Croyde

The picturesque thatched village of Croyde takes us back in time to more carefree days, with thatched roofed cob cottages, a little stream running through the village out to the sea and a handful of narrow sandy lanes linked by a pretty bridge in the centre of this rustic village. 

After a good day’s walk this is the sort of place to treat yourself to a clotted cream ice cream or a craft shop cream tea. Another place for those who like to be by a sandy beach there are a reasonable range of B&B's dotted in amongst craft shops, a handful of restaurants and a couple of pubs, including the historic The Thatch Inn.  Nearly all the buildings here are at least 200 years old.

It is a laid back overnight stop for the walker but with a surfing theme as the "rips" here are prized by surfers as being some of the trickiest on this coast - its pleasant enough to take a stroll and watch them tacking the waves. Croyde in that sense throws up one of the more modern West Country contradictions where ‘Cream Tea’ meets ‘Cool Surf.’

A mile inland and the little hamlet of Georgeham holds the cottage where Henry Williamson wrote ‘Tarka The Otter’, a legacy of that being the cycling and walking route The Tarka Trail which runs alongside the banks of the river Taw before heading inland as far as Dartmoor.