Bath & Southwest England

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Includes  Why Go? Hampshire...... 222 England’s southwest is simply spectacular. Here the past Isle of Wight . . . . . 233 is ever present – prepare for close encounters with iconic Dorset...... 238 stone circles, Iron Age hill forts and Roman baths. Block- Exmoor buster stately homes border romantic castles; serene cathe- National Park . . . . . 262 drals frame sumptuous Georgian cityscapes. The landscape immerses you in the myths of kings Arthur and Alfred the Devon...... 268 Great, and the writings of Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen and Bristol...... 293 Daphne du Maurier. Bath...... 303 But the southwest also has an eye to the future. Here Somerset...... 312 you can tour alternative eco-towns, pioneering restaurants Cornwall...... 318 and cool surfer hang-outs, and sleep in campsites peppered with chic yurts and retro campervans. Then there are three Isles of Scilly. . . . . 345 wildlife-rich national parks, fossil-studded shores, England’s best surf spots and a coastline flecked with exquisite bays, towering rock formations and tranquil sweeps of sandy beach. It all gives you a bit of a dilemma – with England’s Best Places to Eat West Country you won’t know what to do first. ¨¨Paul Ainsworth at No 6 (p324) When to Go ¨¨Riverford Field Kitchen (p279) ¨¨Cliffs, hillsides and formal gardens burst into fragrance and blooms in April and May, when seasonal attractions also ¨¨Menu Gordon Jones (p311) reopen and boat trips start. ¨¨Boathouse (p237) ¨¨Music festival fever takes hold in June at ultracool Glastonbury, and on the funky Isle of Wight. ¨¨The peak holiday season and the best weather (in theory) is Best Places to in July and August. Sleep ¨¨The end of school summer holidays in September brings ¨¨Vintage Vacations (p236) cheaper sleep spots, quieter beaches and warmer seas. The ¨¨Scarlet (p326) Isle of Wight goes all groovy at bohemian Bestival. ¨¨Queensberry Hotel (p308) ¨¨Bigger waves draw surfers to Cornwall and north Devon in October; meanwhile Exmoor’s deer rut sees huge stags ¨¨Hotel du Vin Exeter (p271) battle for supremacy, and the winter storm-watching season begins. Bath & Southwest England Activities 219 - - - . -

. - - - ruro . . Na 50/59) . 50) and . com) often com) . com) A key key A com) info) adds .info) . 50/5 . plusbus . uk) Useful service across across service Useful uk) com) One of the region’s . . (www nationalexpress . stagecoachbus co . . (www . Buy tickets at train stations . (www wdbus . PlusBus . firstgroup . Offers a range of one-day tickets tickets one-day of range a Offers ravelpass, covering Bath, Bristol and . (www . It offers subregional tickets, such as the (www Getting Around 8 For sailing, highlights includes Britain’s sailing, Britain’s includes highlights For coasteer caving, also offer of firms Plenty he region’s bus network is fairly comprehensive, comprehensive, fairly is network bus region’s he CAR BUS largest bus companies, operating in Bath, Bath, in operating companies, bus largest Som and Portsmouth Dorset, Cornwall, Bristol, seven-day network tickets (£25) for south- routes coast Stagecoach provider in Cornwall, Devon, Hampshire and and Hampshire Devon, Cornwall, in provider Somerset Megarider weekly and £4/3) from (adult/child fares from £8 child (no fare) . The main car-hire firms have offices at the re gion’s airports and main-line train stations; rates rates stations; train airports main-line and gion’s reflect those elsewhere in the UK. mouth, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Salisbury, T and Weymouth First erset Freedom T £13 day/week (one Somerset northeast ing, mountainboarding, climbing and kite buggying.Check www.visitsouthwest. out counties and co.uk for links to the region’s activity operators. 8 T but becomes patchy away from main towns Expresstional More Does day tickets (adult/child £8 Surfing Boating & extent to a lesser and north Cornwall, North Devon, serves best up the surf in England. epicentre; other is the town Newquay Party Croyde and Cornwall in Bude are spots top in Devon. surf Region-wide can conditions www.magicseaweed.com. be found at Weymouth at venues Olympic sailing 2012 of havens and the yachting and Portland, Dartmouth and of Wight, Falmouth, the Isle Poole. Activities Other The is prime territory southwest for kite surfing, windsurfing, diving, sea kayaking, wakeboarding.and kayaking white-water Thesport stand-upof (SUP) paddleboarding in especially in popularity, continues to grow spots. calm water provides the quickest bus link between cities and larger towns local bus travel to your train ticket (from £2 per . Participatingday) cities include Bath, Bourne Wiltshire and Dorset andinto the New Forest

------), .uk co . Devon Granite Sustrans .southwest Camel Trail Camel South West www between Ilfra between ) starts near West Country West , is an altogether ( coleridgeway are hard to beat.are hard to Wiltshire Cycle Wiltshire . is Britain’s long Britain’s is www ( Ridgeway National Trail National Ridgeway ) and local tourist offices. Exmoor .uk/ridgeway co .uk New Forest New ) has a detaileda has ) and website and org . .uk org sustrans Coleridge Way Coleridge . .nationaltrail . between Okehampton and Lydford, and Lydford, Okehampton between (NCN Route 3), a 240-mile (NCN Route from jaunt Activities skirts the county’s borders. In Hamp borders. In skirts county’s the Dartmoor Other hiking highlights are Exmoor’s 51- Other hiking highlights are Exmoor’s For more information contact more information For The 160-mile, circular highlights in mountain-biking Off-road For wilderness hikes, the national parks the national wilderness hikes, For www www gentler affair, offering hundreds of miles of offering affair, gentler trails. heritage mile Way the Isle of Wight and Bodmin Moor, while of Wight and Bodmin Moor, the Isle 87-mile Wiltshire’s ( linking Padstow with Bodmin Moor. linking Padstow ( Dartmooris bigger remote; Ex more and Avebury and winds through chalk downlandAvebury Chilternand the wooded hills. tional park, the moor’s ace in the pack is a cracking 34 miles pack is a cracking ace in the moor’s third na of precipitous coast. The region’s . coastpath est national walking trail, stretching walking trail, est national from End to in Somerset via Land’s Minehead up along the can pick it in Dorset. You Poole coast for short and spectacular or hikes day stretches.tackle longer The Walking Often630-milethe called the adventure, South West Coast Path clude the North Wessex Downs, Exmoor Downs, clude the North Wessex Park. and Dartmoor National Park National the routes of old rail cycle trace trails Many 11-mile lines, including Devon’s way combe and Plymouth. way hundreds of miles Forest’s the New shire, through a wildlife-rich snake of cycle paths of Wight boasts while the Isle environment, routes and its very62 miles of bike-friendly own cycling (p233). festival Coast to Coast Cycle Route Cycling if strenu is a superb, southwest the Cycling out great to experience England’s ous, way Network Cycle National doors. The region’s include the (NCN) routes 2 of publishes an annual guide. and Cornwall’s popular 18-milepopular Cornwall’s and Bristol to Padstow via Glastonbury, Taunton Taunton via Glastonbury, Bristol to Padstow and Barnstaple, and the 103-mile Coast Path AssociationCoast Path Way