Morning all.
We're headed to Bude in a week and overnighting near Exeter to break up the journey. I know the Exeter area reasonably well but is there anything family/dog friendly on the A30 west from Exeter to do for a couple of hours? Country park/stately home with a play ground and cafe kinda thing?
not a huge amount that way.
Castle drogo? National trust and Hunters path is a nice walk.
Similar to jam-bo’s suggestion, there’s also the ruins of Okehampton Castle, an English Heritage property. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/okehampton-castle/.
Things To Do – Exeter/A30 West
Just drive straight to Bude? It's not that far from Exeter.
Killerton House? NT, 2 decent cafes, really nice grounds, house is pretty interesting too.
Drogo is cool, and lovely walks down the valley.
Haldon - lots of room to play and walk, and the cafe does very decent burgers.
Just drive straight to Bude?
Thats the obvious other option - just seeing if theres anything worth doing on the way.
Thought about Haldon, that might be worth a wander around the Gruffalo trail (if its still there - did that a few years ago and it was decent).
Cheers all...
Depending how old your family is we had a good time at River Dart Country Park a few years ago. Might be too far out of your way though...
https://riverdart.co.uk/opening-times-prices/
...that central bit of Devon between Exeter and Bude is a bit barren for tourist stuff (naturally everything clings to the coast).
If you are killing time before going into holiday accommodation, for me I'd rather kill that time at somewhere like Widemouth Bay.
Depending how old your family is we had a good time at River Dart Country Park a few years ago. Might be too far out of your way though…
As nice as that part of the Dart is, the problem is that Exeter to River Dart CP is about a 45 minute drive each way. Bude is only about 90 minutes from Exeter..
I wouldn't be staying in Exeter.
Lydford gorge is cool, like jurrassic park.. not sure if its dog friendly as some walk ways from memory, but a lot of the walk would be (also NT I think)
Lydford Gorge is a good shout if you're happy to drive down the A386 a bit. Dog friendly and quite exciting for kids.
If you've got bikes you could pick up the Granite Way cycle path from Sourton - head south toward Lydford. If you've not got bikes you could still do this, dog friendly, head towards Meldon Reservoir.
You could easily kill a few hours by the Quay in Exeter with a walk / ice cream.
Dingles vintage fairground near Launceston is meant to be ok, grandparents have taken my kids there when they were young. Also Launceston Castle (not been).
Okehampton Castle is nice but I doubt you'd need more than half an hour to see all of it.
Lydford is ok but narrow in places & if you stuck behind a coach load of pensioners you might be there hours!
My choice would be
Meldon reservoir & nice figure of eight walk under and over viaduct then take them here
Drive up past the army camp and a quick yomp up yes tor, high willhays. Views are amazing if the weather is good.
Wildwood Escot is pretty good. About 15 mins East on A30 ( might be suitable depending on where you are coming from )
Thought about Haldon, that might be worth a wander around the Gruffalo trail (if its still there – did that a few years ago and it was decent).
I opened the thread to post Haldon as an option. It's got plenty of options for a family with a dog and, IMHO, is a great place to spend a few hours 🙂
Wildwood Escot is pretty good
Yep, we live local so have membership.
But a single visit is a bit pricy, and you'd want to spend more than 2 hours there....just the maze can take that (if you're crap st mazes like me 😁)