This walk is a 6.5 mile ‘there and back’ starting at Freshwater East, to Stackpole Quay and the viewpoint above Barafundle Bay, then return.

This walk starts at the access path to Freshwater East beach, opposite the Trewent Holiday Park. The official coast path runs behind the beach but it’s definitely worthwhile taking the opportunity of a stroll across Freshwater East beach, as the wide stretch of sands never fails to impress.

We join the coast path on a climb uphill to the headland known as Trewent Point, pausing halfway up to enjoy the view across the bay.

At the headland the path heads westwards across undulating grassy cliff tops reaching Greenala Point. This is the site of an Iron Age coastal promontory fort, and some defensive ‘tumps’ can still be made out in the landscape.

This vantage point offers stunning views of the dramatic cliffs and coastline into the distance.

The path continues above a scenic section of coast, with lovely views of both cliffs and countryside.

Then over a small hill and descend the path into the quaint sheltered inlet at Stackpole Quay.

Stackpole Quay has a lovely tearooms serving food and snacks so is an ideal rest stop for some refreshments. There is seating inside and an outside courtyard plus benches overlooking the Quay.

A visit here provides an opportunity to extend this walk to the nearby Barafundle Bay. The bay is only accessable on foot and is just a 15 minute walk from Stackpole Quay.

The path is clearly way marked from the tea rooms, first head left then uphill via a long flight of steps. At the top follow the well trodden track across the open fields to eventually reach a boundary stone wall and archway.

There’s a super viewpoint here with a picture postcard view of this idyllic bay.

Barafundle and Stackpole Estate are worthwhile exploring and details of a circular walk can be found here

That’s as far as we went on the day, so we retraced our steps back along the same coast path route to return to Freshwater East.