Caravan club sites in Devon

Devon gives you two very different holidays in one county. The south coast between Exmouth and Salcombe is sheltered, warm and busy. The north coast at Woolacombe, Croyde and Lynmouth is bigger, wilder and colder. Dartmoor sits between them and changes the driving completely.

Where the sites are

Three clusters. The South Hams around Dartmouth, Salcombe and Kingsbridge is the largest and the hardest to book. The Exe estuary and Dawlish area is easier to reach and better for families who want a train ride into Exeter. North Devon holds a third group around Barnstaple, Braunton and Combe Martin. The Dartmoor fringe — Tavistock, Moretonhampstead, Okehampton — has a handful of sites, and Tavistock is one of the few in the South West open all year.

Getting there

The M5 runs out at Exeter and everything after that is the A38 to Plymouth or the A30 towards Cornwall. Both are good dual carriageway. The A361 North Devon Link Road from Tiverton to Barnstaple is single carriageway with short overtaking sections; it gets slow and frustrating in August but presents no real difficulty.

The M5 southbound between Bristol and Taunton on a summer Saturday morning is the genuine time sink. Leaving before seven or after four saves an hour or more.

Local notes

Countisbury Hill on the A39 east of Lynmouth is 1 in 4 with hairpins, and the Lynmouth side is worse. A modern outfit in a low gear will manage it, though going round via the A399 and Blackmoor Gate costs you nothing but time. On Dartmoor, the B3212 to Postbridge and the road up to Widecombe are narrow with blind crests and free-roaming stock — comfortable in a car, tiresome with a van.

Base near Kingsbridge or Totnes for the south, Barnstaple for the north. Trying to cover both from one pitch means ninety minutes across the county each time.