What’s your favourite price? If it’s ‘free’, then the Donkey Sanctuary is for you. See engaging exhibits, walk award-winning gardens and meet plenty of adorable donkeys in Sidmouth. Finish with coffee and cake. Or walk the Blackdown Hills, in the forest at Castle Neroche and around the Wellington Monument.
Enjoy over 60 rides and attractions at Crealy Theme Park and meet over 200 cuddly animals. Ride the largest watercoasters in Devon, enjoy science workshops and tour five indoor barns full of wild, exotic and cute animals at Woodlands Family Theme Park. Or make dad envious as you ride, drive and operate real diggers at Diggerland.
Watch out for coots, ducks and kingfishers as you ride your Abbotshood Cycle Hire bike along the canal. See kestrels, barn owls, screech owls and eagles in action at Yarak Bird of Prey Centre. Or get really wild, meeting wolves at Wildwood Escot, then lose yourself in the maze.
Enjoy beautiful beaches at Beer and Branscombe, and walk between the two along the coastal path. Trek the trails of East Devon with Bearhouse Alpacas. Paint your own pots at the Honiton Pottery Workshop. Or meet the animals, ride the Rampage rollercoaster, and have a flutter on the sheep race at The Big Sheep.
Begin by going ape on the high ropes and zip wires at Haldon Forest against a backdrop of rugged moorland. Cruise around Honiton Golf Club’s parkland course on leg-saving buggies. Get muddy and giddy doing the UK’s fastest-growing sport at Quad World. Or blast away at clay on The Big Shoot at Escot Park.
Get the rods out for trout on the River Otter. Pose around lovely Lyme Bay on a self-drive motorboat with lines supplied for mackerel fishing. Hack the hills on horseback with Sheldon Riding Centre. Check out the Honiton lace and pottery collection at Allhallows Museum.
Strap up your boots and don’t forget the dog when you walk the Higher and Lower Tale circular or the woodlands around Ottery St Mary. Or trek the coast from Sidmouth to Seaton or from Branscombe to Beer topped and tailed by beautiful beaches. Wind up your day at Lyme Bay Winery among award-winning wine, fruit wine, mead and rum.
Chase history at stunning 12th-century Exeter Cathedral. Take a trip around Killerton, a family home and estate with a glorious landscaped garden surrounded by dog-friendly paths and parkland. Rummage around a bygone era at Fountain Antiques Centre in Honiton. Stick around for cute cafes and restaurants and the Thelma Hulbert Gallery.
High in the hills above Honiton, Otter Brewery offers a fine range of cask, keg and bottled beers. Sample some before you leave. Get taught by a five-time world champion at Abbey Burton Clay Shooting. Or test and refine your off-road driving skills with the Land Rover Experience West Country.
Looking to chill? The Pig Hotel at Coombe serves rather nice food but it’s the Potting Shed at the bottom of the garden you’ll want if you’re after hot-stone massages, anti-ageing restorative facials or resurfacing radiance facials. Or slide into the sauna and enjoy a Swedish head massage at The Victoria Hotel.
Get ready to giggle when you book bubble football at Heavitree Sports Club. Or enjoy almost every stag and hen activity going at Devon Activity Centre, including off-road karting, Segway safaris, archery, air rifles, axe-throwing, foot golf, bomb defusing, quadbike trails, and paintball.
Mix it up on a Cocktail Masterclass at The Terrace in Exeter. Try afternoon tea at Heron Farm, with finger sandwiches, canapes, freshly baked scones with clotted cream and jam washed down with loose-leaf tea. Then make it a night to remember in Exeter at The Bootlegger, The Cavern or The Speakeasy Cocktail Bar.
