Villages

The focus of rural life and a hub for local traditions and customs, the Devon village is a point of pride with many a Devonian for whom their local village is a part of their identity and origins.

Historic fishing villages decorate many areas of the Devon coastline and few are more captivating than Clovelly, still privately owned and remarkably unchanged, the car-free cobbled main street leads down to the harbour below.

Noss Mayo, on the estuary of the river Yealm, and its opposite neighbour Newton Ferrers enjoy an enviable position where water based activities such as canoeing, fishing and crabbing can be enjoyed first-hand or watched over lunch from one of the pub terraces. The South West Coast Path offers stunning views of both villages.

The curiously named village of Beer in East Devon was a smugglers paradise in the late 18th and early 19th centuries with its sheltered cove and access to remote farms and houses. Nowadays, visitors can hire a boat, enjoy a swim or simply watch the local fishermen at work.

Inland, Broadhembury, one of the finest cob and thatch villages in Devon also has the rare claim of having no poles! Widecombe in the Moor, famous for the annual Widecombe Fair, lies within the Widecombe Valley in the heart of Dartmoor and its large church is known as the ‘cathedral of the Moor’.

There are villages all over Devon, some with quirky events or features and some simply a focal point of rural life for locals and visitors alike.