National Trust - Lydford Gorge — Attraction in West Devon

Excellent. Electric mobility scooter for hire there for £15 for the year or £3 for the afternoon, made it easy for my immobile mother and deeply unfit father (in 80s), despite the excitingly steep decent. Strongly recommend for those in need. Took some effort to get mum to swallow her pride, but once going she was soooo happy. She got off and walked one tier of the path on the way back and she was nearly dead and incredibly happy to get back on the little electric chair. The george itself is excellent, the falls are modest but very pretty. The staff incredibly helpful and friendly - outstanding. Great little bird hide saw some rarer breeds. Plus the new vegan options at the cafe were excellent even some non-dairy cream to go with the scones. National Trust at its absolute best. If there was any negative it was nothing to do with the place or the staff and was just the other people two of which had dogs on long leads (most were on short leads and well controlled), but both on long leads (pattern often found) were jumpy and jumped at our 7 year old and scared him a great deal and caused him to jump back. Had I not been there holding him, there would have been a small risk considering the precipitous drops. As I say, thats nothing anyone running the place could do anything about and just a bit of a sad reflection of how dog owners so often behave in the UK. Other than that it was an absolutely glorious place, run to perfection by the best institution...

Lydford gorge was once a real experience, walking down to the white lady waterfall then along the twisty path following the river Lyd up to the devils couldren then on to Tuckers pool at the far end of the NT property back up on the top path looking down on the river in the spring with the bluebells / wild Garlic/ and wild orchids it’s a stunning site. BUT on a visit today large sections have been closed of of the gorge short and steep path down to the waterfall closed. Top and bottom paths closed also path from devils cauldron to Tuckers pool also closed all of these are for the foreseeable future probably years as parts already have been closed for a very long time. We were told by staff that a few trees had come down and caused land slides which have always occurred which now means there are 2 entrances to the gorge so the general public are walking between the sites along a busy 60mph road which in my view is dangerous. I feel the national trust is being penny pinching and rather short sighted for the safety of there customers for the sake of a few thousand pounds to remove fallen trees and sure up the sides of the paths. Lydford gorge was once a great place to visit but now it has fallen on very hard times such a shame. I have known and lived by the gorge since 1968 when we moved down from Kent, it’s such a shame to see its demise. Shame on you the supposed...

Spent a lovely 2 hours visiting both the gorge and the waterfall. They are a 5 minute car ride apart or you can walk approx. a mile and a half between them, unfortunately I didn’t have time to do that. The Cauldron truly feels like a rainforest, and walking down it is wet and noisy near the end. I would definitely wear some decent shoes with a bit of a grip and don’t know if I’d take kids under 6 to the Cauldron, the Waterfall definitely yes. The cauldron has about 10 steps that are not fenced in and I presume would almost always be wet. There is a rail to hold on to. The WhiteLady falls is all downhill and then uphill return. However, there is a nice flat walk to the fall and lots of spots to sit on the river bank and enjoy the nature. The falls walk was dog friendly, and maybe scooter friendly for those with disabilities. Though I would be taking a spare battery as I’m not sure one battery would make it up and down to the falls. And there is some rough areas to the falls, pictures to follow! Both places had a tea room, and toilets. The waterfall also has an emergency phone and defibrillator… it is steep the walk back up! Worth a visit to both and it is on a bikeway (270 maybe). Lydford castle in the village also looked interesting from the drive through the village. Both parking lots were busy, but there was a constant...