Holiday in South Devon

This weekend, I was asked to recommend a place to holiday in South Devon.  A cottage for two.  The area should be quiet-ish, ie not dead, with a few places to eat, plenty of walking and the odd trip to an attraction.  This blog post is aimed at that person specifically, but should help anyone aiming to holiday in South Devon.

The area you’re looking at is a combination of the South Devon Area of Oustanding Natural Beauty and The English Riviera and runs from Plymouth anticlockwise along the coast to Babbacombe.  The South Devon and English Riviera links contain plenty of recommendations to choose from, but I’d point you to one of these places …

Depends on your idea of quiet-ish, but I’d head to either Dartmouth or Salcombe.  There’s loads to do in both places and they’re both geared for eating, drinking and walking.  Dartmouth is the bigger of the two but you can’t really go wrong with either.  The South West Coast Path provides the most obvious hiking but if you’re in need of fresh air, do head out on the water as well even if it’s only on one the water taxis.

If your version of quiet is very quiet, then perhaps try Torcross or the Bigbury-on-Sea area.

As for the cottages, there’s a link on all those pages to a local supplier who, in our estimation, has the best selection of local properties.

Top 10 Honeymoon Locations In Devon And Cornwall

The question from a friend:

re: honeymoon suggestions.  we’re looking at 4 nights away mid-week, late Autumn in Devon and Cornwall (perhaps Dorset, too).  open to suggestions on location.

Well, here are our suggestions, starting with a place where one of our co-founders took his honeymoon.  Note: over the past year and a half, we’ve spent most of our time travelling around the South West so the recommendations come from personal knowledge.  There are dozens of other suggestions but we’ve avoided these owing to potential noise (eg Brixham on the English Riviera) or because the locations were too dependent on the weather.  Every place on the list is stunning and Romantic in the old fashioned sense of the word.

1. Burgh Island - a tidal island in the South Devon AONB (basically, landscape as beautiful as a National Park) accessible by sea tractor when water’s high and by foot across a very nice beach when low.  There’s a very famous hotel on the island (setting for Agatha Christie novels, bolt hole for the very famous, price tag included) and a great pub.  Bigbury-on-Sea beach runs into the spectacular Bantham Beach.  Endless walking east, west and inland.  Salcombe close by.

2. Padstow/Rock – we’re talking about the Camel Estuary basically (eg Rock Beach and Harbour and Hawkers Cove Beach).  Miles of blond sand on either bank and walks along the Atlantic coast.  Padstow’s compact, has a wide range of high quality restaurants and pubs.   Can’t really go wrong here.

3. St Mawes – bottom right hand corner of Cornwall across the water from Falmouth.  Magnificent place.  Walking, boat trips, restaurants, pubs.  The area’s quite wooded, too, so plenty of Autumnal blaze.

4. St Ives Bay - probably St Ives itself at the southern end of the bay which positions itself as one of the world’s most beautiful.  There’s a vast arc of sand for walking or horse riding.  St Ives itself abounds with cosy pubs.  Masses to do in the area as well if the weather misbehaves, eg Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden.

5. Sennen Cove – tricky one, this.  In good weather, it’s beautiful and romantic and among the most exceptional locations we’ve seen within the UK.  It has the pub and restaurant and walks you’d be looking for and Land’s End is close by but it is small and when the clouds are out, the magic disappears.

6. Fowey – built into the side of a hill overlooking a gorgeous estuary, it competes with any location in the South West for beauty, local walks, boat trips, boozers and restaurants.  Eden Project up the road btw.

7. Salcombe – Salcombe for food, pubs, the cosy fire.  The Salcombe/Kinsbridge Estuary for walks, boat trips and amazing beauty.  Well-heeled.  Plenty to do as well including a dramatic National Trust garden called Overbecks.

8. Dartmouth – busier and larger than Salcombe but with the same draw.  Exceptional beauty, exceptional range of places to eat and drink.  Very well-heeled.  One of the best around for people watching.  You could spend four days without shifting from the town but if you headed south, there’s an awesome stretch of coast from Blackpool Sands via Slapton Sands to Start Point.

9. Beer- this one’s a bit like Sennen above.  It’s unqiue and romantic with a vibe of its own but it’s small and if the weather turns …

10.  Others – there are plenty of other options.  Porthleven, Looe, Lynmouth and Lynton, Mortehoe all meet the criteria but you might also want to head inland to Dartmoor or Exmoor.  The wooded valleys around the edge of the moors are special in Autumn but, again, if you’re pre-booking by weeks and can’t estimate the weather then you could get stuck in the mist.  Dartmoor, for example, has some seriously luxurious hotels (Gidleigh Park and Bovey Castle) around Chagford and the place is a dream.  There’s the Tamar Valley as well which is a heavily wooded area above Plymouth that’s ablaze at this time of year. 

