Last weekend my partner Bev and I discovered a new walk near South Brent-

Shipley Bridge to the Avon Dam and back.

We parked up and conveniently located next to the car park were loos and a refreshments van.

From the off we saw some intriguing stone structures above the car park.

It turns out that in the mid-19th century this was a naphtha distillery where inflammable oil was distilled from peat extracted from the moor.

The peat was bought down on horse drawn trucks which ran along a tramway on wooden rails bolted onto granite sleepers.

In the 1850s this was adapted for clay refining which went on until 1923.

The clay would have been transported in liquid suspension via open channels to processing works and channeled to settling pits.

The heavier particles were separated our and when almost dry the clay was shovelled into the drying pan where the car park is now found, was air dried and cut into blocks.

We set off walking along the beautiful River Avon which seemed sometimes shallow and sometimes deep.

The water was golden brown and gushed down from the moor with small waterfalls making a lovely continuous rushing sound.

The walk was uphill all the way but for the most part gentle before becoming moderate as you climb to the dam.

After about twenty minutes on the left hand side we passed quite a large area of ruins.

This was the 19th century Brent Moor House which was latterly used as a youth hostel then provided accommodation for those working on the dam.

It fell into disrepair then in 1968 the remains were blown up in a Royal Marines exercise.

We took in some beautiful moorland views and met some ponies along the way.

After another twenty minutes or so there is a choice.

You can either carry on and this brings you out at the foot of the dam or leave the tarmac and walk to the top which is what we did.

The dam itself was built in 1957 to serve the South Hams and the reservoir covers around 50 acres.