Things To Do in Exmouth

My home town Exmouth is known for its sandy beach which stretches over 2 miles, and is enjoyed by many including the locals, holiday makers, dog walkers and horse riders. This post is for those of you who may not know what else Exmouth has to offer, especially in peak season for anyone who’s planning a holiday in this East Devon seaside town. The following are just a few activities and places to explore in Exmouth, mainly during the summer months, alongside photos I’ve taken strolling around.

Watersports Hire and Lessons

If you’re looking to learn a new hobby, or want to see what it’s like out on the water, why not take up some lessons or hire a paddle board or Kayak for the day? Many locals, such as myself, have our own kayaks or paddleboards and will tell you how much fun it is being on the water. I love exploring coves that can only be reached by boat, as well as watching the sun set out to sea.

If you’re feeling even more adventurous, why not try some kite or wind surfing lessons? If you take a walk along the seafront right now, you can’t miss the new watersports centre that’s being built due to the popularity and ideal location for this activity.
There are a few places you can hire sups and kayaks from, or even get lessons, Edge watersports being one of them, who you’ll find dotted along the seafront during peak season.
For more information: http://www.edgewatersports.com/paddleboard/

Exmouth Land Train

One novelty worth trying during the summer months is the land train that can take you along Exmouth Seafront, into the town and then back to Maer Road via Manor Gardens. As you can imagine, it’s popular with children, with a printable activity sheet available on their website, and they also welcome dogs aboard. Prices are very reasonable and you can even get some money back from car parking fees. Running from May until November, check out their website for more information: https://www.exmouthlandtrain.co.uk/

Queen’s Drive Space and the Jurassic themed Play Park

This fairly new development has replaced the old swan boats that used to reside here. Queen’s Drive space, located just across the road from the beach, (next to Ocean bowling alley) has its very own bar, different food and drink outlets from local producers and the space comes alive in the Summer months with live music events, open air cinema shows and open mic sets. We love coming down here in the Summer evenings, having a couple of drinks in the seating area which is surrounded by sand and fairy lights, there’s even some hammocks if you’re really wanting to get into the holiday spirit! The area is also dog friendly and pram/wheelchair accessible.

There’s also a new Jurassic themed play park right next door, which always appears popular with children of all ages. It has swings, a sand pit, climbing frames, a large slide and lots of dinosaurs dotted around. There’s also a wheelchair accessible roundabout. For more information on this new development check out their website: https://www.queensdrivespace.co.uk/

Ocean - Bowling, Soft Play, Entertainment

Ocean is one of our favourite places to go all year round for a bite to eat, or to visit the arcades, do some bowling or take our daughter to the soft play area. Located between the Pavillion and Queen’s Drive Space, it’s popular amongst all ages as it has so much to offer. The ground floor restaurant and arcade are also dog friendly and you’ll always see water bowls dotted around for your four legged friends. We love sitting in the Engine room bar by the open doors in the Summer months, looking out towards the sea while grabbing a bite to eat. They have a great menu, (our favourite is the veggie chilli nachos) and even have something for dogs! Events are often put on, such as craft fayres, as well as being popular for weddings. The 1st floor restaurant called The Deck is the perfect location to watch the sun set while having dinner or listening to live music or comedy club.

There’s also of course a 12 lane 10 pin bowling alley and a really impressive 3 storey Soft Play Zone. We like that they have something for all ages in the soft play, including young toddlers and babies. There’s also live entertainment at certain times and a food and drink Kiosk for the adults to enjoy while the children are having fun. It’s well worth a visit, prefect for keeping the children busy on a rainy day. For more information check out their website: https://www.oceanexmouth.co.uk/

Exmouth’s Dinosaur Trail

This one doesn’t seem to be as well known as it should be! Anyone who comes to Exmouth will notice it has recently been taken over by lots of different dinosaurs dotted around the town centre and seafront. What people don’t know is that there are 3 trails you can follow to find them all, through hints and maps (all free to do). You can either find the dinosaurs themselves, or the brass rubbings which can earn children a sticker at the end. It’s a great way of exploring the area, and getting the kids to run off some energy! You can pick up a map and hints from Exmouth’s Tourist Information Office in the Strand, Town Centre or you can also download the map onto your phone. There’s more information on their website: http://exmouthdinosaurtrail.co.uk

One of the dinosaur brass rubbings

Exmouth Marina, Stuart Line Cruises and River Exe Floating Cafe

Right down the Western end of Exmouth beach you’ll find the old Docks, now fondly known as Exmouth Marina. Boats are moored in the Marina, which is surrounded by colourful apartments and houses. It’s a lovely area to take a quiet stroll, away from the busy beach in the Summer months, or have a drink at The Point. There’s also a little beach close by, known by us locals as Shelly Beach (or Pirate Cove!), which is dog friendly all year round. The duckpond, popular with watersports activities, is just around the corner (part of the River Exe which joins the sea, hence the name ‘Exmouth’) which at low tide, you can walk along, and at high tide, is a playground for Kite and Wind surfers, as the calm waters here are a great place to learn how to sail.

