Holiday Cottages In Devon

Devon has over 6,000 self-catering cottages on selfcatering.co.uk, from boat-filled estuary towns in the South Hams to surf villages on the Atlantic coast and granite farms on Dartmoor. The county is the only one in England with two separate coastlines, and more than 4,000 of these cottages take dogs while over 1,100 have a hot tub.

Best areas and towns in Devon

Devon splits into two very different coasts with the high moor of Dartmoor between them. The busiest cluster of cottages sits in the south, around the sheltered estuaries of the South Hams and the resort towns of Tor Bay, with a second base on the rugged surf coast of North Devon.

• Salcombe: a smart sailing and resort town on a deep ria in the South Hams, the county's busiest base for cottages
• Dartmouth: a historic harbour town on the Dart estuary, full of colour-washed houses and boat trips
• Brixham: a working fishing port at the south end of Tor Bay, with a busy quay and replica Golden Hind
• Hope Cove and Thurlestone: small South Hams beach villages on the cliffs west of Salcombe
• Torcross: a village at the south end of Slapton Sands, set between the shingle beach and a freshwater lagoon
• Paignton and Torquay: the two big resort towns of the so-called English Riviera, with sandy beaches and family attractions
• Dawlish: a Regency seaside town on the south Devon coast, known for the black swans on its central stream
• Ilfracombe and Combe Martin: harbour and valley villages on the cliffed North Devon coast near Exmoor
• Woolacombe: a North Devon surf resort behind one of the longest sandy beaches in the county
• Westward Ho!, Appledore and Woolfardisworthy: a beach resort, an estuary fishing village and a quiet inland parish near the Torridge
• Plymouth: the largest city in the county, a historic naval port on the Tamar with cottages on its fringes

Inland, the open granite uplands of Dartmoor suit walkers and riders, while the estuary towns are the place for sailing and seafood.

The Devon coast and its beaches

Devon's two coasts hold a long run of Blue Flag beaches. The south coast carries flags at Blackpool Sands near Dartmouth, Meadfoot Beach and Oddicombe Beach at Torquay, Broadsands Beach and Preston Sands at Paignton, Dawlish Beach and Dawlish Warren Beach, and Bigbury on Sea Beach in the South Hams, along with Exmouth, Sidmouth, Seaton, Beer and Budleigh Salterton on the East Devon stretch. On the Atlantic side, Woolacombe Beach holds both a Blue Flag and a Seaside Award, and Croyde Bay and Westward Ho! Beach are the best known of the North Devon surf strands. The wider South Hams shore is part of the South Devon National Landscape, and the cliffs of East Devon form the western end of the Jurassic Coast.

Things to do in Devon

Inland from the beaches, Dartmoor National Park is the great open space of the county, a high granite moor laced with tors, rivers and ancient stone rows. Families head for Paignton Zoo Environmental Park, Crealy Theme Park & Resort near Exeter, Woodlands Family Theme Park outside Totnes and Pennywell Farm at Buckfastleigh. In Plymouth, Hoe Park looks out over the Sound, the National Marine Aquarium is the largest in the country, and Dartmoor Zoo sits on the city's edge. Torquay adds Babbacombe Model Village & Gardens and the prehistoric Kents Cavern, while Exeter Cathedral anchors the county town with its great Gothic nave.

When to visit Devon

July and August bring the warmest sea, the surf schools and the busiest sands, and the resort towns of Tor Bay and the South Hams fill through the school holidays. Late spring and September are the sweet spot, with quieter beaches, walkable coast paths and lower cottage rates. Autumn and winter belong to Dartmoor and the empty surf coast, with storm watching, log fires and long moorland walks. Out of season many owners drop their prices and beach dog restrictions are lifted.

Dog-friendly and hot-tub cottages in Devon

More than 4,000 of the cottages in Devon take dogs, and more than 1,100 have a hot tub. Browse the cottages that welcome dogs or cottages with a hot tub to narrow your search.

Getting to Devon

Devon sits in the south-west of England, around three to four hours from London by road. The M5 runs down to Exeter, where the A30 and A38 carry on west across the county. Trains run from London Paddington to Exeter, Plymouth and the south Devon coast, with the main line famously hugging the sea wall at Dawlish, and branch lines reach Barnstaple in the north and Torbay in the south. Exeter has the nearest airport, with Bristol around an hour and a half up the M5.

Useful links

• Visit Devon
• Devon County Council
• Dartmoor National Park
• South Devon National Landscape

Devon is a large county in the South West of England, bordered by Cornwall to the west, Somerset and Dorset to the east, and unusually by sea on two sides: the Bristol Channel to the north and the English Channel to the south. It is the only English county with two separate coastlines, and at around 6,700 square kilometres one of the biggest in the country, a place of red soils, deep lanes and a patchwork of small fields and high hedgebanks.

At the heart of the county rises Dartmoor, a high granite upland of tors, blanket bog and grazing commons that forms one of the wildest landscapes in southern England. A second moor, Exmoor, straddles the northern border with Somerset. Between and around them the land falls to two very different coasts: a sheltered southern shore of wooded estuaries, or rias, at Salcombe, Dartmouth and the Exe, and a rugged northern shore of high cliffs and Atlantic surf at Woolacombe and Croyde. The cathedral city of Exeter is the county town, with the naval port of Plymouth on the Tamar in the far south-west and Barnstaple the main centre of the north.

Devon has been settled since prehistoric times, and Dartmoor still carries the stone rows, hut circles and burial cairns of its early people. Medieval wealth came from tin mining on the moor and the wool and cloth trade in the towns, while Plymouth grew into one of the great naval and seafaring ports of England. Today farming, fishing and tourism shape an economy built around the moors, beaches and estuaries that give Devon its character.