Devon: what makes it worth driving

Having condemned the roads in Devon to Room 101 I should redress the balance and say something about the good stuff.

The pint at the Ferry Boat Inn, Dittisham! You can get the ferry over the Dart from Dartmouth and walk 4 miles north then reward yourself with the best pint I had in our entire 18 days holiday. You need first to get the ferry back over from the east side of the Dart to the west but the FBI is conveniently placed at the end of the jetty and the FBI bitter is like nectar. There's a ferry back to Dartmouth from the east bank if you don't want to walk back. We had 2 cars so left one at both ends of the walk.

Slapton Sands. This whole area (about 7 villages) was subject to compulsory evacuation (without compensation!) for use by the US Army for D-Day training in 1944. Slapton Sands in particular is infamous as the place where some 900 US servicemen lost their lives during practice landings, an incident which was hushed up at the time for obvious reasons.  The Sands are a 2-mile pebble bar with the sea on one side and a freshwater lake, good for wildfowl, on the other. At the western end is a Sherman tank, heaved up from the sea bed in 1984, which stands as a very moving memorial to the victims.

Cork Oak, Blackpool Garden

Blackpool Garden. This well hidden hillside garden has been restored recently after decades of neglect. It boasts many unusual trees from the southern hemisphere and is well worth a visit. Allow 90 minutes. You can park in the Blackpool (pebbly) Sands car park for free and get a ticket and leaflet from the car park attendant for the gardens.

But the best thing of all was being able to spend a week with our family in a nice place ("Vantage Point" in Hillfield Village near Dartmouth) and being there for the twins' first trip to the beach.