Berry Head - Sharkham Point

6 km/3.75 m Moderate

A bus runs from the centre of Brixham to the bus stop in Victoria Road.  Follow the signs from here for a short walk to reach Berry Head Country Park.

Berry Head is Torbay's most important wildlife site.  It also features Napoleonic fortifications, geological formations and landscapes designated as being of national importance.  There are several species of rare and threatened plants growing at Berry Head.  Early Gentian, White Rock -Rose, Honewort, Small Hare's-ear, Small Restharrow and Goldilocks Aster are dependent upon the thin soils, mild climate and exposed conditions of the headland.  The patchwork of grassland and scrub which covers most of Berry Head is also important for small bird species and Guillemot Colony (of up to 1,000 breeding birds) on the cliffs below the Southern Fort is the largest on the Channel Coast.

Sharkham Point  was once the site of extensive iron workings, old adits can still be found, dating from the period 1790 to 1930.  However many remains were covered when Sharkham Point was used as the Brixham town tip.  The site is now managed as a nature conservation area, and there are fine views from it of the Heritage coastline.

The South West Coast Path

Part of this long-distance national trail runs through Country Park and on towards Sharkham Point.  This stretch was originally the Coastguard Walk along which the coastguards regularly patrolled.  At St. Mary's Bay the path begins to rise and fall over the soft, middle Devonian shales which have eroded to form what was once called "Mudstone Bay".  On the beach below you can find many fossils.