We booked a car for 3 days, from Bath, intending to drive to N. Devon, but got scared away by responses on this forum - apparently rural roads in N. Devon are very narrow, and none of us ever had experience with a right-side wheel. Where would you suggest to go instead, with simple countryside driving, but easier roads ?

From Bath, it's only a short drive north on the A46 where you connect to the M4 motorway. Heading west, turn south on the M5 which will take you past Weston-super-Mare, Bridgewater, Taunton and Exeter. The motorway changes to Dual Carriageway A38. Take the A380 fork to Torquay, Paignton and Brixham(nice seaside towns). All but the last several miles should be very good roads. Bath to Torquay my map tells me is 105 miles (but obviously more by roads).

You might want to check out some of those towns on the way into Devon.

We have just been in Devon and Cornwall for a week driving a Ford Galaxy (7 seater people carrier) We could negotiate narrow roads; there's frequent passing places which may require some reversing to allow on-coming cars to pass but otherwise driving is straightforward.
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Don't be scared off. Unless you are heading out into the back of beyond you'll be ok. The roads between towns are perfectly normal!

We took tons of backroads in Devon, hence the narrow lanes with high hedges. If you stay on the main roads, you won't have any problems.

My trip report from North and South Devon:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...thwest+England