Child friendly things to do in Totnes over Easter?

[tigermoth]

Any locals out there? We'll be in the Totnes/Kingsbridge area for a week or so over Easter. I am very familiar with the bigger visitor attractions, like Bowden House near Totnes (hope make the fab boot sale), not to mention Sorley Tunnel and Woodlands. However, as a 'grockle' I have always found Totnes itself to be lacking in playgrounds, child friendly pubs, and smaller child-orientated events. I can see that Totnes, especially, is a really lively place, and feel I am missing a trick here. Can anyone help?
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I don't know about Totnes, but we stayed in Kingsbridge for New Year a couple of years ago and the beaches and Bigbury and Burgh Island are amazing for kids and adults.

Sorry, can't recall specific places to see in Totnes itself but I always thought it was a nice place to just wander around, lots of interesting 'artie' shops. Do go for a play on Bantham Beach (near Kingsbridge) though - huge sand dunes and a huge beach - my favourite in Devon. Also, if you want a child friendly pub which is in a beautiful setting then go just past Bantham to a small village called Thurlestone, full of thatched cottages, a beach at the end of the road, and a fantastic pub!! It's called The Village Inn and I have been in there lots with my daughter (parents live in Plymouth, not too far away) and they are always so friendly and happy to help, have only one highchair though (I think). They do really good food too. If you fancy a walk afterwards you can go on to the golf course and there's a walk across the cliffs there that's very pretty.
Just thinking too, if you can get down to Plymouth, only about 40 minute drive, then there's always the Aquarium on the Barbican which is meant to be the best in England (ashamed that I haven't been yet). The Barbican itself is nice too - cobbled streets and a few tea shops (for that essential Devon cream tea!) off the main strip. Also in Plymouth is the Pavilions which has a big swimming pool with shoot and an ice rink - not very original or scenic but if you need a distraction??
Hope you enjoy. If you need any directions then please just ask.

WE went to Totnes a couple of years ago (my mum & dad live outside Exeter)...the best days out were at Sorley Tunnel and Crealy Park ...it's the adventure park just outside Exeter and has a HUGE indoor play centre if wet (and remember Devon is Wet... my dad has webbed feet from growing up in Cornwall)... also look for easter egg hunts at the NT houses and they usually do really good food with high chairs etc etc. The Aquarium at Plymouth is quite impressive but doesn't fill a morning, and the kids enjoyed watching the Dartingdon glass blown at the Barbican. The Plymouth Dome is really good for BIG kids. As kids we used to go up to the moor and play in the streams (but it might be too cold at easter). Or go wrapped up and play on the beach with the kite ...I'm getting homesick now.

As A salcombe devotee, here's a list of local stuff:

Walk at Bantham followed by lunch at the sloop Inn at bantham. Only pub in village, fantastic food, best crab sandwiches in the world, get there before 12.30 or no hope of table. Lots of kids and kids food. Over to burgh island in afternoon on foot or by tractor (even better for kids).

Salcombe - crab fishing on quay. Hire boat for whizz around. Ferry to south sands and back (10mins each way) or accross to portlemouth for sandcastles if fine.

Kingsbrige - good carboot every sunday am.

Dartington. Lots of kiddy stuff to do, plus shops, restaurants etc.

The walk from Overbecks (national trust house, great gardens, great view, great tea!) above south sands along the cliff path to bolt head then turning right back up the valley and over the stream on the right and back over the top is the best circular walk in the world, and takes about 1hr.

Pick up a copy of kingsbridge gazette, out on fridays, it's got lists of all the local stuff.

I'll be at our house on south sands over easter, so might see you there, although ds is alittle young (17 weeks)to be making sandcastles as yet!

Ohh reading this I feel like I am there already! We love the beachs at Bigbury and Bantham and the walk across to Burgh Island.

Rather embarassingly, I know ALL the pubs mentioned here!

PS does anyone know if that strange but lovely place, the Hallsands Hotel, is still open? It was so near the cliff edge when we last visited.

As for reading the Kingsbridge Gazette, it's one of the first things I ask MIL and FIL for on arrival. They now have it at the ready.

