Salcombe

Sheltered inside the Kingsbridge Estuary, Salcombe retains its peace and quiet by favouring the pedestrian over the motorist. There is plenty of parking around the edges of the town and the wisdom of using it becomes clear when you see the narrow streets in the town centre. Salcombe was, and still is, a seafaring town. The sea trade peaked in the 1860s when it was home to 100 or so schooners (most of them locally built) shuttling to the Bahamas, the Mediterranean and the Azores for exotic fruit for the home market. It was a tough but lucrative business if you survived, and profits from the trade provided the cash for many of the substantial Victorian houses you see today.

There are plenty of small shops, many catering for watersports enthusiasts, as well as restaurants, galleries, and some very pleasant waterfront pubs. There's also marine services and berths for seaborne tourists, and two very pleasant little beaches - North Sands and South Sands, both to the south and west of the town. A short ferry ride over the estuary will bring you to East Portlemouth which has a more substantial sandy stretch. There is a castle on North Sands - a 16th Century artillery tower, destroyed in the civil war, and on the headland just beyond South Sands is Overbeck's Museum and Gardens - an elegant Edwardian house containing the weird and wonderful collections of scientist and inventor, Otto Overbeck. Perched on sloping cliffs, the gardens enjoy a balmy microclimate which encourages rare and tropical plants from all over the world. There's even banana trees growing in the open! Glorious views over the town and estuary too.

Salcombe has its own maritime museum, including details of the historic locally built fruit schooners, smuggling and some hands-on stuff for the kids. There is more family fun at the Splash Centre - a watersports activity centre on the South Sands.