Cotton Copse

Cotton Copse is a proper woodland walk just inland from Dawlish, the sort of place that feels miles away from the seaside crowds despite being barely twenty minutes' drive inland. It's a genuine forest - mixed woodland with enough shade and shelter to feel like you've stepped into something genuinely wild, even though you haven't. The walk itself isn't arduous. Most people find the main paths manageable in thirty minutes to an hour depending on how much you poke about. Tree cover is dense enough that it works even on drizzly days, which are fairly common in Devon.

This is walker territory first and foremost. The ground can be boggy after rain, so proper boots matter. Families with young kids might find the undulating terrain a bit much unless they're confident walkers, but older children and teenagers will have no trouble. History types won't find much - it's just trees and paths - so come here for the walking and the air, not the annotations.

Free to visit, no car park fee that we're aware of, though spaces can fill on weekends. Best tackled in autumn when the light filters through the canopy properly, or spring when things are fresh. Summer gets muggy under the trees.

If you're based at Lady's Mile Holiday Park or Leadstone Camping nearby, Cotton Copse makes a solid afternoon sortie without eating up a full day. Combine it with Dawlish town itself or the beaches and you've got a proper Devon outing. On its own it's a wind-through for an hour, nothing more - but that's genuinely useful when you need a break from the coast.