Braunton & District Museum

Braunton & District Museum tells the story of one of the largest villages in England and the surrounding North Devon landscape. Housed in a compact building in the centre of Braunton, just off Caen Street, the museum is run by volunteers and covers everything from prehistoric finds and Saxon settlement to the village's distinctive medieval strip-farming system at Braunton Great Field, one of the last working examples in the country.

Displays range across local agriculture, traditional Devon longhouse life, and the area's strong maritime heritage, with material on the lime kilns, shipbuilding, and the coastal trade that once thrived at nearby Velator and Braunton Pill. There are also exhibits on Saunton, Croyde, and the wider Taw and Torridge estuary, plus a poignant section on the United States Assault Training Center, which used Braunton Burrows to rehearse the D-Day landings in 1943 and 1944.

The museum is free to visit, with friendly volunteer guides on hand to explain the collections, and makes an excellent half-hour stop before exploring the Great Field, the Tarka Trail, or the long sandy beach at Saunton Sands.