Clovelly
Clovelly is something of a Devonshire coast Shangri La, a picture postcard village of steep cobbled streets and tall narrow fisherman’s cottages.
A charming collection of 18th and 19th Century whitewashed, slate roofed cottages, the village of Clovelly is built into a hillside on the coast of the Bristol Channel. Running through the town and down to the harbour is the steep cobbled street known as Down-a-long or Up-a-long, depending which way you are going and the only viable form of transport is on the back of a donkey or wearing sensible shoes.
At the bottom of the village, the Quay Pool is the hub of a working fishing community, where you’ll find rows of stone built cottages and small boats drawn up to the pebble beach while lobster pots lie stacked against the quayside. The pub in the harbour, the Red Lion, is traditionally set out with old pictures of salty seadogs lining the walls, but pride and place goes to the mounted head of a 478lb Porbeagle shark, caught in the nearby waters in 1992. In season, visitors can take a boat trip up the coast or out to Lundy Island, 3 miles long and home to just 18 people and a small community of Puffins.
At the head of the village is a visitor centre outlining the history of this beguiling little village and the neat preservation by its estate owners, the local residents and fishermen’s community. There is also a museum housed in one of the cottages in the village, which provides an insight into life in Clovelly in the 19th Century based on the writer of the novel Westwood Ho! Charles Kingsley who lived in the town.
Despite the entrance fee and huge numbers of tourists in the peak season, Clovelly maintains an atmosphere of a traditional 19th Century fishing village, rather than that of a theme park and remains uniquely unspoilt.
