Lynton and Lynmouth

Lynton and Lynmouth's accommodation splits naturally by geography as much as by budget. Up on the clifftop, Lynton holds a run of Victorian and Georgian guest houses and small hotels along Lee Road and the terraces around it, several with sea views over the gorge to Lynmouth and the Bristol Channel beyond. Down at sea level, Lynmouth's harbourside hotels put guests within a few steps of the crabbing wall, the Rising Sun, and the evening pub trade, though rooms here come at a premium in peak season and parking is tighter.

At the upper end, a handful of properties trade on the villages' Victorian holiday heritage: grand hotels set in their own grounds above the gorge, and boutique guest houses that have picked up national awards for their breakfasts and their view. The mid-range is well served by long-standing family-run hotels overlooking the harbour, offering straightforward comfort rather than boutique styling but with genuine character built up over decades in the same hands. At the more modest end, Georgian and Victorian townhouses converted to bed and breakfasts offer the best value, particularly out of the summer peak, and remain the most common way to stay in either village.

Whichever end of the market a visitor chooses, most properties here are small - a handful of rooms rather than dozens - and many close for at least part of the winter, so booking ahead matters more than in a larger resort town. Parking, sea views, and proximity to the cliff railway are the three details worth checking before committing, since the terrain between and around the villages is steep enough that a ten-minute walk on paper can mean a serious climb in practice.

Between the two villages and the surrounding stretch of Exmoor there is enough to fill several days without a single wet-weather fallback needed.

• Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway - the world's highest and steepest fully water-powered railway, opened in 1890 and still running on the counterbalanced system its Victorian engineers designed, with two cars linked by cable that pass each other halfway up the 862-foot track.
• Valley of the Rocks - a dry valley immediately west of Lynton where wind and ice have carved jagged tors above the coast path; feral goats graze the slopes and Castle Rock gives one of the best views on the whole North Devon coast.
• Watersmeet - a National Trust-owned wooded gorge a couple of miles east of Lynmouth where the East Lyn River meets Hoar Oak Water; a former Victorian fishing lodge here is now a tea garden reached by a riverside path.
• Glen Lyn Gorge - a privately run gorge and waterfall walk beside the harbour in Lynmouth, with a hydroelectricity exhibition explaining how the same water that devastated the village in 1952 now generates its power.
• Lynmouth Harbour and Flood Memorial Hall - the working heart of the lower village, with the small exhibition on the 1952 flood a short walk from the harbour wall itself.
• Doone Valley and Brendon - inland from Lynton, the setting for R.D. Blackmore's novel Lorna Doone, reachable on foot or by a scenic drive through Exmoor's high moor.
• Lynton Cinema - reputedly the smallest purpose-built cinema in the country, a single-screen picture house that has shown films continuously since the 1920s.
• The South West Coast Path - Lynton and Lynmouth sit on one of the path's most dramatic sections, with day walks in both directions along cliffs that rank among the highest in England.

Lynmouth's harbour trade means crab and lobster feature on menus throughout the village, often landed within the day, alongside the West Country staples of clotted cream teas and local cider. The Rising Sun, a fourteenth-century thatched inn on the harbourside, serves game and seafood in an oak-panelled dining room and has built a reputation well beyond the village. The Bath Hotel, overlooking the same harbour, has been run by the same family since the 1950s and keeps a straightforward, well-priced kitchen going through the season.

Up in Lynton, cafes along Lee Road and Castle Hill serve the cream teas and light lunches that fuel a day on the coast path, while the Valley of the Rocks Hotel and several of the town's guest houses offer evening meals to residents. Farm shops on the roads out towards Barbrook and Countisbury sell Exmoor lamb, local cheeses, and preserves, and the honesty-box stalls that appear outside farms on the Porlock road are worth a stop for fruit and eggs in season. A small weekly market and occasional food fairs run through the summer in Lynton's town hall, though the villages' food scene overall stays proudly unfussy: fresh, local, and built around what the harbour and the moor actually produce.

Camping around Lynton and Lynmouth means choosing between the valley floor and the high moor, and the difference in character is considerable. Sites in the wooded river valleys immediately around the villages sit within walking distance of both centres, sheltered by the same steep combes that shaped the villages themselves, with the West and East Lyn rivers running alongside several of them. These are the easiest bases for anyone without a car who still wants to camp rather than take a room.

A short drive out towards the coast road or the open moor brings sites with a different outlook entirely: working farms with fields overlooking the Valley of the Rocks and the Bristol Channel, more exposed to weather but with views that no valley site can match. These tend to suit visitors touring more widely across Exmoor, using the site as a base for days out rather than staying within the villages themselves.

Facilities across the area range from long-established club sites with full modern shower blocks and laundries to smaller family-run farms offering simpler, more basic pitches alongside a tea room or shop. Most sites open from around Easter to late September or October, with a small number of certified locations available outside that window; given Exmoor's exposure to Atlantic weather, checking a site's season and pitch drainage before booking is worthwhile, particularly for tent camping.