South Devon Treasures
Devon has long been a popular UK break destination, with accommodation options ranging from holiday parks, holiday lodges, through to luxury static caravans. Whatever type of accommodation you opt for Devon is chock full of fun, interesting and intriguing attractions, from ravishing natural landscape and eccentric museum collections to world class music events and quaint villages. Picking out our Top 10 hasn’t been easy but we’ve given it a go – there should be something for everyone in there, from toddlers to great grandparents. Alongside some of the more famous attractions we’ve included some less well known places that we think are a real treat.
Paignton Zoo
Open all year round Paignton Zoo is one of Devon’s most well known attractions and is a great day out if you have children. Tucked away in the 75 acres of grounds is a Big Cat Forest featuring endangered Asiatic Lions and Sumatran Tigers, a Wetland Experience and Aviary. There are loads of hands on displays for curious, knowledge hungry types and the various enclosures and habitats are imaginatively and spaciously presented. Especially impressive is the huge Reptile Tropics glasshouse, which is a humid, hot home for snakes, lizards and astonishing plants.
Babbacombe Model Village
Babbacombe Model Village in Torquay is one of the best and most imaginative. Become a Giant for a day and tower over this recreation of the world in miniature, set in four acres of beautiful gardens. There are thousands of miniature buildings, people and vehicles from Britain’s past along with some hilariously animated scenes that reflect the British brand of humour! Look out for special events throughout the year such as the Halloween Evening of Mini Horrors or the Christmas Winter Wonderland.
Overbeck’s Museum and Garden
An Edwardian house in the tiny hamlet of Sharpitor near Salcombe is the unlikely host of this delightfully idiosyncratic museum. Visitors will find all kinds of curios collected, and even invented, by the eccentric research chemist and inventor Otto Overbeck, who believed that everyone could live until the age of 350! While there are also interesting displays of natural, maritime and local history it’s the more unusual artefacts such as the Polyphon – a 19 Century jukebox – and a ‘rejuvenating machine’ that are sure to intrigue and amuse. Don’t forget to take a walk round the lush subtropical gardens and admire the wonderful estuary views.
Start Bay: Blackpool Sands and Slapton Sands
Three or four miles south of Dartmouth the coast path climbs past the pretty hill top village of Stoke Fleming and descends onto popular Blackpool Sands, an unspoilt cove ideal for swimming and lounging round on a hot day. The beach is flanked by steep wooded cliffs and the excellent Venus Cafe is open all year round offering a menu stuffed with local and organic dishes and an all weather seating area. There is also a car park here. Carry on along the coast path to Slapton Sands with its three miles of shingle beach and the Slapton Ley Nature Reserve lagoon, which supports herons, terns, widgeon and the rare great crested grebe.
Totnes and The River Dart
Totnes is a market town of ancient pedigree that is now a peaceful, bohemian centre of alternative therapies and the arts. There are a few things worth seeing in Totnes itself, including the Cider Press Centre and the ruined castle with great views of the town and Dart Valley. Dartington Hall’s sculpture strewn gardens are immaculately kept and there is a constant programme of films, plays, concerts, dance and workshops at this world famous arts centre. An annual literature festival takes place in mid July and there is also a summer festival of mainly classical music from late July through to late August. For a wonderfully mellow way to explore the River Dart and this alluring part of the South Hams jump aboard a river cruise and float off downstream to Dartmouth. There are daily trips from Easter to October and in other months by arrangement.
Buckfast Abbey and Dart Valley Steam Railway
Just north of Buckfastleigh, the River Dart weaves through a wooded green valley and into the grounds of the imposing Buckfast Abbey. Although the site of the Abbey has a rich and ancient monastic history – it is built on the site of an 11th Century abbey built by Canute, later a Cistercian building which was subsequently razed to the ground in 1535 by Henry VIII – the existing building was completed by a handful of French Benedictine Monks in 1932. There is also a stained glass exhibition, a display on the Abbey’s history and the renovated Physic, Sensory and Lavender gardens provide a lovely fragrant stroll. Before you leave don’t forget to stock up on the infamous Buckfast Tonic Wine!
