Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Kents Cavern
MAP
UNDERGROUND
GOOGLE MAP
( 01803-215136;
www.kents-cavern.co.uk
; 89 Ilsham Rd, Torquay; adult/child £9/8; 9am-5pm Apr-Oct,
10am-4.30pm Nov-Mar; )
Expect stalactites to drip water on your head and temperatures to
dip to 14°C amid these atmospheric caves. Hour-long guided tours lead through a maze of
rusty-red, uneven tunnels linking rock galleries, arcades and chambers, some of which
soar to impressive heights.
Bones found here revealed evidence of Torbay's prehistoric animals - cave lions, giant
mammoths and sabre-tooth cats. There are also hyenas' lairs and cave bears' dens; look
out for the skull of a cave bear (
ursus deningeri)
, embedded in the rock in the Water
Gallery.
Kents Cavern is also the oldest recognisable human dwelling in Britain. Flint hand axes
unearthed here have been dated to 450,000 years old, while the discovery of a 35,000-year
old jawbone makes it the oldest directly dated human bone in Britain.
Babbacombe Model Village
MAP
MINIATURE VILLAGE
GOOGLE MAP
( 01803-315315;
www.model-village.co.uk
; Hampton Ave, Torquay; adult/child/family £10/8/33; 10am-dusk;
)
Thousands of tiny buildings and even tinier people pack an absorbing attraction
chock-full of English eccentricity. The imagination and attention to detail is remarkable
with Lilliputian tableaux that are in turns witty, bizarre and unnerving.
Settings include a small-scale Stonehenge, football stadium, beach (complete with nude
sunbathers), animated circus, castle (under attack from a fire-breathing dragon) and
thatched village where firefighters are tackling a blaze. Visit in the evening for illumina-
tions; think Piccadilly Circus, complete with flashing banner ads.
Cockington Country Park
MAP
PARK
GOOGLE MAP
( 01803-520022;
www.countryside-trust.org.uk
; Cockington, Torquay; open access; )
At 182
hectares, Cockington provides a welcome oasis of calm, green space, just a mile from Tor-
quay's seafront bustle. Walking trails wind through fields, woods and parkland surround-
ing a 17th-century manor house, walled garden and craft studios.
A heavily thatched village comes complete with forge, mill, gamekeeper's cottage,
14th-century church as well as a real architectural rarity: a thatched pub that was designed
