Sights in South Devon Coast
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Greenway
The enchanting summer home of crime writer Agatha Christie sits beside the River Dart near Dartmouth. Part-guided tours allow you to wander between rooms where the furnishings and knick-knacks are much as she left them. You can check out her hats in the lobby, books in her library and clothes in her wardrobe, and listen to her speak (via replica radio) in the drawing room.
Woods speckled with splashes of magnolias, daffodils and hydrangeas frame the water, while the planting creates intimate, secret spaces – the boathouse and views over the river are delightful. In Christie's book Dead Man's Folly, Greenway doubles as Nasse House, with the boathouse making an appearance …
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Coleton Fishacre
For an enchanting glimpse of Jazz Age glamour, drop by this former home of the D'Oyly Carte family of theatre impresarios. Built in the 1920s, its gorgeous art deco embellishments include original Lalique tulip uplighters, comic bathroom tiles and a stunning saloon – complete with tinkling piano. The croquet terrace leads to deeply shelved subtropical gardens and suddenly revealed vistas of the sea. Hike the 4 miles along the cliffs from Kingswear, or drive.
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Paignton Zoo
This 80-acre site is dotted with spacious enclosures re-creating habitats as varied as savannah, wetlands, tropical forest and desert. Highlights are the crocodile swamp, orang-utan island, vast glass-walled lion enclosure, and a lemur wood, where you walk over a plank suspension bridge as the primates leap around in the surrounding trees.
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Living Coasts
A vast open-plan aviary bringing you up close to free-roaming penguins, punk-rocker style tufted puffins and disarmingly cute bank cormorants.
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Dartmouth Castle
Mazy passages, atmospheric guardrooms and great views from the battlements. Get there via the tiny, open-top Castle Ferry
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Kent's Cavern
At Kent's Cavern, expect a stalactite to drip water on your head and temperatures of 14°C in an atmospheric, prehistoric subterranean world. These caves were inhabited in the Stone Age, making them the oldest homes in Britain. The animals that roamed Torbay then were a mite different too - guides lead you past hyena's lairs, cave bear dens and mammoth teeth.
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Cockington Country Park
Cockington Country Park is a 450-acre patch of calm green space just a mile inland from Torbay's seafront bustle. Its heavily thatched village (complete with Lutyens pub) is pretty, if more than a little touristy, but the rose garden, craftsmen's workshops and cricket pitch (check to see if a match is on at the weekend) are delightful.
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Dartmouth Museum
The Dartmouth Museum displays a jumbled collection of costumes, swords, ships-in-bottles and vintage toys. The museum stands at the end of the Butterwalk, a row of wonky timber-framed houses that look as though they could collapse at any moment (although they have managed to remain standing since the late 17th century).
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Torre Abbey Sands
Torbay boasts no fewer than 20 beaches, and a surprising 22 miles of coast. Tourists flock to the central Torre Abbey Sands (covered by water at very high tides); the locals opt for the sand and shingle beaches below the 240ft red-clay cliffs at Babbacombe. These can be accessed by a glorious 1920s funicular railway.
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Babbacombe
Torbay boasts no fewer than 20 beaches, and a surprising 22 miles of coast. Tourists flock to the central Torre Abbey Sands (covered by water at very high tides); the locals opt for the sand and shingle beaches below the 240ft red-clay cliffs at Babbacombe. These can be accessed by a glorious 1920s funicular railway.
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Babbacombe Model Village
Babbacombe Model Village is a fabulously eccentric, 4-acre world in miniature. Complete with a tiny Stonehenge, football stadium and beach, it's all inhabited by bizarre, Lilliputian people.
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Bayard's Cove
It's worth tracking down Dartmouth's quaintly cobbled Bayard's Cove, the quay from which the Pilgrim Fathers set sail, having put into Dartmouth for repairs.
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Torquay Museum
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Totnes Castle
The outer keep of Totnes' Norman motte-and-bailey fortress crowns a hill at the top of town, providing captivating views. Look out for the medieval loo, too. The castle stays open until 6pm in July and August.
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Beaches
Torquay boasts no fewer than 20 beaches and a surprising 22 miles of coast. Holidaymakers flock to the central Torre Abbey Sands (covered by water at very high tides); the locals opt for the sand-and- shingle beaches beside the 240ft red-clay cliffs at Babbacombe. These can be accessed by a glorious 1920s funicular railway; a memorable trip in a tiny wooden carriage that shuttles up and down rails set into the cliff.
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