Cross Gate Cross

A weathered stone cross standing alone on the Devon moors - that's Cross Gate Cross, just outside Plymouth. It's properly ancient, likely medieval, and marks an old packhorse route that once connected the moors to the coast. You won't find visitor facilities or café stops, just you, the wind, and a sense of how people actually moved through this landscape centuries ago.

The cross itself is modest - a roughly hewn granite shaft on a base - but that's rather the point. This isn't a grand monument designed to impress. It's a working marker that's simply endured. The real appeal is the walk to reach it across open moorland, which offers proper views across Devon and lets you understand why these waypoints mattered. Allow an hour or so, depending on where you're starting from.

Walkers will get far more from this than casual visitors. It requires effort and actually means something once you've reached it. Families with young children might find the empty moorland less engaging unless they're keen on hiking and stories about medieval trade routes.

If you're basing yourself at Langstone Manor Holiday Park or Dartmoor Domes, Cross Gate Cross works well as a morning or afternoon walk that doesn't demand a major detour. It fits naturally into a broader moorland exploration rather than as a destination in itself. No admission charge, no opening hours - just stone, history, and wind.