Exmouth (Devon’s Oldest Seaside Resort)
Exmouth is the southwest county of Devon’s oldest seaside resort. Although South and North Devon get more publicity, East Devon is just as beautiful, and quieter too, which many of us prefer! Ideal if you like Devon, but are not so keen on all the tourists!
Read our post on keeping dogs safe by the seaside.
Partly situated on the Jurassic Coast (dinosaurs!), here you’ll also find part of Exmoor, one of England’s smallest national parks (and the only one that includes a coastline).
This town has the longest sandy beach in Devon, and is the starting point for the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, which extends into Dorset. Sitting on the River Exe estuary, it began as a tiny village!
In the early 1800s, Sidmouth beach was wild and inaccessible, due to high tides and coastal erosion, before sea defences were built. It’s thought that an entire hamlet lies lost beneath the waves.
A Unique 16-Sided House!
Exmouth is also home to A La Ronde, a unique 16-sided house, built in the 18th century by two spinster cousins, who were inspired after a grand tour of Europe.
Now owned by the National Trust, the surrounding orchard is home to many old Devon varieties of apple, plum and medlar trees, and a hay meadow full of butterflies and crickets. It even has a ha-ha lawn (a type of sunken fence popular in 18th century gardens).
Home to Wonderful (harmless) Whale Sharks
Whale sharks are the world’s second largest fish, and despite their size, they are completely harmless. And if you met them while diving, they would swim right past you!
The Exmouth coast is one of the few places where they often come near to the shore (from March to June). So always leave them be, whether you are at the beach or sailing a boat. And never drop litter at the beach (or off your boat) to keep their waters clean and safe.
Nearby Sidmouth (Sir John Betjeman’s favourite town)
Just 14 miles or so away is the pretty East Devon seaside town of Sidmouth, which has its own band of ‘plastic-free warriors to keep it litter-free. Full of independent shops and a beautiful park, this is a pretty and again, very quiet place, known for its Regency architecture.
A gem of ravishing Regency architecture with elegant little villas that sparkle with white paint, delicate ironwork and small panes of coloured glass. Sir John Betjeman
This town is home to The Donkey Sanctuary (which rescues working donkeys at home and abroad, to enjoy a new restful life with fellow friends). It’s also one of England’s few ‘big charities’ that uses most donations to help donkeys, rather than paying for TV ads and sending people free pens.
The charity was founded by former teacher Elisabeth Doreen Knowles, a Yorkshire woman who with her husband, bought a Devon hotel with money from selling an invention to dry cloth nappies.
After trying to rescue neglected donkeys in a livestock pen at an Exeter market, this led her to establish the sanctuary, that is now known for its work worldwide. Read more on helping donkey friends!
Budleigh (sandstone cliffs and a history of salt)
Also near to Exmouth (again about 15 miles away) is the town of Budleigh, which due to its history of salt-making is also known as Budleigh Salterton. Salt was collected from the beach that features ‘Budleigh Buns’, the oldest rocks on the Jurassic Coast, dating back 445 million years. The beach is also bordered by stunning red sandstone cliffs.
The town has been in the news recently, as nearby is where rewilding of beavers is happening, previously endangered large rodents that gnaw wood to make dams, which helps to prevent floods.
It’s important that rewilding only takes place by experts. Read more on nature’s flood-reducing architects!
Reform UK policy is to give over all rewilding land to farming. This sounds like an attempt to ‘support our farmers’, but shows a complete lack of ecological knowledge.
Rewilding helps to prevent floods and protects our native wildlife (which is also ‘British’). Presumably they have not budgeted for the extra floods that would occur, if they got into power?
