Rediscovering Canonteign Falls

I was born just a stone’s throw away from Canonteign Falls in the Teign Valley and, like most things right on my doorstep, it has been years since I have visited the ever moving image of natural beauty.

The current owners, the Baylis family, asked me if I would like to refresh myself with the steep climb to the top… some thirty years after I last did it.

How could I turn it down, so I started the trek via the path through the Bluebells and Wild Garlic with Amy Greenman, the CEO and Marketing Director.

‘Our first waterfall ‘Clampitt Falls’ was created by the old industry on the estate’ said Amy only a matter of a few yards into the journey.

‘It would have been an original waterfall but the dam at the top gives it extra height and was built for Viscount Exmouth in the 1830’s. It comes from a header pond and was used to power machinery for the timber industry on the land. It was named after the brothers who built it… one was particularly eccentric; he had a medical practice in Pau in France and used to travel there and back by horse.’

Good start, I like an eccentric. The Clampitt Falls are beautiful, and you may like to call it a day there if you do not fancy the climb to the big one. The main Lady Exmouth Falls was still shrouded in the early vivid green growth of the tree canopy. I
could just catch a glimpse of the cascade, so I decided to press on. ‘In the 1800’s there was a lot of mining on the estate for lead and silver but due to cheap imports, that had to be stopped.

The main falls were created by the then Lady Exmouth to keep the miners in employment, cutting a leat to take water off the moors and guide it over the top of the cliff face.’ I stood back at took in the rush of water high above my head. ‘That is a 70 metre drop or 220 feet plunging into an ancient fern forest.

Shall we go on?’ The climb twists and turns taking in dense foliage, rivulets and streams of foaming water, tumbling towards the valley below. With bridges over small canyons and solid islands of granite boulders edged with ancient ferns, it is not unlike the set of Jurassic Park, and you half expect some giant reptile to slide out of the forest and indeed it does. A wicker crafted Tyrannosaurus Rex stands guard on one bank with a Stegosaur on the other… with a handy sign saying, ‘Do not climb on the dinosaur.’

All the time on that climb the noise of the cascade is getting slightly louder with each step. On one turn you can take it the full natural beauty.

‘Just look at that,’ said Amy pausing for a moment, thankfully. ‘Isn’t she looking spectacular, (the Lady Exmouth Falls) plunging into what we call the Secret Garden which is your first proper vision of the ferns waking up after the winter.

The water never dries out, we have the falls all year round, especially this year as there has been no shortage of water. I don’t think the river has a name, it’s a just a tributary of the river Teign.

Resting at the top looking out on very familiar countryside with a view right across to Haldon Belvedere or Lawrence Tower, I had to ask how many other red faced, wheezing, out of breath individuals make it this far?

‘About 41,000 visitors a year,’ said Amy. ‘But you don’t have to make the climb, you have ninety acres to wander around, so there is plenty of space to get lost in.’

The descent was a lot easier and on arriving at base camp I tracked down Kate Baylis who owns Canonteign with her husband Chris. To one side of the estate is the private property of Canonteign House.

‘Welcome, come on in, this is Margot,’ said Kate settling down with a very young and beautiful Dachshund. ‘The property would be around 210 years old. Originally my husband Chris bought the house to get away from the pressures of London as a
barrister.

When the falls came up for sale, we said why not! It’s been a labour of love, nearly 20 years of restoration.’

That twenty years of investment can certainly be seen in a beautifully restored residence with great history. Originally naval officer Sir Edward Pellew bought the Canonteign Estate in 1812.

His naval career was a distinguished one, serving in the American War of Independence, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.

This earned him the title of Vice Admiral of All England, which he shared with his peer, Lord Nelson. In 1814, more than 20 years after his knighthood, he was made Baron of Canonteign and took the title Lord Exmouth.

The museum in Teignmouth has a comprehensive collection of artefacts that belonged to him as he chose to live
in the town after he was rewarded with the title Viscount.

He went on to enter politics, and became MP for Barnstaple and attending the House of Lords regularly until he died in 1833.
The estate remained in the Pellew family line for ten successive Viscounts until the late 1990s, over which time it’s seen many changes. But has the restoration finally come to an end?

‘Just about,’ said Kate. ‘We can now relax a bit. We use the house of course, we put on events, weddings, charity evenings and they are incredibly popular. You are here at the right time, I always think that May is the best month, the ferns and the new
leaves plus the bluebells colour the grounds beautifully.’

I notice letters after your name. ‘I too am a barrister, a background in divorce law and I took silk but now do mainly
trustee and charity work.’

I left with the offer of being welcome back anytime to this stunning part of Devon I grew up in. As a youngster, I climbed the tress and fell in the Teign, wandered around the fields and lanes, which thankfully are still all there.

I took in the beauty of Canonteign in the nineteen sixties and seventies and I am glad to report it is still there today, as consistent as the water itself.