Last, try Dorset as well.  We’d head for Lyme Regis, West Bay or Corfe Castle.  Lyme Regis is a peach of a place.  Plenty of beaches and coastal walking, restaurants and pubs.  West Bay is smaller but equally as beautiful with the coastal walking here being among the best in the South West.  Corfe Castle is compact and a great base from which to enjoy the Isle of Purbeck which has exceptional walking and coastline.

Top 10 Things To Do In Devon This Autumn

Come June, the roads in Devon begin to clog up.  The steady flow of traffic to/ from Devon and Cornwall continues until September and then the traffic thins out once again.  And?  Well, it’s a fantastic time to take advantage of the relative peace and quiet to experience the county and, to help, here are our top ten recommendations of things to do in Devon this autumn:

1. Walk the valleys and cleaves around the edge of Dartmoor National Park – Dartmoor has a reputation for being a bit on the bleak side.  In parts, this is true, but to see a very different Dartmoor, head to the Teign Gorge or Lustleigh Cleave or Belstone Cleave.  These are heavily wooded areas with steep hillsides and clearly the colours come out at this time of year.

2. Make the most the empty(ish) beaches – the beaches of the South Devon AONB, North Devon AONB and East Devon AONB get seriously crowded in the summer months.  In Autumn, you get more space.  Try Slapton Sands or Bantham Beach in the south, Putsborough Sand or Saunton Sands in the north, Sidmouth (Jacob’s Ladder) Beach or Ladram Bay Beach to the east.

3. If it’s raining, go to a gorge – the best, in our opinion, being the National Trust’s Lydford Gorge and Waterfall.

4. Spend some time in a cave – Devon, fortunately, has a world class cave at Kents Cavern.  Grab a guided tour in the UK’s ‘oldest home’.  Utterly fascinating stuff.  Remember too, that this cave is part of the world’s first urban ‘Geopark’: The English Riviera Geopark.

5. Look up in a cathedral – Exeter Cathedral, to be precise.  We spend our lives bumbling around the UK and the vaulting in this catehdral is as good as any we’ve seen.

6. Walk the Jurassic Coast – if you head to Exmouth, you can start exploring the Jurassic Coast via the South West Coast Path.  The red cliffs are exceptional against autumnal colours.

7. Head off to the Hartland Peninsula -  Why?  Beacuse the coastline here can get very woody which means colour.  Try the walks around Clovelly.

8. Climb Smeaton’s Tower - Plymouth is an amazing place.  The Pilgrim Fathers journeyed to America from here and Drake set sail about fifty years before.  Climb Smeaton’s Tower and the history and natural beauty around you are first class.

9. Yomp The English Riviera – we think the Riviera is one of the finest destinations in the UK, let alone Devon.  It came as a big surprise to us given all the bad press the area gets but we’d urge you to try it out for a weekend to see for yourself.

10. Head to Exmoor National Park – steep wooded valleys, high cliffs plunging into the sea, the National Park is made for Autumn frankly.

Devon’s massive and this top 10 could quite easily be turned into a top 100 things to do in Autumn.  There’s the Tamar AONB which is glorious at this time of year and the Blackdown Hills AONB which is relatively unknown but a cracker, too.   You can explore plenty of other options here and we’re still piling on the content for the county with the help of local experts so all suggestions are welcome.  Post comments below or @picturetheuk on Twitter.  Enjoy!

Top 10 beaches in South Devon

South Devon is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  In 2009, we walked, researched and photographed its coastline from Plymouth all the way around to The English Riviera.  The walk, on the South West Coast Path, takes one through some of Devon’s most popular destinations including Salcombe and Dartmouth.  It also takes one past some of the UK’s best beaches.  We list lots of things to do and see in the area here but if you’re looking for South Devon’s top 10 beaches then these are our recommendations:

1. Mill Bay Beach - an idyllic sandy beach close to East Portlemouth Beaches with exceptional views across to Salcombe.  It’s National Trust and there’s parking behind the beach but it’s easier to park in Salcombe itself and take a boat across the water and then walk to the beach.

2. Blackpool Sands - if you’ve glanced at any promotional material for beaches in South Devon then you’ll no doubt have seen this beach already.  A perfect arc of shingle set againt a blue sea and lush Devon hills.  Lots of parking and plenty of facilities on the beach.

3. Bantham Beach - this was our favourite discovery during the walk around the South Devon coastline.  Across the water from Bigbury-on-Sea Beach, it’s a favourite among surfers.  When the tide’s out, there’s loads of sand and good walking inland via the River Avon.  The beach has a great vibe to it.

