DeborahAnn

With only fours days to visit Devon and wanting to visit the English Riviera would Brixham be a good hotel base? I was captivated by some pictures that show it as a charming fishing village. Is this an accurate description and do the roads around give easy access to Plymouth, Exeter, Dartmoor and Sidmouth areas? Your opinions and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Deborah

obxgirl

I wouldn't call Brixham a fishing village but more of a seaside town like Torquay or Paignton. I think of a place like Newton Ferrers more as a charming village. But nothing wrong with Brixham as a place to stay if you want to be by the sea. (Though not on the coast, I like the town of Totnes.)

Do you have 4 full days to tour or does that include travel to and from the area? With 4 days you could do the following:

1 day English Riviera
1 day Dartmoor National Park
1 day Plymouth & South Hams
1 day Exeter/Sidmouth

Exeter and Sidmouth aren't technically in South Devon but you could combine them as a day trip. IMO, there isn't much of interest to see in Exeter except for the cathedral which is absolutely worth a visit. You could see the cathedral in the morning and trou

obxgirl

whoops posted by accident.

I was saying...you could see the Cathedral in the am and travel over to Sidmouth for lunch and an afternoon tour.

That's a doable itinerary although a little fast paced but it would give you a look at a lot of what Devon has to offer.

DeborahAnn

obxgirl, thanks for the reply, Fodor's wasn't letting me post yesterday, hope today works out better. Just trying to work through our visit to Devon, we have three full days after arrival day so I think we can get to Brixham early enough on arrival day to visit the beaches that day. We are hoping for warm and sunny the last week in May.Totnes is high on our "want to see" list.You seem to know the area and few travel books have much on Devon so need some more suggestions. Wonder if a visit to Plymouth should be replaced with more time in Dartmoor/Bickleigh, Killerton. Do you or anyone have any recommendations? Thanks, Deborah

obxgirl

First off, I would highly recommend The Rough Guide to Devon and Cornwall. It's a great resource for the area and I know it's available on amazon.com.

Brixham is the prettiest and smallest of the 3 Eng Riviera towns (and you probably know that title is a bit tongue in cheek). Torquay is big and boisterous and commercialized but there are interesting things to see there. Paignton is a poor cousin to Torquay and IMO can be skipped if you're short on time.

Given the addition of Bickleigh and Killerton (both great places to visit) to the list, I'd be inclined to remove Plymouth and environs and save it for another trip. Lots of your sites are now away from the coast making Brixham a less central place to stay. Are you already booked and really keen to stay there? Still doable but will involve more driving. Exeter is an hour away as will be many parts of Dartmoor. Just keep that in mind as you plan your days.

Hope you get some more feedback!

twoflower

Forget Plymouth. Have you thought of Salcombe, Kingsbridge, Totnes? Also the previous advice re Dartmoor villages (Widecombe-upon-the-Moor and all that) is good.

DeborahAnn

Thanks obxgirl and Twoflower, I admit I fell in love with a internet picture of Brixham (chamber of commerce members must love to hear things like that) and yes I thought it would indeed be fun to say we were at the "English Riviera". Viamichelin.com states Sidmouth is 42 miles 1 hour 03 from Brixham, I thought Exeter would be quite a bit closer. Thanks for the suggestions, guess I will look up some more drive times and consider staying closer to Exeter but still near the water. Deborah

obxgirl

DeborahAnn, I'm really not trying to convince you to stay somewhere other than Brixham, but consider that while drive time estimates are good gauges for planning, a couple of things mitigate the numbers. 1) We all make wrong turns, over shoot or misread directions when we're driving around new places, and 2) Navigating takes a bit more time and effort if driving on the left side of the road isn't your normal position.

Brixham will be a lovely place to stay. Just add some buffer to the travel times.

If you do seek other places, I'll second the vote for Dartmoor villages. Widdecombe In the Moor is incredibly charming. We spent 10 days in Chagford two years ago and had very easy access to the Exeter area. I have family outside of Plymouth and we trekked there at least three times. The trip was a good hour.

In all, Devon is a beautiful place to visit. You can't really go wrong.

DeborahAnn

OK, love is indeed fickle I can reserve a room at the Thomas Luny House in Teignmouth so I am wondering if this will give us a better travel location as well as being close to the water. The town does sound lovely from the website description and Luny House is recommended in a couple of books including Karen Brown's England. Has anyone stayed there or could tell me anything about Teignmouth. Thanks, Deborah

obxgirl

Teignmouth will be a much better spot to visit all the places you've mentioned. It's another seaside holiday resort town with some very pretty Georgian architecture. Make sure you take the ferry to Shaldon which is smaller than Teignmouth and a bit quainter. I'm not familiar with the Thomas Luny House but from the website it looks beautiful (and Georgian!).

I did note the proprietors recommend one of my absolute favorite restaurants, The Nobody Inn in tiny Doddiscombsleigh. This place has fabulous food, an incredible selection of Devon cheeses and extensive wine and single malt whiskey lists. It's also a very romantic place to stay tho it lacks your seaside requirement!

Hope this helps.

GeoffHamer

Brixham suffers from being too close to the resorts of Paignton and Torquay, so it is not "unspoilt", and the roads are very congested in the peak holiday season. I think Dartmouth is much more attractive, but also suffers from crowded roads in high summer. If you want a good base, Totnes or anywhere else on the railway between Exeter and Plymouth give more options. It's easy to visit Brixham from anywhere else; in summer, there are boats from Torquay and Paignton which are an alternative to the roads.

DeborahAnn

thanks for the great advice, I am going to change our stay from Brixham to Teignmouth (hope it is pronounced as it appears, got tricked when we stayed in Keswick!!) I am so looking forward to visiting Southern Devon, will have to save the northern coast and Cornwall for another trip. Thanks again. Deborah

GeoffHamer

Teignmouth is pronounced something like "TIN-muth".

DeborahAnn

Thanks, GeoffHamer, the Queen's English can be full of surprises for visitors who think they already know how to speak English Deborah

TuckH

Near Widecombe is a gem: Lustleigh.

Also, near Sidmouth, check out Branscombe and, while you're at it, take a clifftop hike near there - overlooking the Channel - on the South Devon Coast Path.