I must remember to check out the Easter egg hunts at the NT houses. Thanks for the suggestion. Oh, and we havn't been to Dartingon either. The idea of mixing crafts and toddlers has put me off. Glad to hear it's so child friendly.

Thanks for all the tips and reminiscences. Still no info on a playground in Totnes - hope to find one, so the toddler can let off steam after a shopping trip. Can anyone help?

Thanks again.

Few more suggestions. Hope Cove is nice ( we are big fans and hope to go again soon). Found a newish big soft play area in Torquay in an old church with toddler area downstairs and bigger kids/adults slides and ball pits upstairs ( Kingsbridge tourist info has details). If you are heading over Exeter way, Bicton Park close to Sidmouth is nice - big grounds nice for the in laws to wonder around, plus soft play area, train and outdoor play area

A few years ago I went with my mum & dad and sister to Bicton and spent a very happy afternoon playing on the old penny slot machines!!! An in my dreams I'm going to buy Castle Drogo.

Hope Cove is another favourite destination. It's such a nicely contained seaside place. It's now a bit far from MIL and FIL's house. They recently moved near-ish to Bantham after living nearish to Kingsbridge. I love the Hope Cove August Bank Holiday celebrations, especially the sandcastle competition. So many millenium domes on display.

Bicton sounds good, especially the railway. Am I right in thinking a Diggerland has opened in Devon somewhere? Also, has the Shire Horse Centre reopened, on the road past Modbury towards Plymouth?

Grockle I am and Grockle I remain!

Oh God, I wish I was going home for Easter now - Hope Cove, Salcombe, The Sloop, Bicton, big happy sigh!!! But, pretty sure the Shire Horse Centre has closed for good but will ask my Mum and Dad (they go to Thurlestone every couple of weeks) if they remember seeing it open just incase, I used to love that place as a kid.
Have a lovely holiday and hope the sun shines for you.

are you sure you're not an emmit???
mine also loved the Otter & Butterfly place I think by Buckfastleigh

Hi Tigermoth. I live down that way.

The Hallsands hotel isn't open, it's all boarded up and looks very spooky standing abandoned on the edge of the cliff. Went in there when it was still open about 2 years ago and it was a bit like The Bates Motel

I'm pretty sure that the lighthouse at Start Point is open during children's holidays so you can go up into it. My ds got a badge for making it to the top quite recently.

From Start Point you can see North Hallsands and the edge of the lost village that was swept away by the sea in something like 1907. The Trout Appartments are there: they were built, by hand, by the 3 Trout sisters after the village and their hotel was swept away by the sea. 2 of them died and the third kept the hotel ready for guests with all the tables laid for dinner until she died (in the 60s I think). Another spooky tale! You can drive there in 10 minutes from the lighthouse, although there's not too much to see. It intrigued my ds and his friend though.

I don't know any play areas in Totnes I'm afraid, but Slapton Sands, just past Dartmouth, is a lovely long stretch of beach and the Start Point Inn at Torcross, at the end of the beach has a family room and welcomes kids. If you go to the car park opposite (by the tank, on the corner on the bend) there are loads of ducks and swans to feed.

There are 3 play parks in Dartmouth; one on the front, in Coronation Park, one by the main car park and one in Victoria Rd on the hill. Coronation Park is the best one and has a kiosk selling drinks and stuff as well as a football net and swings etc.

The steam train at Kingswear (ferry from Dartmouth) takes you to Paignton, but you might want to come straight back again! Not a nice place, although the train itself is fun and you get a pretty ferry crossing.

HTH and you have a great time.

Star, no offence intended Agree, Paignton zoo is very good. And that's the trouble with living down here, there's very little work. So we're poor but happy...

Wickedwaterwitch, thanks for all that information. You've saved me a trip to the Hallsands Hotel. Dh and I once had a fantastic evening there, just after christmas, when we walked in to find a party with live african music in full swing.

I didn't know that Start Point Inn had a good children's room. If the weather is rainy ( 'if' hark at me, this is Devon at Easter!) I will definitely go there, taking some bread to feed the swans afterwards.

