Exeter Old and New
This cache has beautiful views of nearby farmland. This is a typical rural Devon location, which only a generation ago was a remote, quiet area. Please note Mosshayne Lane is a private road, with farm gates across the road further down. That said, there is access to the houses along the lane, and nearby parking is available in lay-bys. A nice circular walk from Pinhoe takes about 1hr.
The Roman city of Exeter was surrounded by the city wall marking its boundary. How times have changed. Imagine how the building of the M5 between 1967 and 1977 must have changed these rural areas outside the old city. Now the motorway seems to form the boundary of the city of Exeter, with huge development already underway, and only likely to increase in coming years, this location feels like the transitional edge to the future looking Exeter.
Nearby are beautiful examples of thatched Devon farmhouses. The site is historically important, having been listed in the Domesday book as having been owned by Baldwin the Sheriff, eldest son of Gilbert, Count of Brionne. Gilbert was the son of Richard the First, the powerful Duke of Normandy, who build rougement Castle in Exeter and Okehampton Castle.
The barns were built in the 1860s as a model farmyard and probably formed part of the Poltimore Estate. Converted around 2005, the barns now consist of seven private dwellings.