4. Bigbury-on-Sea Beach - possibly the best known beach in South Devon connecting the mainland with Burgh Island. 

5. Slapton Sands - one of many shingle beaches running along the coastline at Start Bay.

6. South Sands - as beaches go, this one’s a tiddler but it has awesome views of the Salcombe Kingsbridge Estuary and Overbeck’s Garden and Museum are nearby.  There’s parking behind the beach but by far and away the best way to arrive is by boat and then sea tractor!

7. Hope Cove Harbour Beach - one of several sandy beaches in the area, the harbour beach is nestled behind a vast harbour wall and the setting is extraordinary.

8. South Milton Sands - not particularly well know but a cracking sandy beach owned by the National Trust.

9. Thurlestone Beach - an intimate, family beach close to South Milton Sands.

10. The English Riviera Beaches (Broadsands Beach, Goodrington Sands, Paignton Beach, Meadfoot Beach, Babbacombe Beach and Oddicombe Beach)

There are plenty more magnificent beahces in the area so if we’ve missed your favourite or there’s one you want to shout about then pls add comments here or @picturetheuk on Twitter.

Top 10 beaches in Dorset

Most of the Dorset coast is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The ‘Jurassic Coast’ in Dorset runs from/to Lyme Regis to/from the headland around Swanage Bay and Studland Bay and is awesome.

The beaches are different to those of Cornwall and Devon.  For one, there’s a lot less sand and a lot more shingle.  A similarity is their popularity.  We travel around the UK a lot, especially when the weather’s good, and most Dorset beaches are heaving with visitors when the sun’s out.

To help you discover this coastline, we’ve put together a list of top 10 beaches in Dorset.  If you have others, pls add them in the comments or @picturetheuk on Twitter.   We provide further info, geolocate beaches on Google Maps and publish as many photos as we can of the beaches on PictureTheUK …

1. West Bay Beach - a shingle beach beneath dramatic cliffs which turn intense orange when the sun sets.  Easy access to the cliff tops and the South West Coast Path.

2. Lyme Regis Beach - one of the few sandy beaches on the Dorset Jurassic Coast (others include: Weymouth Beach, Swanage Beach and Studland Bay Beaches).   Backs onto Lyme Regis promenade and is close to The Cobb.  To the east are the splendid Spittles and Black Ven Beaches which are popular with fossil hunters!

3. Chesil Beach - possibly the most famous beach in Dorset and one of the most famous in the UK. 

4. Swanage Beach - an exceptionally popular beach in east Dorset close to Corfe Castle.  Lots of people, lots of shops and places to eat, lots of views.

5. Studland Bay Beaches - a collection of beaches within Studland Bay.  It’s possible to catch a ferry from the north of the bay to …

6. Sandbanks Beach (Poole) - probably best known as the beach in front of some of the most expensive real estate in the UK!

7. Durdle Door Beach - located beneath some pretty impressive cliffs with a fine view of Durdle Door.  Lulworth Cove is a brisk walk to the east.  

8. Bournemouth Beach - a big beach stretching out in front of this popular tourist destination.

9. Charmouth Beach - Lyme Regis to the west, Golden Cap to the east.  A wonderful shingle beach beneath yet more dramtic cliffs.

10. The Spittles and Black Ven Beaches (Lyme Regis) – not your typical beach, granted, but it’s one of the best we’ve come across for fossil hunting, exploring rock pools, acting like a 5yr old.

Top 10 beaches in North Devon

We’ve researched and photographed many of the beaches along the Atlantic Coast of Cornwall and Devon and here are our suggestions as to the top ten beaches in North Devon.   Some of them are magnificent and we’d place them among the best on offer in the UK.   We’ve excluded those in Exmoor National Park and on the Hartland Peninsula as these will be covered is separate posts.

Most of our recommendations have additional information on the PictureTheUK website,  are geolocated on Google maps and there are plenty of photos.  You can also discover ’Things To Do Nearby’ and ‘Places To Stay Nearby’.

1. Putsborough Sand - the southern end of the vast strip of sand at Morte Bay.  The view from the headland looking north is as good as it gets.

2. Woolacome Sand - the northern end of the vast strip of sand at Morte Bay.  Despite its size, this very big beach gets crowded in the summer months.  Just north of Woolacombe Sand are a number of smaller beaches which are exceptional. 

3. Saunton Sands - another vast stretch of sand along the North Devon Atlantic Coast.  Backs into Braunton Burrows

4. Croyde Beach - said to be one of the best surfing beaches in South West England. 

5. Westward Ho!/Northam Burrows Beach - along with Saunton Sands, Putsborough Sand and Woolacombe Sand, this is another massive North Devon Beach. 