Thanks again everyone.

I used to go to Hallsand Hotel every year as a kid. (Back in the late eighties and early nineties). My Dad used to dive and we used to spend a week down there in the summer with his diving club. I have some really fond memories of the place and it is a real shame that it closed. It closed in about 2001 and I think some developers are trying to turn it into holiday flats.

HALLSANDS HOTEL

This is primarily a message for Cowbags, Tigermoth and Wickedwaterwitch on this thread, but if anyone else can also help, then do please get in touch.

My name is Nick Gilman and I am researching for a book on the history and (sometimes colourful) history of the Hallsands Hotel.

Please see the new thread I have posted on this site for more details and my request for information (Just type 'Hallsands' into the search facility).

Many thanks

Nick Gilman

I grew up in Totnes. There is a children's playground by the leisure centre which is on the other side of the park to the railway station. It is small but reasonable. There is also a small playground by the river on the Bridgetown side (opposite the end of Vire Island). When I was little that playgrouns consisted of a pirate ship you could climb in and around - not sure what its like now. There is a cafe and ice cream stall next door. Dartington gardens are a fab place to take kids. They are stunning and there is a little bronze donkey you can sit on which I loved as a kid. The White Hart pub in the gardens is child friendly and has nice food. The Cider Press centre in Dartington has lots of nice shops and cafes including Tridias (a fab toy shop). My fav day out from Totnes is the River Dart Country Park on the edge of Dartmoor (just past Ashburton) - it has brilliant adventure playgrounds. have fun.

I didn't know about the Hallsands Hotel and feel really sad.

Every holiday in Dartmouth we made a special trip there for a cream tea and a walk down to the deserted village. I thought the story of the Trout sisters was fascinating.

I'd like to second River Dart Adventures as a brilliant day out and also recommend Prickly Ball Farm hedgehog hospital at Newton Abbott.

Oh I loooove Dartmouth, am praying we get posted back there one day .

Not precisely child-friendly, but have you been to Sharpham Vineyards ? You can taste wine and cheese (VERY nice), and wander through the vines... go down to the river and look at the wildlife... wave to the Dart Ferry and pretend you are on your own private beach . It's fab.

I don't know how old your DCs are or if this would interest them, but you can do tours of Britannia Royal Naval College , that's good fun.

We spent all our holidays at a hotel in Chillington, near Kingsbridge when I was a child and my parents retired there -my dad still lives there. My favourite places were Bigbury,East Portlemouth,Dartmouth - especially the Coronation Park playground and Beesands - though when I was young the beach was covered with ugly caravans. Does anyone know if you can still get into the quarry at the back of Beesands beach? It was totally overgrown with a pool in the centre & i thought it was magical when I was young, I remember it as the quietest place I've ever been - I also remember seeing the tables in the dining room at the Hallsands Hotel - I think probably about 1966.

When I was a child on holiday I loved Totnes castle, but I don't know how safe it would be considered today - when I was little we would walk round the ramparts which had no barriers at all - you could step straight off into space.... They may have put up a few fences now though, it's several years since I've been. This is the list of play areas from the South Hams District Council website, but there aren't any details:
Totnes ? Borough Park & Skateboard Area
Totnes ? Collapark
Totnes ? Elm Walk
Totnes ? Follaton Village
Totnes ? Parkers Way
Totnes ? Parkfield Close
Totnes ? Rush Way
Totnes ? Smithfields
Totnes ? Steamer Quay
Totnes ? Weston Fields

I'm a bit vague on details here, but there is a walk that goes from the train station car park in Totnes, along the river to the Steam Railway. This in itself is interesting for kids, but beyond the railway is a farm/animal sanctuary with owls and animals that children can feed and touch.
Sorry I've got no name for the place, but I'm pretty sure it will be open for Easter.

Good list Rusty. Borough Park is the one near the railway station (thats probably the biggest play area). Steamer Quay is the one with the ship. The others are mainly in housing estates in Bridgetown or on the edge of town.

The castle does have barriers now and is fun if it is warm.