North Devon recommendations

[watersprites]

Off to North Devon next week (staying in Woolacombe) with primary aged dc. Any recommendations for things to see, do & where to eat? Thanks

Also walk to Morte Point and you’ll see seals. I saw about 20 this week playing by the rocks

I also went to school in Bideford which has re-named. I was a boarder - which years did you go?

MIL lives in Ilfracombe so my kids have spent a lot of time there!

Combe martine dinosaur and wildlife park
The big sheep
Tunnels beach
barricane beach is nice

Lynton/Lynmouth Cliff Railway is a must.

I second Squires for Fish and chips, as well as lots of amazing beaches. Enjoy.

@HouseofHolbein @BrieAndChilli I went to a school in Bideford which has changed its name too... Are we talking Edgehill or Stella Maris? Both fit the description!
I was at Edgehill from 85-92.

I was at edgehill 96-99

@ReviewingTheSituation Stella Maris is no longer a school 😊 it's housing. I walk through it every day to get to work.

It merged with Edgehill and Grenville to make the new Kingsley School. I knew the buildings weren't part of the school any more as that's all up at the old Edgehill site.

When I was at Edgehill, we were always jealous of the Stella Maris girls as they had an indoor heated pool (we had an outdoor solar heated one, which was invariably freezing cold!), and they were at the bottom of the hill so never had to walk up it!

Thank all, I'm defo going to Watermouth, love weird stuff!

Walk to valley of rocks at the top of Lynton, breathtaking rocky landscape and wild goats on precipitous rocks.

Kate statue on the hill in Ilfracombe, sad story but beautiful, especially at sunset I hated Verity, found it revolting, apparently it's supposed to be controversial (some art belongs in medical books?).

One chippy near the harbour had crab loaded chips yum.

I wouldn't waste a day on Lundy.

Edgehill College, by any chance?

Most things have been said already but my picks are:

Morte Point - walk all the way round it and look out for the seals. If you want a longer walk carry on past Rockham Bay and to the lighthouse, then back up the lane to Mortehoe. Buy fish and chips in the square and sit out on the point to eat it with the view of Woolacombe below you. Or the Ship Aground for food. I used to live opposite the Chichester arms but that was 30 years ago!

Lynton and Lynmouth, and go on the funicular railway, then walk to Watersmeet.

Valley of the Rocks on your way home.

Big Sheep is fun even on a bad weather day. Also drop in on Clovelly.

Take a family surfing lesson at Woolacombe! None of us had surfed before and we all enjoyed it loads! They provide all the equipment.

Have fun. We go there every 3 or 4 years for our holidays. Love it.

If you mean Edgehill College I was a day girl 1965-1968.

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain Indeed it was! Back in the days when Grenville College and Stella Maris Convent also existed. I am sooooo old!!

Not as old as me, you're not. I also remember Grenville College, the boys there had lovely tweed blazers. The grounds at Edgehill were lovely, a classmate and I used to play tennis after school in the summer; at morning break the boarders used to have free buns and we'd hang around in the hopes they didn't want what the day's offering was. Great Chelsea buns, I recall.

Definitely Watersmeet.
But be prepared to share your scones with the chaffinches. When we were there they sat on the back of chairs waiting for their share.
❤️❤️

Is the Model Bakery still in Bideford? Their pasties were just the best.

Not that I know of... where was it?

Just looked. It's on a list of list shops so no

Have you been to Bideford lately, @SabrinaThwaite? I was there just after Easter and it's very run down - lots of shops boarded up. Even on a lovely sunny Saturday it was empty - not helped I guess by the large supermarkets on the outskirts. Barnstaple's the same.

Ilfracombe is beautiful. The High Street isn’t much but the harbour and beaches are gorgeous. Tunnels and Hele are fabulous and there are some more but I shall get battered by my friends if I tell you about them (I’m local 😂). New cafe the Lime Kiln is great overlooking the harbour and Verity. Loads to do in town for the kids too, little funfair, little train, amusements, crabbing.

Stacc in Ilfracombe also fabulous for cocktails and cake 😍

I think it was on the High Street, but I’m going back to the mid 1980s.

No, not for a long time (early 2000s). Both towns were still busy then. Back in the 80s Bideford had its own nightclub, in the old cinema - the floor sloped down to a little level dance floor (seem to remember the sloping area had a round cattle feeder as a central “feature”) and the circle was a cocktail bar!