Make cycling part of your Devon holiday!
You can have a great cycling holiday in Devon. If you're staying at our self catering lodges or cottage you can borrow a free farm bike. But you can also bring your own bike, have a hired bike delivered to your accommodation for the whole of your holiday (through a local company), or hire a bike just for the day at various points along Devon's Tarka Trail.
We have an outhouse where you can lock up your bike, water butts for cleaning them, space to hang wet gear, and loads of ideas on where to go across Devon. Ian is a dab hand at bike maintainance and can often help with punctures and most minor bike repairs.
Read down for more about local rides and routes for all abilities. From exhilarating biking across Dartmoor and Exmoor, to a challenge more suited to your newly-pedalling preschooler, there's cycling in Devon for everyone. If you just want to potter or are looking for a family ride away from traffic there's plenty of great Devon countryside to see, or if you are seeking an adrenalin inducing MTB challenge there are forests with single tracks, jumps and more! Scroll below the images for detailed Devon days out information
Let us take the hassle out of cycling on your holiday. We can put you in touch with a local bike company who will deliver hire bikes to your accommodation. You'll get a professionally maintained lightweight bike with a comfortable saddle. All the bikes come with a handy repair pack with spare inner tubes, a pump, lock and other essentials to ensure you have everything you need to enjoy your cycling holiday. You can also hire tag alongs, a tandem, a trailer or a child's bike seat.
After your ride, we'll provide secure storage, somewhere to clean up, and if the weather has been unkind, a drying room for your kit.
If you want more information, let us know when you book - or ring Devon Cycle Hire on 01837 861141.
Check out this link to cycling in Devon.
What cyclists say...
"...Have to say many thanks for a very friendly reception and hosting while we were here. Can't beat hot scones on arrival by bike. And great to help us sort out the problem with my bike, invaluable... Thanks for a few lovely quiet days. Will recommend!" David and Barbara Seel.
Here are our house rules:
Please return bikes to the bike store each day when you're done, so others can borrow them. If you want a bike all week, we can arrange good value hire for you.
- Please return bikes to the bike store each day when you're done, so others can borrow them. If you want a bike all week, we can arrange good value hire for you.
- Bring your own helmet if you want to wear one.
- You ride at your own risk. Before you ride off, please check the bike over, including the brakes, the chain and the tyres. We fix problems we know about, but someone else may have forgotten to tell us what went wrong. If something goes wrong when you're out, let Ian know. He can fix most things.
- There are a couple of light-weight deterrent padlocks you can borrow, and we're assuming you won't be leaving the bike where it's an obvious target. If your borrowed bike does get stolen, we'll ask you to pay £30 so we can replace it.
- Please don't ride the bikes after dark. They don't have lights, so you wouldn't be legal on the road. If you want to ride after dark, please hire a bike or use your own lights and safety equipment.
- pick you and your bike up from the station (Eggesford).
- provide towels
- help you order ahead from the local farm shop
- accept a supermarket delivery for you
- help you with ideas for great days out.
Borrow a free farm bike
Hire a bike for your Devon holiday!
Wheatland Farm
home t. 01837 83499, email info@wheatlandfarm.co.uk, Wheatland Farm, Winkleigh, Devon, EX19 8DJ.
Devon self catering cottage and eco lodges
Try the Tarka Trail - the cycleway begins at Meeth Halt, about 9 miles from the cottage and lodges, and gives you 32 miles of easy, fairly flat, traffic-free cycle path. You could take your bikes on the train from Eggesford to Barnstaple and bike back (last 9 miles will be on roads). Or hire bikes along the trail and do a section: Barnstaple to Fremington, Fremington to Instow, Puffing Billy to the lovely Cafe at Yarde Orchard. All these sections are accessible by bus or car, and have cycle hire available at one end or the other, and are great for less experienced cyclists. Ask us if you want more detail. If you need inspiration along the way, there are 30 works of art on the Tarka Trail between Barnstaple and Okehampton, including 3 green oak benches between Meeth and Petrockstowe on the cycleway, several mosaic benches between Petrockstowe and East Yarde, and a bench depicting the history of the Rolle Canal at Weare Giffard. Between Instow and Barnstaple, two of the artworks are shelters - the one at Isley Marsh has been made using traditional boat building techniques.
Bike out to Halsdon Nature Reserve and look for otters at the riverside wildlife hide (some main roads - for competent cyclists).
