in 1990 the devon wildlife trust purchased from british rail and a private landowner a section of trackbed around halwill to create a nature reserve covering an area of 2¾ hectares divided into five compartments. in 1998 devon county council began works to enable a cycleway to cross the site; this was realised in april 2005 when a 2½ mile (4 kilometres) cycleway, forming part of the national cycle network, was opened which runs from the village centre via beeching close through the nature reserve and the woods on an elevated boardbank to the forest centre at cookworthy where the south west forest and the ruby country initiative are based. the section was opened as part of a plan by the county council to extend the tarka trail to hatherleigh, from where the ruby way will continue to halwill junction and then on to holsworthy and bude.