Lynmouth

Lynmouth sits at the foot of a steep wooded gorge on the North Devon coast, where the East Lyn and West Lyn rivers tumble into the Bristol Channel. The village is paired with Lynton on the clifftop 150 metres above, the two linked by the famous water-powered Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway, which has been hauling visitors up and down since 1890.

The harbour is small and photogenic, lined with whitewashed cottages, pubs, tea rooms and craft shops. Walks lead in every direction: upstream along the East Lyn to Watersmeet, where two rivers crash together in a National Trust beauty spot; across to the Valley of Rocks with its feral goats and dramatic dry valley; or along the South West Coast Path towards Countisbury and Foreland Point.

Lynmouth's quieter history is shadowed by the catastrophic flood of August 1952, when a freak storm sent a wall of water and boulders through the village, destroying homes and killing 34 people. A small memorial hall tells the story, and the rebuilt riverside remains a working reminder of Exmoor's powerful waters.