The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for 630 miles (1,014 km), running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises and falls with every river mouth, it is also one of the more challenging trails. The total height climbed has been calculated to be 114,931 ft (35,031 m), almost four times the height of Mount Everest. It has been voted 'Britain's Best Walking route' twice in a row by readers of The Ramblers' Walk magazine, and regularly features in lists of the world's best walks.
Braunton is a large village, civil parish, ecclesiastical parish and former manor in Devon. The village is situated 5 miles (8 km) west of Barnstaple. It is one of the largest villages in Devon with a population at the 2021 census of 10,217 people. There are two electoral wards. Their joint population at the above census was 8,218. Within the parish is the fertile, low-lying Braunton Great Field, which adjoins the undulating Braunton Burrows, the Core Area in North Devon Biosphere Reserve, the largest psammosere in England. It confronts the Atlantic Ocean at the west of the parish at the large beach of Saunton Sands, one of the South West's international-standard surfing beaches.
Westward Ho! is a seaside village near Bideford in Devon, England. The A39 road provides access from the towns of Barnstaple, Bideford, and Bude. It lies at the south end of Northam Burrows and faces westward into Bideford Bay, opposite Saunton Sands and Braunton Burrows. There is an electoral ward with the same name. The population at the 2011 census was 2,112.
Instow is a village in north Devon, England. It is on the estuary where the rivers Taw and Torridge meet, between the villages of Westleigh and Yelland and on the opposite bank to Appledore. There is an electoral ward with the same name. The ward's total population at the 2011 census was 1,501.
The Tarka Trail is a series of footpaths and cyclepaths around north Devon, England that follow the route taken by the fictional Tarka the Otter in the book of that name. It covers a total of 180 miles (290 km) in a figure-of-eight route, centred on Barnstaple.
Saunton is a village located approximately two miles from Braunton on the North Devon coast in the South West of England.
Braunton Burrows is a sand dune system on the North Devon coast. It is privately owned and forms part of the Christie Devon Estates Trust. Braunton Burrows is a prime British sand dune site, the largest sand dune system (psammosere) in England. It is particularly important ecologically because it includes the complete successional range of dune plant communities, with over 470 vascular plant species. The short turf communities are very rich in lichens and herbs, and the dune slacks are also rich. The many rare plants and animals include 14 with UK Biodiversity Action Plans. For example, this is one of only two sites in the UK for the Amber Sandbowl Snail Catinella arenaria, which is found on the wet dune slacks.
Woolacombe is a seaside resort on the coast of North Devon, England, which lies at the mouth of a valley in the parish of Mortehoe. The beach is 2 miles (3.2 km) long, sandy, gently sloping and faces the Atlantic Ocean near the western limit of the Bristol Channel.
Mortehoe is a village and former manor on the north coast of Devon, England. It lies 10 miles north-west of Barnstaple, near Woolacombe and Lee Bay, and is sited in a valley within the hilly sand-dune-like land behind Morte Point, almost directly above Woolacombe. The parish population at the 2011 census was 1,637.
Alverdiscott is a village, civil parish, former manor and former ecclesiastical parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, centred 5.5 miles (9 km) south-south-west of Barnstaple.
Putsborough is a hamlet in Georgeham Civil Parish on the west-facing coast of North Devon, England. It is about 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) north of the village of Croyde and 1 mile (1.6 km) west-northwest of the village of Georgeham. 0.5 miles (0.8 km) north of the hamlet is Putsborough Sands, which forms the southern part of the two-mile-long (3 km) beach of Woolacombe Sand on Morte Bay.
Saunton Sands is a beach near the English village of Saunton on the North Devon coast near Braunton, popular for longboard surfing. Beyond its southern end, Crow Point, England is the mouth of the River Taw estuary. It is part of the Taw-Torridge estuary Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is at the centre of the UNESCO-designated North Devon's Biosphere Reserve, where Braunton Burrows lies at the heart.
Georgeham is a village and civil parish near Croyde, in North Devon. The appropriate electoral ward is termed Georgeham and Mortehoe with total population at the 2011 census of 3,748. Georgeham is an historic village lying close to some of the most dramatic beaches of the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which are flanked by the rocky headlands of Baggy Point and Saunton Down, although there are no views of the sea or coastline from the village itself. The character of the village is typically rural. The majority of the historic development in the village is east and south-west of the church. The village is also characterized by thatched cottages arranged in an irregular fashion along narrow lanes. There is a Victorian village school, a medieval church and two 17th Century public houses, the main one in the middle of the village, The King's Arms, and another one up a small lane, The Rock.
Braunton Academy is a coeducational secondary school with academy status in Braunton, North Devon, England. The school specialises in mathematics and computing.
The North Devon Coast was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in September 1959. The AONB contributes to a family of protected landscapes in the Southwest of England and a total of 38% of the region is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as Category V Protected Landscapes. The twelve Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty extend to 30% of the region, twice the proportion covered by AONBs in England as a whole and a further two National Parks, Dartmoor and Exmoor, cover an additional 7%.
Baggy Point is a headland in north Devon, England. It separates Croyde Bay and Morte Bay which includes the beaches of Woolacombe and Putsborough.
Kingsley School Bideford is a co-educational independent school in Bideford, Devon. The school was founded in 1884 as Edgehill College, and merged with Grenville College in 2009 to form Kingsley.
Bideford Bay, also known as Barnstaple Bay and often shown on maps as Barnstaple or Bideford Bay, is a large area of water on the northwest coast of Devon in South West England, at the southwestern end of the Bristol Channel where it joins the Celtic Sea. The bay extends from Hartland Point in the southwest to Baggy point the northeast, and is partly sheltered by the island of Lundy, 12 miles (19 km) offshore. It takes its alternative names from the towns of Bideford and Barnstaple, located respectively on the rivers Torridge and Taw which flow into the bay. The alternative spelling Barnstable Bay, in use long after that spelling became obsolete for the town, is also sometimes seen.
Morte Bay is a bay on the northwest coast of Devon in southwest England. It stretches from Whiting Hole about 500m north of Baggy Point in the south to Morte Point in the north. At the back of the bay is a long stretch of beach known as Woolacombe Sand though that southern section of the beach which is in the parish of Georgeham is known as Putsborough Sand. The village of Woolacombe is at the northeastern corner of the bay. To its south are the hills of Woolacombe Down and Pickwell Down which provide an eastern backdrop to the beach and the wider bay. The South West Coast Path and Tarka Trail follow the coast around the bay. The cliffs on the northern side of the bay are formed from the Morte Slates whilst those on the southern side are formed from the Upcott Slates. Underlying the bay itself and forming the higher ground to its east are the Pickwell Down Sandstones.
Pickwell is a small settlement with a converted manor house in the civil parish of Georgeham, in the North Devon district, in the county of Devon, England.
