The famous trail that inspired the contentious Salt Path book series may be under threat, as campaigners are sounding alarms over a luxury hotel’s proposal to redirect the path, preventing hikers from mingling with its guests.

Each year, over nine million individuals traverse the South West Coast Path, a scenic 630-mile route stretching from Minehead in Somerset to Poole in Dorset, passing through Devon and Cornwall.

This path gained literary fame as the journey undertaken by Raynor Winn and her husband, Moth, following the loss of their dream home in Wales due to a failed business venture, as recounted in her popular memoir.

The Salt Path was adapted into a film featuring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson, turning it into a publishing sensation that brought its author significant financial success.

However, earlier this year, an Observer newspaper investigation raised questions about the memoir’s authenticity, claiming the couple, whose real names are Sally and Tim Walker, lost their home after embezzling £64,000 from her workplace.

A dispute is now unfolding in St Austell, Cornwall, where residents worry about potentially losing access to this beloved segment of the path.

A small group of residents are fighting against proposals from the owners of the Carlyon Bay Hotel near St Austell to move the path away from the hotel along a hedge line that would mean the potential loss of three access points onto the path and an obscured sea view.

More than 400 locals have joined the Save West Crinnis Field Facebook campaign with some telling the Daily Mail if the hotel gets the go ahead dozens of other luxury holiday sites could follow suit, effectively restricting some of Britain’s most stunning views to only the super wealthy.

The South West Coast Path as it approaches Doyden Point and Port Quin. The unique walk inspired the controversial Salt Path book series, but is now at risk of being lost to the public

Author Raynor Winn, real name Sally Walker, with her husband Tim at a screening of The Salt Path film

Teacher Martin Pallett, 64, said: ‘People have used this path for more than 100 years and the fear is it’s going to be lost forever.

‘The hotel doesn’t like that it runs through their field so they are pursuing this. In time they are going to totally restrict access to this area.

‘This is precious green space that we cannot afford to lose.

‘The ease of access to the path for elderly and disabled people is really important but these proposals are going to make it more difficult for people to use.

‘My fear is next they will put a fence along the narrow strip to segregate the path altogether. A fence would make it a very different experience.’

The hotel, which is 100 years old, owns the land but has leased it to the local parish council for use by the public.

An earlier bid by the four-star hotel to alter public rights of way across the field was met with a public outcry but just two months later they resubmitted a strikingly similar proposal.

Graphic designer and local resident Mike Stone, 60, walks his dogs along the stretch several times per day. He said: ‘It’s pretty obvious they want to restrict access to the field.

Owners of the he Carlyon Bay Hotel (pictured) near St Austell are seeking to move the path away from the hotel along a hedge line

Martin Pallet (left) and Mike Stone, who are campaigning against the proposals 

Mike and Martin stand at the entrance to the West Crinnis Field, which the hotel is seeking permission to restrict access to 

‘The fact the second proposal is two months after the first shows the hotel aren’t amenable to disputes.

‘If this succeeds it could set a precedent for other hotels elsewhere on the coast to reroute the path to suit them.

‘I don’t have anything against the hotel although I know some people have stopped using the facilities over this. I’d just like them to talk with the community more.’

Since the second proposal went public, posters have also been placed in the area warning ‘we won the first battle but it isn’t over’.

Residents say they are concerned about the hotel’s vague language about the ‘Coastguard Gate’ which provides open flat access onto the notoriously steep and rocky path.

Julie Aylward, 74, a retired broadcast journalist said: ‘Everybody uses it, people have picnics in the field in the summer and walk their dogs

‘The main concern is whether we will have access to the gate because it’s the only flast access to the field for people with limited mobility. The other access is steep and uneven and muddy.’

Her husband Robert Malcolm, 82, who has mobility issues added: ‘I use it virtually every day and we never see the field empty but if that gate was closed I wouldn’t be able to use it at all. If they get what they want it will ruin our daily life.’

The Brend hotel group which owns the Carlyon Bay Hotel has been contacted for comment

The proposed diversion would affect the West Crinnis Fields and would supposedly annexe the land to the hotel, making it inaccessible to the public

Residents have set up a protest group – Save West Crinnis Field – to attempt to curtail the plans 

Last weekend Winn was forced to deny new claims from relatives that she took money from her mother and elderly in-laws.

The best-selling writer has hit back at accusations that she typed a confessional letter in which she pleaded: ‘Please don’t look any further for the money. I’ve taken it. All of it.’

In an emphatic statement published on her website, Winn strenuously denied she was the author of the bombshell note claimed to have been written a decade ago.

‘I did not steal from family, as others can confirm. Nor have I confessed to doing so and I did not write the letter suggesting I did,’ she said.

The author’s niece, who did not wish to be named, has claimed that a typed and handwritten letters were given to her last year by her mother – Winn’s sister – while she was on her deathbed. She died of cancer in November 2024.

The details of the letters were revealed on Sunday by The Observer.

The notes were claimed to have been written by Winn in an attempt to stop her sibling from reporting her to the police.

In one, it is alleged Winn confessed to forging cheques to steal from her property surveyor and estate agent boss Martin Hemming as ‘it became an addiction’.

She is also said to have confessed to stealing £25,000 from her husband Moth’s elderly parents while in a ‘mad panic’ that left them almost penniless and living in a barn for the winter.

Mike Stone (left) and Martin Pallet stand at the entrance to West Crinnis Fields. If the hotel’s plans go ahead, the entrance will no longer be a public right of way

West Crinnis Field – the field at the centre of the dispute – has long been used by punters walking the South West Coast Path

 The alleged theft took place when Winn was facing eviction from her home in Wales, which is chronicled in her best-seller The Salt Path.

It is claimed in one letter that Winn admitted to taking money from her own mother and ‘any statements she has had over the last 18 months are fake. I forged them’.

One relative told The Observer that Winn’s mother had said all of her money had been taken, but ‘never in a million years did she think that her daughter had it’.

She reportedly apologised and promised to pay the money back before writing: ‘It’s of no consolation to you but this morning, writing this, I feel better than I have for years because I know it’s over.’

Winn and Moth’s families told the newspaper that, as far as they are aware, the money has not been paid back.

Winn vehemently denied the claims and said ‘The Observer and documentary makers continue to spread a false narrative about my life’.