Arlington Court

© kisto/Shutterstock

Arlington Court

Top choice


The honey-grey Regency manor house of Arlington Court exudes charm, from the model ships and shells collected by the owners, to the produce-packed walled kitchen garden. Its stables house the National Trust Carriage Collection, and the burnished leather and plush fabrics of its 40 vehicles summon up an era of stately transport. Arlington Court is 8 miles north of Barnstaple on the A39.

Search out the replica carriages (which you can bounce about in) and the frequent harnessing demonstrations. Also track down the tiny Pony Phaeton, a four-wheeled carriage belonging to Queen Victoria. Her Majesty drove it herself, but a servant walked alongside, ever ready to apply the handbrake (think Billy Connolly's Mr Brown to Judi Dench's Queen Victoria).


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Broomhill Sculpture Gardens

3.8 MILES

It's a magical effect: 300 often quirky sculptures hidden away in a 4-hectare wooded valley. There's a fairy-tale or comic feel to much of it – slivers of…

2. Verity

6.99 MILES

Pregnant, naked and holding aloft a huge spear, Damien Hirst's 20m statue Verity towers above Ilfracombe's harbour mouth. On the seaward side her skin is…

3. Ilfracombe Aquarium

7.02 MILES

Recreates aquatic environments from Exmoor to the Atlantic, via estuary, rock pool and harbour.

4. Museum of British Surfing

8.12 MILES

Few museums are this cool. Vibrant surfboards and vintage wetsuits line the walls; sepia images catch your eye. The stories are compelling: 18th-century…

5. Lyn & Exmoor Museum

8.73 MILES

This sweet museum's collections include chilling pictures of Lynmouth's devastating 1952 flash flood, which claimed 34 lives. It occupies the town's…

6. Cliff Railway

8.91 MILES

This extraordinary piece of Victorian engineering sees two cars, linked by a steel cable, descend and ascend the steeply sloping cliff face according to…

7. Flood Memorial

8.91 MILES

On 16 August 1952 a huge wave of water swept through Lynmouth following torrential rain. The devastation was immense: 34 people lost their lives, and four…

8. Braunton Burrows

9.05 MILES

The vast network of dunes here is the UK's largest. Paths wind past sandy hummocks, salt marshes, purple thyme, yellow hawkweed and pyramidal orchids. The…