One of the best things about having a hotel in North Devon is sharing our favourite beauty spots with guests and then seeing their faces when they return from a visit. Sometimes we take the beauty of the area for granted, so it’s always a delight to see people’s reaction to the scenery and landscapes that surround us.
Here are some of our current favourite beauty spots – a bucket list of places you must visit in North Devon…
1 Hartland Point
This dramatic coastal spot offers awesome sea views and its staggering cliffs are world famous for their geological features.
2 Heddon’s Mouth
A beautiful, steep sided valley that leads to the sea. Walk through ancient woodlands and meadows which are home to some of our rarest wildlife species, including the High Brown Fritillary butterfly.
3 The Valley of Rocks
Enter this valley on the coastline at Lynton and you feel as if you’re walking into a film set. A sweep of moorland and grass surrounded by huge rock formations and dotted with wild goats – it’s like being in the Swiss Alps!
4 Crow Point
At the far end of Saunton beach, where two river estuaries meet the sea, this is a dramatic and sometimes slightly eerie spot where the sand seems to always be shifting and changing according to tides and weather. Amazing seascapes and great for photographs; behind the beach are incredible sand dunes which are home to a wealth of rare plants.
5 Barle Valley, Exmoor
Head to Simonsbath on Exmoor (technically in Somerset, but so close to our border!) and walk along this fabulous river valley in the heart of the moor to Cow Castle. Majestic beech woods, a crystal-clear stream, archaeological remains and no end of places to stop and picnic.
6 Baggy Point, Croyde
Walk along this dramatic headland with its amazing, high cliffs and views out over the ocean and back across to the sandy surfers’ beach at Croyde.
7 Halsdon Nature Reserve, Dolton
Devon Wildlife Trust has a few reserves in our neck of the woods and our favourite is this one. It has fantastic woods and wide open meadows running alongside the River Torridge. A perfect place to escape the world and you may even catch a glimpse of an otter.
8 Watersmeet
Park the car in Lynmouth and walk up this wooded river gorge. Huge boulders litter the river bed; they were carried down during a disastrous flood in the 1950s but now look as if they’ve always been there. You really sense the power of the water in this beautiful and very dramatic setting.
9 Clovelly
Quite simply, there is nowhere else like this village. It’s clustered down the side of the cliff, pretty little cottages line the steep, cobbled street and at the bottom there’s a picture-perfect harbour. Straight out of a film set, we bet you’ll have to take a photograph!