Waterside Holiday Park

Take your fishing rod or surfboard to Broadsands beach or explore the coves and coastline around; there are also beaches at Goodrington and a coastal dog walking route linking the two areas. Goodrington is on the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway which puffs along past Torquay, Brixham and Totnes to Teignmouth; vintage trainspotters can also steam along to the South Devon Railway starting at nearby Buckfastleigh. Paignton is the closest of the three English Riviera towns to Waterside Holiday Park and has railway links to Torquay and London, watersports at Paignton Sands and Elberry Cove, and Paignton Zoo with six different habitats to ooh and aah at; there’s a Jungle Express miniature train, regular events and indoor and outdoor play areas at the zoo as well. Brixham is the site for swashbucklers with a replica of Sir Francis Drake’s Elizabethan ship The Golden Hind and weekly pirate re-enactments in summer; you can also hire boats here from the shacks by the quayside in summer and via the Tourist Information Centre out of season. Torquay, legendary home of hapless hotel owner Basil Fawlty, is much classier these days than his crumbling establishment, with smart restaurants, shops, cafés and two theatres. A must for murder mystery fans is the Agatha Christie Mile from the Grand to the Imperial Hotels and passing all sorts of Christie-related local landmarks: Torre Abbey Garden with the Christie’s Potent Plants collection, her old roller-skating spot Princess Pier and the Torquay Museum, with the only dedicated Agatha Christie Gallery in the country. Beacon Cove, where a young Agatha almost drowned, can be seen from the terrace at Torquay’s coastal zoo Living Coasts. Minis should like Torquay’s teeny Babbacombe Model Village and there are endless choices for family fun around this part of Devon: birds and (quad) bikes at the popular Pennywell Farm, gulping on the water coasters at Crealy Great Adventure Park and floundering along the assault courses at Ashcombe Adventure Centre. Further along the coast there are the history and sights (and shopping) of Exeter to explore with Exeter National Park around thirty miles from the city; Dartmoor National Park is closer to home and has activities and events for all ages all year round.