Watersmeet

Watersmeet is the point where the East Lyn River and Hoar Oak Water meet in a steep V-shaped gorge about two miles downstream from Brendon. The National Trust owns the Victorian fishing lodge here and opens it as a tea room in season — a welcome stop on the East Lyn valley walk.

The gorge at Watersmeet is among the deepest in southwest England, the oak woodland covering the steep slopes almost continuously from water's edge to cliff top. The rivers run clear over mossy boulders, and in winter after rain the volume of water coming through the gorge can be startling. The walk from Brendon follows the river downstream through ancient woodland the whole way.

things to do sight
A story
Watersmeet House was built in 1832 as a fishing and hunting lodge by the Halliday family of Glenthorne. It sits at the confluence of the East Lyn River and Hoar Oak Water — one of the narrowest and most dramatic points in the gorge. The National Trust acquired it in 1934 as part of its first purchase of Exmoor land, making it one of the earliest protected landscapes in the southwest.

Other places in Things to Do