Bike in to the Kings Arms in Winkleigh and relax with a pint - maybe make it cider from Winkleigh's own cider works!
More exhilarating off-road cycling
There's a marked cycle route through the Heywood section of Eggesford Forest, managed by the Forestry Commission, and just 4 miles from your holiday accommodation. It's an exhilarating ride, following tracks and bridleways, but isn't suitable for wobbly riders! To get there by bike or car from the cottage or lodges, turn right out of the drive, right at Tinkers Post crossroads and keep right at Lane End. When you get to Wembworthy turn left through the village. The next T junction is Spekes Cross. Once past Spekes Cross, take the next left and follow this narrow road to Heywood. Look out for the forestry commission's signs.
The Granite Way
From Okehampton to Lake Viaduct (about 6 miles or 9 km) you can cycle entirely off the roads on the Granite Way, part of Devon's coast to coast cycle route, and national cycle network number 27.
Start at Okehampton station (about 11 miles from the cottage and lodges). After 2.5 miles (3.7km) you'll reach Meldon Viaduct, where there's a station cafe in an old buffet carriage.
Carrying on, you can ride another 3.5 miles (5.25km), all off road to Lake Viaduct, with its spectacular views of the moor. From here, you can continue off road to the Southerley Halt picnic site (another mile), then retrace your tracks to Lake Viaduct.
The Granite Way plus quiet roads
Alternatively, from Lake Viaduct, you can rejoin the road to the former Bridestowe station (2 miles, 3.5km) and then pick up another traffic free cycleway to Lydford (1.25 miles, 2km). The road sections are quiet, but you have to cross the A386 as you set off. At Lydford you're very close to the National Trust's Lydford Gorge - with an exciting walk to one of the highest waterfalls in England.
Other cycle routes around Devon's quiet lanes
The circular 29 mile Sticklepath Cycle Route normally begins and ends at the National Trust's Finch Foundry (nice tea room!) at Sticklepath (13 miles from your holiday accommodation), but it passes through Honeychurch, just 5 miles from the cottage and lodges. You'll ride along Devon's quiet country lanes, up to Monkokehampton and on to Deckport Cross, where you can take a shortcut (to Jacobstowe) or continue on to Hatherleigh, then cycle to Jacobstowe, ride through Abbeyford Woods (on the Tarka Trail), turn north for a short stretch just before Okehampton, before jogging back south to Belstone and heading east back through Skaigh to Sticklepath, then South Zeal, Sampford Courtney, and back to Honeychurch. Many places along the way have historic or heritage interest, and of course there are wonderful Dartmoor views.
There's also a linking route, the Mid Torridge Cycle Link, between the Tarka Trail (at Petrockstowe), and the Sticklepath Cycle Route (at Hatherleigh). This link completes the north-south route from the start of the Tarka Trail in Braunton, all the way to Dartmoor. The villages of Petrockstowe and Sheepwash are a feature of this linking section, with traditional cob walled, thatched cottages.
The Okehampton and Hatherleigh Circuit starts from Fore Street in Okehampton, following the National Cycle Network's route 27 to Hatherleigh, then cutting back through Folly Gate, rejoining the NCN27 at Goldburn Cross and looping back to Okehampton. This moderate ride (not difficult, but less experienced riders may want to take their time) takes in 20 miles of fabulous Devon countryside. You'll pass close to Okehampton Castle (an English Heritage site) and Hatherleigh Pottery. In Jacobstowe you can stop off to admire the medieval church or the mill near the River Okement. Don't forget to catch your breath before the view across Dartmoor takes it away again atop Hatherleigh Moor!
Devon days out on your bike!
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You can borrow a free farm bike for local rides, to go to the farmshop, to the start of local walks etc. We've rescued these from the council tip, cleaned them up, checked them over, and made them roadworthy. We have a good handful now (20+) on a 'help yourself' basis, including bikes for adults, kids bikes, plus one tag along bike and one with a child seat (both availble to borrow by prior arrangement).We're still expanding the fleet!
We don't charge for these bikes, and it's great to see people enjoying using them.
But please bear in mind that although we have a few helmets to borrow we don't generally supply helmets, lights, pumps or heavy duty locks. If you want a proper bike for serious use, we reccommend you hire one from Devon Cycle Hire (we can arrange this for you).
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