Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Teignmouth & Around
POP 14,750
Hugging the shore where the River Teign meets the sea, Teignmouth has all the trappings
of a well-worn resort. Georgian terraces back a seafront lined with rough, red-gold sand,
and a classic Victorian pier juts proudly out to sea. But the town is also home to a small
port that plies a coaster trade, and the tiny network of nearby lanes, with their candy-col-
oured fishermen's sheds and seafarer's pubs, lend the place a bustling, nautical air. A ferry
chugs resolutely across the river, while the Dawlish Warren nature reserve - an elemental
mass of wind-blasted dunes - is just a short coastal hike away.
Sights & Activities
Teign Ferry
( 07896-711822;
www.teignmouthshaldonferry.co.uk
; Back Beach; adult/child return £3/1.40; 8am-dusk mid-
Jul-Aug, to 6pm Apr-mid-Jul, to 4.30pm Nov-Mar)
The open-topped Teign Ferry shuttles from Teign-
mouth to the appealing village of
Shaldon
on the south bank. The ferry service began life
around the 10th century, while the distinctive black-and-white colour scheme of the cur-
rent boat is Elizabethan. It's an evocative crossing - you embark by walking up a gang-
plank. The voyage itself brings a crumbling, red headland ever closer. Once in Shaldon
hunt out
Ness Beach
, accessed via a smugglers' tunnel that's been hacked out of the rock.
The ferry sails from Teignmouth's River (or Back) Beach, just behind the Point
(seafront) car park. The schedule can be affected by the weather; times are posted on
beach-side boards.
FERRY
Teignmouth & Shaldon Museum
(Teign Heritage Centre;
www.teignheritage.org.uk
; 29 French St; adult/child £2.50/free; 10am-4.30pm Tue-Sat
Feb-Oct, plus 2-5pm Sun Jul & Aug)
It's as far from a fusty old museum as you can get, with enga-
ging exhibits filling a stylish new building. Step into a Victorian bathing machine, feel the
weight of a cannonball, and have a go at being a Punch 'n' Judy puppeteer. Look out for
cannons from a 16th-century Venetian shipwreck (found by a local lad); and displays on
Admiral Pellew, the inspiration for CS Forester's
Hornblower
series.
MUSEUM
WILDLIFE RESERVE
Dawlish Warren
