The epic Tamara Coast to Coast Way launched this week - a new 87 mile path connecting up the north and south coasts of Cornwall and Devon with a new route that roughly follows the path of the River Tamar. The route starts at Cremyll over the river from Plymouth and follows the river upstream through the heart of the Tamar Valley’s historic market gardening and mining landscapes, taking in Bere Ferrers, Calstock, Gunnislake, Luckett and onwards north to Launceston and beyond!
On Wednesday we caught up with Bryony, Gary and Sarah from the Tamara Landscape Partnership Scheme on the middle of Horsebridge on their walk of the whole Coast to Coast Way which will take them 7 days! We brought them some well needed Tamar Valley refreshments including local strawberries and tomatoes from Bohetherick, Pepper St. cheese scones, Apple Shreds and of course our apple juice to keep them sustained on their epic journey!
For walkers on the path there will be lots of ways to enjoy fantastic Tamar Valley produce. Stage 3a of the walk takes in Bere Ferrers to Bere Alston stations where the village post office in Bere Alston is also home to the brilliant Pepper St Breads for amazing cakes, scones and breads baked by postmaster Charlotte and husband Jonathan. On the footpath from the station you’ll also pass Kingston Preserves stall who make a wide range of jams, preserves, pickles and apple juice from local fruit and veg.
Stage 3b of the Coast to Coast Way takes in Calstock, famous for its mining and market gardening historically, a centre for soft fruit, tomato and cut flower production. Here you’ll find our own delicious apple juice at the Tamar Inn, incredible Italian style ice-creams at Valenti’s Ice-cream parlour and locally made cakes at the honesty café at Calstock Boatyard. Calstock is also home to the brilliant Harewood Farm whose produce is sold through Tamar Valley Food Hubs.
Stage 4 of the walk takes in Gunnislake to Lifton, a mighty trek of 13.5 miles, but which takes in the gorgeous Royal Inn at Horsebridge which is our newest retailer of our Tamar Valley apple juice and a perfect lunch stop after tackling the hills out of Gunnislake to Chilsworthy.
We can’t wait to try out the walks ourselves and explore higher up-river to see what other amazing local produce we might find on the way!
The Tamara Coast to Coast Way has been made possible by the Tamara Landscape Partnership Scheme funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Tamar Grow Local is also working with the Tamara Landscape Partnership Scheme on one branch of the project called Promoting our Produce. To keep up with all the news and events for Promoting our Produce, please sign up to our newsletter here or follow us on the Tamar Grow Local Facebook page and with the #PromotingourProduce hashtag!
For further details on the Tamara Coast to Coast Way, please visit - https://www.tamarvalley.org.uk/tamara-coast-to-coast-way/