In summer, hop on the restored steam trains of the South Devon Railway at Buckfastleigh (check for winter times) for a scenic and fun way to see the Dart Valley, which is particularly beautiful in Autumn with all the leaves in full colour.
Buzzard Cycle Route
If you are feeling energetic then the best way to explore south east Devon’s coast, interior villages and rural countryside is to hop on a bike and tackle some if this eighty mile circular route, which takes in Sidmouth, Seaton, Axminster, Honiton, Woodbury and Exmouth. It covers an astonishing scenic variety, from coast to commons, heaths to hills and estuaries from the Exe to the Axe. It is possible to break the route into three daily stages so you can complete the route at your own pace, with plenty of stops to view the attractions and lovely vistas. There are plenty of great watering holes along the route to keep up your energy. A leaflet pack containing ‘The Buzzard Regional Cycle Route’ (National Route 52) leaflet and other cycle routes in south east Devon are available from East Devon District Council. Tel: 01395 516551 and ask for Countryside Services.
A La Ronde
Sitting on a hillside four miles south of Topsham and overlooking the Exe estuary is the unique neo-Gothic folly A La Ronde. Created in the 1790s by two cousins, Jane and Mary Parminter, who were inspired by their own European Grand Tour to construct this 16-sided house filled with mementos of their travels. Over the years they also added their own artistic creations ranging from bizarre murals made of game bird and chicken feathers to oddities made of seaweed and sand. The stairway and gallery at the top of the house are completely covered in shells, which can be viewed more closely through a special closed circuit TV system. Finish off your visit with a cuppa and a cake at the excellent café.
Beer
The village not the drink! One of the gems of the Devon coast, the tiny fishing village of Beer is nestled between two gleaming white headlands with a stream gurgling through its centre. Fishing vessels are still winched up onto the pebbly beach and lines of painted wooden bathing huts jostle for space under the white cliffs. In mid-August huge crowds descend on the village for Regatta Week. In mid October there is also a popular Rhythm and Blues Festival. After a hearty breakfast and mug of tea at the old school beach café head west along the cliff path for a mile or so and enter the Beer Quarry Caves. Vast chambers and narrow tunnels, worked continuously from Roman times until 1900, make up this hour long walking tour, through a chapel 200ft underground and passing etched signatures of long gone quarrymen. It’s chilly down there so wrap up warm.
Back on the coast head south as the path climbs for mile up to Beer Head, a majestic 426foot viewpoint with a stupendous panorama of the surrounding coastline. Take some time to wander down in the Hooken Undercliff, a thickly grown wilderness created by a landslip in 1790… find your way to the beach through the trees.
Sidmouth Folk Festival and Ottery St Mary’s Tar Barrelling
Both Sidmouth and Ottery St Mary are lovely places to visit at any time of year but if you get the chance, don’t miss out on these two unique events. Sidmouth is a grand old English seaside town with stunning Georgian architecture and boasts one of the country’s most exuberant, and best, folk-music festivals. Sidmouth Folk Festival is held over eight days at the beginning of August. Over 600 folk and roots acts from around the world, as well as dance and theatre companies, converge on this seaside town, taking over venues, parks and pubs.
Ottery St Mary sits on the banks of the River Otter in a gorgeous valley and is the site of one of Devon’s most daring events… annual tar barrelling. This unusual event takes place on Bonfire Night, November the 5th every year and thankfully has yet to be shut down by the health and safety brigade. Each pub sponsors a barrel which is soaked in tar three days before the event; the barrels are then set alight and carried through town on the backs of volunteers! Seventeen barrels are carried during the day and range in size from small for the “boys”, medium for the women and youths, and up to “gert big unz” for the men. To top it all off is a huge bonfire, a funfair, live music – a great Devon event.