6. Barricane Beach – just up from Woolacombe Sand, an intimate beach surrounded by rocks.  Probably our favourite out of all the beaches we visited in North Devon.

7. Combe Martin Beach – on the border of Exmoor National Park, an intimate beach at the end of a very long high street!

8. Ilfracombe Tunnels Beaches – a beach accessible by tunnel from central Ilfracombe.

9. Braunton Burrows - strictly speaking, not a beach.  One of the largest areas of dunes in the UK leading to Saunton Sands.

10. Lee Bay Beach – small beach in a predominantly rocky coastline.

There’s more information on the North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) on PictureTheUK, too.

We’d love to hear any recommendations for the area, eg where the best views are or if there are other cracking beaches that we’ve missed.   Either post here or @picturetheuk on Twitter.

Top 10 Things To Do on The English Riviera

This surprised us: The English Riviera is exceptional. 

If you’ve never visited, The English Riviera is a stretch of coastline just over twenty miles long in Devon.  To its south is the South Devon AONB.   Major destinations include Torquay, Paignton and Brixham.  It’s also the world’s first urban Geopark which means it has a unique geological history spanning 400 million years.

We walked the The South West Coast Path starting at Berry Head Forts and followed the shape of the coastline through Brixham, Broadsands, Goodrington, Paignton, Torquay and then to Babbacombe.   The views are first class but the walk is also a great introduction to all the things one can do here.

As ever, we’ve created listings of all the things you can do and see in The English Riviera here.  Things to do and see are also geo-located on maps and we’ve taken tens of thousands of photos of the area.  However, to introduce the delights of this area, we’ve created a top 10 list of things to do:

1. Berry Head Forts

2. Brixham Harbour and Marina - home to a replica of The Golden Hinde

3. Goodrington Sands

4. Paignton Harbour

5. Paignton Pier

6. Living Coasts

7. Torquay Marina

8. Kents Cavern Prehistoric Caves

9. Babbacombe Beach

10. Oddicombe Beach

We’d love to hear of other attractions or things to do within The English Riviera so pls post here or @picturetheuk on Twitter.

The Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site

It’s been a busy summer 2009 so far.  We’ve been photographing Wales, Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire and members have been contributing some great photography from across the UK so content is building nicely as reflected by traffic being sent via long tail natural search from Google, Yahoo and Bing.  We’re heading up to Scotland soon-ish to put some structure in place on site for that part of the UK and there should be some good content for Northern Ireland coming soon, too.

Our main focus, at present, is the South West of England and we intend to build out detailed content from there.  As part of this focus, we’ve been researching the Jurassic Coast which runs from Swanage in Dorset along the coast to Exmouth in Devon.   There’s an inscription by Lulworth Cove which acts as a good introduction to this amazing World Heritage Site:

‘185 Million Years of the Earth’s History [sic].  This Stone which commemorates the inscription of the Dorset and East Devon Coast on the World Heritage List of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was unvelied by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales on 3rd October 2002′.

Top 10 beaches in Cornwall

We’ve spent the last 12 months researching Cornwall and here’s a stab at Cornwall’s top 10 beaches.   Both Sennen Cove Beach and Perran Beach (specifically the long stretch of sand to the middle and north of the beach) produced impromptu ‘wows’ so they top the list:

1. Sennen Cove Beach

2. Perran Beach

3. Porthcurno Beach

4. Rock Beach

5. St Ives Harbour and Beach

6. Watergate Bay Beach

7. Fistral Beach

8. Holywell Beach and Cove

9. Mother Ivey’s Bay

10. Kynance Cove

There are dozens of other beaches that could make it onto a top 10 list and PictureTheUK catalogues attractions within Cornwall here but if we haven’t included your favourite beach then pls post below or @picturetheuk on Twitter.   Cheers.

Visiting St Mawes, Cornwall

Early summer 2009, we spent some time exploring the east coast of Cornwall around Falmouth.  As ever, we got lost and ended up driving down the wrong side of the River Fal and Fal Estuary.  We arrived at St Mawes Castle, an exceptional sixteenth century castle in a beautiful setting.  The views across the water to Pendennis Castle, Falmouth etc are astonishing.  But then came the best part of the trip. 

The walk along the coastline into St Mawes was a highlight of the research period we spent in Cornwall.  Take a look at the photos here to get a sense of what we mean.  We thoroughly recommend visiting St Mawes, Cornwall.

If you live there or have visited, we’d love to add further info so pls post below or @picturetheuk on Twitter or contact me on james@picturetheuk.com.  Thanks.