It may seem strange to locals to pair Shelly with Ramsley but most of the material I am working from is based around walks (for the super fit and healthy?) and, going this way, makes a nice, if tiring, round trip.
Leaving your car in the village car park, turn left as you come out and then right at the bottom of Ramsley Lane. Over the road is a short alley leading to the old Wesleyan Chapel and Schoolroom the site of an early 19th century British school. After 1934 it was a scout hut and an occasional cinema and, more latterly, a carpenter's shop. It's always best, I think to do the uphill bits first, so go on, up the hill, past some very pretty buildings and you will be in the once separate hamlet of Shelley. If you were to turn left when you reach the lane, on the hill to your left, you would come to Shelley nature reserve. You have been walking up the original Exeter/Cornwall road which used to pass straight through the village. Just after the lane is the Methodist Chapel at Shelley built in 1866.
If you pass the chapel, you will see a small lane branching off to the right. It's still uphill, but go on, it will be downhill on the way back.

When you come out at the top of the lane, cross the road and go up to Ramsley Common, by the side of the now private house, that used to be The Rising Sun pub. Find your own way up to the top where you can see the remains of the mine workings and get a good view northwards across South Zeal to South Tawton. You may be lucky enough, from the viewing platform with green railings, to see a heron, fishing the stream in the valley. On a good day you can see Exmoor away to the North and the line of the new A30, which has brought peace to this comer of Dartmoor. You can also pick out three villages ; South Zeal is spread out below and the tower of South Tawton church is prominent in the middle distance. To the West you may be able to make our the White Rock, a well known Sticklepath landmark.

Coming down over the waste heaps, you come to Dry Bridge, which passes under the turnpike, built to bypass South Zeal in 1829, to avoid the steep hills approaching and leaving the village. It is this road that locals refer to as 'the old A30'. If you go under the road, through Dry Bridge, you enter Ramsley Lane. Ramsley was a separate hamlet until the late 19th century. Since then infilling has united it with South Zeal.

It's all downhill from now on (only literally, nothing to do with the inhabitants of Ramsley Lane!). After passing what used to be old miner's cottages, you will come to the village blacksmith's forge and then, just past the 'Y' junction that can take you to Prospect, there is the old Pound Cottage, which had a walled enclosure, where straying animals were kept for safekeeping. Just past this on the right, is a steep wooded path, originally used by the miners going to work. Fifty more metres and you are back to the car park. Only a short drive to refreshments!