Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi all,

does anyone have recommendations of good places to eat and things to do in Torquay? So far ive planned to do the Dartmouth steam railway along with the boat trip, has anyone does this? Leaving the car at home, so any villiages that can be easly got to by bus or train and worth a visit?

Thank you in advance for any help,

Simon.

Depends what you are interested in doing.

Cockington (between Torquay and Paignton) is a nice village, basically stepping back in time!

There are plenty of attractions around Torquay: Kents Cavern, Model Village, Living Coasts/Paignton Zoo, Torre Abbey, the balloon on the seafront etc. I could go on but obviously depends what sort of activities you are interested in!

Brixham is worth a visit - there is a boat direct from Torquay or the bus so not too difficult to get to. Plenty of nice places to eat by the marina.

Great thanks. After good pubs, bit of history and places to go in the evening, also some good walks.

south devon railway,,, well depending how many train days your after :-p but if your using the ferry and are willing to bus it from dartmouth then i would recomend salcombe or kingsbridge, blackpool or slapton sands, im not sure how you would get over there but bigbury on sea and hope cove are beautiful

Hi, Simon!  :)

See http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=8776.0 for a previous discussion of the merits of the Dartmouth Line.

I'd also recommend a day visit to either Kingsbridge or Salcombe (both have quaint museums, lots of shops and places to eat).

Babbacombe Model Village (http://www.babbacombemodelvillage.co.uk/) is great - and so is Paignton Zoo (http://www.paigntonzoo.org.uk/) (some of the staff there are excellent! ;D )

Plenty of walks, too - for example, up to the headland above Compass Cove from Dartmouth.

Hope this helps!

CfN.  :)

If you get to Babbacombe there's a good chippy in the high street and a few yards away is the cliff railway.
At Torquay (as mentioned) Living Coasts is great, the Balloon is fun - I went up last winter on my own.

Dartmouth is one of my favourite destinations, it's quite small so you don't have to walk far to see everything - the architecture is terrific (unfortunately some is fire damaged) - on your round robin trip you will (usually) have some time in Dartmouth - the Rockfish chippy near the pontoon landing is expensive but very good - just opposite is a small ferry to the Castle at the river mouth.
On the boat section of the trip you will pass Agatha Christie's Estate which is worth a visit by ferry again from near the pontoons.
Also there are cruises out to sea - 'wildlife' which usually goes up the coast and another 'historic' WWII cruise to Slapton down the coast.

On the way down from Exeter you will pass Powderham Castle near Starcross station - guided tour is excellent.
Next station down is Dawlish Warren - nice walk from there along the seafront railway to Dawlish where there are Black Swans with cygnets on the river and the best ice cream in the World at Gays Bakery - bright red shop 200 yards up the river on the left.

A list of some cruises from Torquay & Dartmouth  http://www.greenwayferry.co.uk/short-trips/  (http://www.greenwayferry.co.uk/short-trips/)   

As I understand it, they recently lost one of their most valued members of staff... ;)



But in all seriousness I can't praise a visit to the zoo highly enough, avoid Monday - Wednesday if possible since these are the busiest days. You also get 10% off entry with a stagecoach bus ticket (12A Torquay - South Devon College/Brixham every 20 mins)

Worth mentioning with respect to Agatha Christie's house, there is a vintage bus that runs between Paignton (maybe Torquay) and her house in Greenway. Similarly 'Devonian' operate a vintage open bus tour that goes around Paignton including the Zoo and Broadsands beach (passing beneath Brunel's Hookhills Viaduct) taking about 45 mins (longer if you decided to jump off).

Agreed. There's only one other place in the west country that comes close. The Honiton Dairy with it's 48 flavours and a gurt dollop of clotted cream on top if you want. Mmm!

Just for interest Gays Bakery at Dawlish get their ice cream from a facility at Langage Farm near Plympton, Plymouth not far from the top of Hemerdon Bank loop.mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

There will be no use of the word 'gurt' down in Honiton thanks very much. Keep that up in Brizzzol  :D

Plenty of references online to the use of the word gurt (or gert) in Devon and Cornwall.  :P

If you're after a decent pint - the number 32 bus route has it all:

Devon Dumpling (nr Shiphay shops) 4 beers and cracking value food - off the beaten track so it's off radar for the tourists.
Then you pass the Haywain - local's pub, then the Chelston Manor (nr Chelston Methodist Church) then into town.

OKish choice, best choice of beers are the two 'spoons nr the harbour.

Then up to the Kents at Wellswood, then Babbacombe for a choice of the Royal (Bays), Buccaneer (St Austell) or Babbacombe Inn (Otter last time) followed by St Marychurch for the Crown and Sceptre (8 beers).

Stagecoach were doing a 'Niterider' ticket for ^2.00, all over the bay of an evening but don't know many details. Else there's the Torbay Dayrider I believe.

Hope this helps!

Surprised Bignosemac hasn't been extolling the virtues of The Cherub Inn in Dartmouth. He pointed me in the direction if it and it's well worth a visit.

I believe all of the 'spoons' in Torbay (Green Ginger and Lloyd's bar on Torquay Harbourside) all sell 'Bay's' for a reasonable price if you did want to try the local beer.

indeed DM,

The Lloyds is the Green Ginger, the 'normal' spoons is the London Inn. Both on / nr the harbour.

The Hole in the Wall has also had it on before, across the road from the London (forgot to mention that one earlier!)  :)

I always thought thst the Lloyds bar was the one next to debenhams!

if you plan your day right, Take Steam Train Paignton to Kingswear, hop over on Boat to Dartmouth then take a 2nd Boat on a Return Trip to Totnes, and return back way you came.  :)
 
Far better than a Round Robin, Buses yuck, Buses crawling in & around Paignton Double Yuck. :'(

Depends whether you like an open top bus journey I guess  :D

The boat trip up the Dart is very nice though, when I went it was an evening trip and the lighting was spectacular. Not sure if they run evening trips however, since it was a private party.

Really must try one of those boat trips again. Not been on one since I were a kid.

Last time I was on the Dart (excepting the Kingswear ferries) was in a kayak as a volunteer group assistant with the Prince's Trust, paddling from Totnes to Stoke Gabriel. Bleddy hard work as well, as we were against the tide! Highlight of the day was two of the young Princes' Trust Volunteers trying to master a Canadian Canoe. These two girls spent the first half hour going round in circles, hitting the banks and capsizing once. It was only when they employed the Chuckle Brothers (http://www.google.co.uk/url?url=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DqGZU61k1ibw&rct=j&sa=X&tbm=vid&ei=DUpITuaxIMqw8QPCrIG6Bg&ved=0CDwQuAIwAA&q=chuckle+brothers+to+me+to+you&usg=AFQjCNHIve3Xy2I6SvupVGVzksuwOZlUNA&cad=rja) mantra, "To you, to me" for their paddling strokes that they finally managed to get going in the right direction.

"To you, to me" was heard all along the river to Stoke Gabriel!


Edited for misplaced apostrophe. Prince's not Princes'  :-[

Cant thankk you all enough for your help, lots of food for thought, will let you know how we get on  :)

On behalf of all those who replied - Glad to be of assistance.

Earlier this year I took a trip to Dartmouth and you may find the following thread of interest:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=8776.0

You could always join in the locals' favourite pass-time.  Fare Dodging!  :D

 ;D ;D ;D ummm..... maybe I wont ha

ohhh i missed out tiffanys haha .... it was a stag do.... honest

Eccky thump, has that Stagecoach lot been and fitted out a BAR  on a Public service BUS :D :D :D

Naughty Naughty  :D