Close to the Marina, you’ll see cafes and shops, as well as the Stuart Line Cruises office. Running all year round, these colourful boats have a variety of trips you can book to go on. From day trips to other towns, to a tour of the River Exe while having a cream tea on board. There’s even band nights and Winter events to try out. The Ride with Santa is always a popular one and gets booked up early. The Boat is also available to hire for parties and is dog friendly! For more information have a look their website: https://www.stuartlinecruises.co.uk

If you’re unsure of where to go for lunch during the Summer months, then maybe consider the River Exe Floating Cafe. This really is dining with a difference! Situated just off of Exmouth Marina, in the River Exe, this restaurant is only accessible by water taxi or your own boat. They have a menu that includes lots of seafood from local suppliers and has a cosy atmosphere, on the water, surrounded by boats, eating dinner under soft lighting and flag bunting, try and time your booking at sunset for a real treat! It’s also dog friendly. For more information: https://www.riverexecafe.com

Blue Plaque Heritage Trail

Exmouth has a lot of history! One way of finding out about some of it is the 33 Blue Plaques dotted around the town. You can find a map online for the Blue Plaque Heritage trail, or alternatively, there’s a great Multi Geocache that takes you to some of these interesting blue plaques. One of my favourites is Mona Island situation on Exeter Road in the town centre. This is where the ancient ferry to Starcross used to operate, yet now it’s a little seating area surrounded by shops in the town centre. It’s hard to believe that the sea used to come up this far that ferries sailed here! You can take your time strolling round spotting each plaque, stopping at shops and cafes along the way if you please, you may be surprised how many you’ve walked past before and not taken any notice of! For more information on the trail: http://openplaques.org/organisations/exmouth_society/plaques

Manor Gardens

Manor gardens, situated just a short walk away from the seafront and Marina, is a quiet spot away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the town. This green space is full of vibrant coloured flowers (including roses and a sensory garden) and a lovely little cafe called Bumble and Bee. When the cafe is open (sadly closed for refurbishment at the moment), it’s definitely worth a visit for a cream tea while watching the world go by around you. Sometimes the gardens come alive when it holds special events throughout the year on the bandstand by the subtropical bed of plants and trees. Exmouth Festival used to be held here every year until it grew bigger and moved to the imperial recreation ground. On some Summer Sunday evenings bands play here, as well as local theatre and art groups performing on the band stand. For more information on the gardens and events taking place, be sure to look at the notice board and leaflets situated by the toilets at the main entrance that leads towards the town centre.

Website: https://eastdevon.gov.uk/parks-gardens-and-recreation/parks-and-gardens/manor-gardens-exmouth/history-of-manor-gardens/#article-content

Phear Park

For the locals, Phear Park has always been a popular place to walk the dog, take the children to the park, play a game of pitch and putt or have a picnic in the sunshine. This large park has a lot to offer, not only does it have outdoor tennis courts and a skate park, but also a bowling green (and club) and a beautiful little pond surrounded by reeds.

This is normally our last stop at the end of a day walking from the beach through Manor Gardens and the town centre, then a rest in the sunshine in this park before leaving via the old railway line (which is now a cycle trail that connects the Exe Trail to the Budleigh Cycle path). At the top of the park is Bumble and Tee, the sister site of Bumble and Bee (And Bumble and Sea by Orcombe Point) situated next to the free car parking area and the pitch and putt, hence the punny name!. Here you’ll find some lovely homemade cakes and drinks to enjoy, either sat in the seating area by the cafe or to take away and have a walk around the park. There’s also a dog exercise area here, for anyone who would like to train their dog off lead but aren’t confident letting them off in the main park. See if you can spot the large fallen oak tree in the park, which is now used as a natural play area for children to climb over and explore.

Beer to Branscombe Coast Path (and back again)

This walk along the East Devon coast path from Beer to Branscombe and back is quite easy to follow as there are very clear signposts and paths leading you in the right direction so I won’t go into too much detail with this walk. We love this stretch of the South West Coast Path because Beer and Branscombe are two of our favourite beaches to visit. Both are small villages, with fishing boats moored on the pebble beaches. I’ve written a post before about Branscombe (here) and I’ll do another post in the near future about Beer as it deserves its own post; it’s such a lovely little Village to stroll round, visiting the independent shops and sitting in one of the deck chairs having an ice cream or chips on the beach, watching the fishing boats go out to sea.

