Combe Park

The walk down into Combe Park takes you past red sandstone cliffs that glow almost orange in afternoon light, dropping steeply through woodland until you hit the valley floor. It's a proper Devon secret - a wooded combe with a stream running through it, the kind of place that feels genuinely removed from the holiday crowds you'll find in Sidmouth just a few miles away.

The park itself is small and intimate. You get woodland trails, the sound of water, and enough shade to make even August bearable. Families with young kids find it manageable, though the initial descent is steep enough that buggies become a liability. Walkers get more out of it - there's proper scenery in the ravine itself, and the stream adds atmosphere without being dramatic. History types will spot the old industrial traces if they look closely.

Allow an hour minimum, two if you're taking it slowly. It's free to access and open year-round, though winter and early spring are when the stream runs properly energetic. Going mid-week in shoulder season means you'll rarely see another soul.

If you're based at one of the nearby parks - Cuckoo Down Farm Glamping or Oakdown just down the road - it makes an excellent morning before heading into Sidmouth itself. It's the antidote to a caravan holiday, a proper bite of Devon woodland that doesn't require booking ahead or queuing. Worth the detour.