WALKING around Winkleigh should be more straightforward with the production of a new map featuring walks in the area.

Lydia Wesley, from Winkleigh, has secured a £3,700 grant through the Tarka Country Millennium Awards to produce a brochure featuring rural routes around the Winkleigh area.

Lydia said she had already begun coming up with design and layout ideas and hoped the brochure would be out in spring next year.

She already has four walks mapped out which will be in the free of charge brochure. Each will take about two hours and has been chosen because it follows routes which will not be too strenuous.

Lydia, 43, who has lived in the village for three years, said she had been supported in her grant application by the Winkleigh Society and its footpath group.

She said she was also being helped by Winkleigh photographer Alan Jacobs, who has agreed to take the pictures to illustrate the walking guide.

Lydia said she hoped the brochure would encourage people to get out into the countryside and enjoy its delights.

?People will hopefully explore the village as it is quite pretty,? she said. ?It is a nice simple way of getting people out there and enjoying the countryside,? she added.

Lydia said she also wanted the brochure to take in some of the history of Winkleigh and the surrounding area.

The Tarka Countryside Millennium Awards are backed by a consortium of local authority partners and provide lottery funding with the aim of turning ideas into action.