Views of Beer’s white cliffs.

We started this walk by parking in the main car park (Clapp’s Lane) in Beer as we first went down to the beach to have some lunch, but we resisted the urge to get an ice cream, instead promising ourselves we would have one once we reached Branscombe. If you aren’t planning on visiting the village or if there’s no space in the main car park, then there’s a larger one right by the start of the coast path called Cliff Top car park. To reach the coast path from Beer Beach, we walked past our favourite pub in the village, ‘The Anchor Inn’ and walked up Common Lane. From here we had beautiful views of Beer Beach, its white cliffs and the coastline over the well kept gardens, belonging to the beautiful terraced houses on the other side of this road. Once half way up this hill we then turned down a lane on our left called Little Lane. From here it leads us past the bigger car park I mentioned earlier, and a caravan park on our right. Going through a gate, and into a field, this lane joins onto the coast path.

For those of you who enjoy geocaching, there are some great ones along this route all the way to Branscombe. We actually ended up finding some of the ones we couldn’t find last time we walked this route, though it can be hard sometimes as this path can get fairly popular, so you need to have a lot of stealth!

Views of Beer and Seaton from the coast path.

As we carried on along the coast path the views just kept getting better, we did this walk on a hot and sunny day, but a word of warning, be prepared that there’s a steep hill on the way back from Branscombe, which can be made a lot more strenuous in the heat, there’s also a section of rather steep steps if you descend the cliff path, but the rest of the walk is rather easy going and the views make it even more enjoyable. On the way to Branscombe we took the lower path (called Hooken undercliff) when we were given a choice of two options, and on the way back we took the high path along East Cliff.

A lovely spot to sit and take in the views.

Views of Branscombe beach from the coast path.

The lower path takes you through twists and turns with the white cliffs on your right, and there’s a short cut to the Eastern side of the beach when you reach the end of this path. However, there are quite a few steps on this path, whereas if you choose the high path it’s just through several fields then down one set of steps and then down East Cliff hill. One thing to add, at the moment the path will be getting more and more popular as its peak holiday season, the lower path also gets quite narrow in places, meaning it will be difficult to socially distance from others at times.

Some of the steps you’ll encounter along Hooken Undercliff.

Both paths offer the beautiful views of the coastline and are clearly marked on how to get to the beach. Once we reached the end of the lower path, we could have walked further which would take us out to the bottom of the hill before the car park at Branscombe, instead we chose to enter the beach by a path on our left. This took us to the Eastern end of the beach.

The Eastern end of Branscombe beach.

This part of the pebble beach is a lot quieter than the main stretch close to the car park. We decided to sit here for a bit and watch a few dogs enjoying the water as the waves crashed against the pebbles. After a while, we decided to walk towards ‘The Sea Shanty beach cafe’ by the car park and the entrance to the beach, it’s a short walk along the beach to get here. This is the only cafe by the beach, but it has a good variety of food and drink options, including a good choice of ice creams which is what we came for!

The Eastern end of Branscombe beach is always a lot more quiet.

We sat and watched the waves crashing against the pebbles.

The busier part of the beach, with The Sea Shanty Beach cafe to the right.

After having a great ice cream and relaxing in the sun, we decided we had better start climbing the hill back onto the coast path, to return to Beer. From the Sea Shanty cafe, there’s an entrance to the hill ahead through a gate by the mouth of the river that’s just to the side of the car park. Look for the massive hill, it is hard to miss!

We sat and had an ice cream, while looking at the hill we were about to climb.

The hill does have some benches you can rest on if need be, we sat and looked at the views of the beach below before continuing on our walk, up some steps then through more fields which eventually took us back to Beer. Along the way we saw the remains of an old lookout building as we walked past a flock of sheep and down a path that took us through some gates and back to the fields we first started walking in.

The views of Branscombe village, beach and coastline from the top of the hill.

This walk took us about 3 hours to do, but we did it at a leisurely pace and stopped to do some geocaching. It’s best to give yourself plenty of time, as I’ve said before the hill and steps can be quite strenuous! The stunning coastal views really do make up for the hard work involved on some parts of this coast path though. Both beaches are dog friendly, Beer does have restrictions in place for certain areas (clearly marked) during peak season, but the whole of Branscombe beach is dog friendly all year round. If you are taking a dog on this walk, please bear in mind that there are steep drops from the cliff side so be very careful dogs don’t run off the edge, and as always, keep dogs under strict control around any livestock you may encounter (we walked through fields with sheep and cattle in them).

Views of Seaton from the coast path on the way back to Beer.