South Devon

 After Lake District, this has become one of my favourite places in the UK. It is absolutely stunning and the weather was splendid too!

We stayed in Totnes in a guesthouse 5mins away from the town centre. Upon our arrival, we visited the historic local town centre. It is such a cute town with cobbled streets and a river running through. The high street also had so many bookshops which were calling for me to come and buy books, like I don't have enough books to read. There were also lots of cafes where we had to have cream tea and scones. We also visited Devon's oldest sweet shop. As soon as we entered, it smelled of liquorice. I cans till smell it. We then visited Totnes Castle. It is part of the English Heritage and since we have membership, it was free for us to visit. We loved going up the castle and admiring the views of Totnes and beyond. It was a quick visit as they wasn't much to see or do.

The next day, we packed our beach bags and went to the beaches in Salcombe without having a clue that this will become my favourite beach town. I couldn't believe the colour of water which was aquamarine! Who would have thought? With the setting of hills, boats/yachts and the water, I felt like I was in Sardinia. From Salcombe town centre, we walked to the South Sands beach which was a good 45minutes. We stopped by North Sands to eat in a cafe overlooking the beach. Once our energy was restored, we walked another 15minutes, to the South Sands which was more quieter and nicer. The water was cold but that didn't stop us from playing in the water. We also did lots of rock climbing and cave explorations! Cave exploration is a hobby that both me and my daughter didn't know we would love. My son is afraid of the dark so he was more than happy to guard the cave from outside should something happen to us. There was this particular  hidden cave which was so exciting to explore. We went as far in as possible but it got too dark to see so went we couldn't go all the way. The beach also had lots of little coves which meant us going around the beach, hopping from rock to rock, to explore the beaches. I cannot comment on how stunning Salcombe is. It is a town that you need to visit.

Another beautiful day, another gorgeous town to visit. What was on our itenary this time?? Dartmouth!! However, on our way there, we quickly stopped at Devon's biggest theme park,  Woodlands Family Park. The park had several areas and quite a few rides but don't expect Thorpe Park. The highlight where the water rides! It also had a huge indoor play area. It was a nice couple of hours before we headed down to Dartmouth. Dartmouth is the biggest town that we've been. The scenery was as amazing as Salcombe. I cannot describe it. It had a party atmosphere. There was a funfair and street food stalls. We walked by the harbour to go to Dartmouth Castle which was about 40mins walk from the town centre. On our walk there, we  came across the Bayards Cove Fort. Dartmouth was defence town couple of centuries ago and this fort was used for as an artillery defence. It is free to visit and a nice piece of history. Next stop was Dartmouth Castle located right on the edge of a cliff. It's one of the most beautiful castle setting I saw. The views across Dartmouth Castle, we also saw Kingswear Castle across the estuary. The castle had had a dark underground passage and weapons in the basement. On top of the castle, you were again faced with amazing views. Behind the castle, there were multiple coves, all unique in their own way. We could only do one cove as the tide was coming in and therefore blocking the access to the other coves. It was deserted and an ideal place to have a picnic and a little swim. To head back to the town centre, we took the ferry back and said bye to another beautiful town.

On our last day, we went to a corner of Dartmouth National Park. We went to Becky Falls. I picked this area as it had waterfalls which we lie, great hiking paths and family-friendly. It even had a little zoo, pig and horse enclosures. This is suitable for any ages. It had 3 different paths all with different difficulty levels. The red path took us to the waterfalls. It was beautiful. We can climb the boulders to be close to the waterfall. It was so refreshing to be sprayed with fresh, cold water from the waterfall. We then followed, the water down the path where there were many opportunities to dip your toes and paddle around so bring a change of clothes. There's something about water running between trees that gives me enormous peace and calm to my soul. It is such a peaceful place and extremely child friendly. 

Unfortunately, our time in South Devon came to an end too quickly but it was exactly what I needed to reset my body. South Devon was a complete surprise to me. I didn't expect it to be so beautiful!