Locations

Appledore is full of history, with watch towers, look-outs, a smuggler's tunnel, fishermen's cottages, captains' houses and a quay overlooking the meeting point of the rivers Torridge and Taw before they flow through the "pool" and over the "bar" into Bideford Bay.

Away from the quay the narrow streets, hidden lanes and cobbled courtyards preserve the intriguing history and transport the imagination back through the centuries.

A thriving medieval market town, full of charm and history, offering a selection of both specialised and more general shops. The Victorian novelist Charles Kingsley described Bideford as "The Little White Town which slopes upward from its broad river tide".

Bideford has been slow to change over the years. Indeed much of its architecture and historic associations are still with us today. Little has changed from when Charles Kingsley lived in the area nearly 150 years ago. Kingsley's statue serves as a permanent reminder of this famous resident and the time he spent here writing part of his well-known novel Westward Ho!

Today Bideford is both a thriving market town and working port with much to offer visitors to the region. Amongst the many buildings and places of interest you will find the historic covered Pannier Market, dating from 1883, which holds a market every Tuesday and Saturday. Alongside the history you will find modern shopping amenities and a wide choice of bars and restaurants.

Set into a steep hillside, Clovelly is one of the most famous villages in the world. The single cobbled high street winds its way down the hillside through traditional whitewashed cottages festooned with fuchsias and geraniums.

This friendly, welcoming town, set in the heart of rolling, unspoilt green countryside, has become recognised as an important heritage centre for the history of the 17th century.

Great Torrington had a significant role in the English Civil War, specifically, the Battle of Great Torrington in 1646 which marked the end of the Royalist resistance in the West Country. This led to the eventual defeat and execution of King Charles 1.

A beautiful and unspoilt peninsula that is a haven of peace and tranquillity.

In an area of outstanding natural beauty set against the spectacular Atlantic coastline to the west and the Bristol Channel to the north, the 17,000 acres of the Hartland Peninsula offer a landscape of wonderful contrasts.

Holsworthy is a wonderful town which has a market charter dating back to the 12th century. One thousand years ago it was described as a Port Town.

The word Port was a Saxon term for a secure place for trade - a market.

Lundy lies off the coast of North Devon, where the Atlantic ocean meets the Bristol Channel with nothing between it and America, a granite outcrop, three and a half miles long and half a mile wide.

In the hubbub of the modern world it is a place apart, peaceful and unspoilt.

Westward Ho! is named after the famous novel by Charles Kingsley and is thought to be the only place in the Country with an exclamation mark! Rudyard Kipling also has many connections with the town.

The Blue Flag beach at Westward Ho! offers over two miles of golden sand backed by a unique pebble ridge linking to Northam Burrows Country Park, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The beach has RNLI lifeguard cover between the Spring and Summer seasons (May - September) who oversee the many varieties of activity that the beach lends itself to, everything from horse riding to surfing and Kite Buggying to Kite Surfing!

The Blue Flag is only valid for one year so every effort has been made to keep up the high standards this year.