk this route in person, you might like to download the full route map via the Ordnance Survey, if you have access to their premium app. Just search for ‘Stepping Stories: a literary soundwalk: Pebbled Heights, Mossy Depths’, or use this link to the route. The grid reference for the starting point is SY 032 872. (I’d recommend the OS app if you love walking in wild spaces, and if you would benefit from a little dot showing you exactly where you are on the map.) There is also plenty more information about the East Devon Way, including a handy guide book, on their website. If you’d like to use Google Maps to help you navigate to the starting point, and/or to the starting point for each part, here are the links: Part 1: Woodbury Castle car park; Part 2: Joney’s Cross car park for Harpford Common; Part 3: Harpford Village Hall for Harpford Wood; Part 4: Car Park for Fire Beacon Hill (or for Harpford Wood from the other side).

Soundwalk credits

Words by Ellen Wiles. Sound recording by Ellie Williams. Sound design by Nicholas Allan. Commissioned by Double Elephant and The East Devon AONB as part of the ROUTES project, curated by artist Emma Molony, to connect people and nature, funded by Arts Council England. With support from the University of Exeter. Special thanks to Chris Woodruff, Sam Bridgewater, and Toby Taylor for enjoyable research walks and fascinating insights.

Feedback

If you have experienced this literary soundwalk, either in situ or at a distance, we would hugely appreciate your feedback as we develop this project further, and explore more places. Please fill in the short form at the bottom of this page to let us know how you found it, to suggest any future routes, and to hear more about the project if you’d like to.

More sound stories