Canonteign Falls

The silver and tin mines of the Teign valley were shutting in the 1880s, and Susan, wife of the third Lord Exmouth, found the men something to do. They diverted the leat that fed the estate sawmill across to a bare rock face and let it drop. The result, finished in 1890, is the Lady Exmouth Falls: 70 metres of water down a cliff, the tallest fall in Dartmoor National Park and, the estate reckons, the highest man-made waterfall in England. It runs slender rather than thunderous, so go after rain if you can.

The better story is underfoot. The Victorians went mad for ferns — the craze even had a name, pteridomania — and Canonteign had a showpiece fernery planted in an old quarry hollow with a stream running through it. When the estate’s money ran out the garden was left to itself and disappeared under a century of growth. Its full extent only came to light in 2009, when heavy snow flattened the undergrowth and exposed the lot. It has been dug out and replanted since, and in 2022 Plant Heritage awarded it National Collection status for two groups of hardy ferns, the shield ferns and the male ferns, growing alongside tall tree ferns from Tasmania. The original ninety stone steps still climb through it towards the falls.

Around all that sit ninety acres of ancient woodland and meadow, seven lakes, a second waterfall called Clampitt and a bee garden, plus a café and a proper set of playgrounds: trampolines, a zip wire, a wooden galleon. Entry is ticketed. The climb to the top of the falls takes about half an hour and is properly steep, with benches to stop at and a gentler route back down. Becky Falls is seven miles west if you want another.