Combe Martin Beach Holiday Park

There’s enough to do around here to shake several sticks at whether you’re a coastal connoisseur or an enthusiastic inlander: the beaches and surf of Ilfracombe, Woolacome and Croyde Bay within eight to twenty minutes’ drive; the beauty of Exmoor National Park and Devon towns, villages and cream teas abounding (at least one cream tea daily, we think). If you want to leave the car behind, a bus service runs near the holiday park on most days from May to October. Combe Martin beach and the start of the main village street are a five minute stroll from the holiday park and a good place to start off a Devon sightsee including the thirteenth century St Peter’s Church. The Pack O’ Cards Inn is probably our favourite Combe Martin site: it’s a Grade II listed building built around the start of the eighteenth century by a gambler who ensured there were 52 windows, 13 rooms and four floors, to match the numbers in a pack of cards. Clever… As well as Exmoor National Park, another big south-west active option can be accessed from Combe Martin, the South West Coast Path. The famous 630-mile trail goes through the village towards the cliffs of Little Hangman and Great Hangman, the highest cliff in southern Britain, and from there on to Ilfracombe and Woolacombe to the west, and eastwards through Lorna Doone territory to Lynmouth and Lynton. Both are fairly challenging walks at over 13 miles, so if you have little people in your party you might want to stay local and take them to another well-known local attraction, the Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park. This is one of several Devon animal and family days out nearby: littlies can also get eagle-eyed at the Exmoor Owl and Hawk Centre, meet and handle the inhabitants at the award-winning Exmoor Zoo or stream from Exmoor to the Atlantic at Ilfracombe Aquarium. Budget-friendly crabbing and rock pooling are always available too all around the coast: Appledore, three miles from Bideford, hosts the World Crabbing Championships in August and always has rich pickings, and Lundy Island often has rock pooling among its free activities – check the board outside the island shop to see what’s on any particular day. Also at Bideford is The Big Sheep, a woolly wacky theme park where customers can punt the park currency ewe-ros on the sheep racing – not a baaad way to spend the day.