North Devon Walking Festival

The UK’s most scenic walking festival

This popular annual festival is run by West Country Walks and attracts over 600 people during the 9-day period in April/May. Walkers choose from a range of over 70 walks guided by local guides, rangers, wardens and landowners and explore the coastline and the countryside of North Devon and Exmoor National Park.

Festival organiser, Bryan Cath, started using a Visitor Payback Scheme in 1992, making it one of the first in Devon.  He finds that the scheme is very well received by his walkers; “I originally added an opt-out charge of 50p per person per night to our accommodation and now add an extra charge of 50p on all the festival guided walks. In all the years that I have been doing this I have only ever had one person opt-out so we have only lost 50p! Many people actually added to the donation.”

Bryan’s enthusiasm and commitment help the festival raise around £550 to £650 each year.  The funds were first donated to the Tarka Trust but are now shared between Exmoor National Park Authority and the North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  

The choice of beneficiary is clear for Bryan, “I choose to include these donations because without these service providers the footpaths network would not be to the high standard we enjoy.  It gives the tourist some form of ownership and appreciation that these facilities do not just happen. Visitors do also need to trust that the money will be well spent so it MUST relate to something that will benefit the local area.  We make sure that when we ask for donations that our walkers can see what has previously been raised and how that money has been used.”

Stop Press: As the popularity of walking breaks continues to rise, Westcountry Walks is now introducing a new Autumn Walking Festival that will run from 18th to 21st September 2009.

www.westcountrywalks.co.uk
www.walkingnorthdevon.co.uk
bryan@westcountrywalks.co.uk