Scenic Saturday - Devon

Devon always used to be called Devonshire but somewhere along the line the ‘shire' bit seems to have dropped off.

From Dorset we follow the Jurassic coast westwards: the greater part might be in Dorset, but there are still 30 miles of it along the south coast of Devon. Some of the beaches are pebbles, but there are glorious stretches of sand which make Sidmouth and Dawlish popular destinations for family seaside holidays. Also in the east of the county is Axminster, world famous for its carpets. The county town of Exeter is one of England's smaller cities but no less attractive for that. The west front of the cathedral, which is 850 years old, is stunning. Moving south-west we come to the towns of Torquay, Paignton (pronounced Painton)and Brixham which are collectively known as the English Riviera. Agatha Christie was born at Torquay.

The pointy, southern part of Devon is where we find the yachting fraternity at Salcombe, Kingsbridge and Dartmouth. Dartmouth is also the site of the Royal Navy's officer training establishment, Britannia Royal Naval College, the naval equivalent of Sandhurst, and was also the port into which the Pilgrom Fathers called on their journey from Southampton to the New World with their ships Mayflower and Speedwell. Some 300 miles west of Land's End, they realised that the Speedwell was unseaworthy and both ships returned to Plymouth - the Mayflower then departed alone to complete the crossing to Cape Cod. Plymouth, with its good, natural harbour, is one of England's main naval bases - although technically the dockyard is in Devonport, the adjoining town. It was on Plymouth Hoe that Sir Francis Drake was reputedly playing bowls when the Spanish armada was sighted approaching England. The drum which accompanied Drake on his journeys is kept at Buckland Abbey, Drake's old home. Legend has it that the drum will sound whenever England is in peril or has defeated a great enemy, or to honour another great hero. When it beats, the spirit of Drake will return to aid his country.

Inland lies Dartmoor, 368 square miles of moor and bog, home to Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles, wild ponies - and Dartmoor prison, originally built to hold French prisoners in the Napoleonic wars. The Widdecombe valley cuts into the moor and the village of Widdecombe-in-the-Moor is a popular tourist destination.

Devon is one of only two English counties to have both a south and a north coast. The northern coast is quite different from the southern. There are sandy beaches alongside the estuary of the River Torridge, but most of the coast is rugged with steep cliffs dropping to small coves and picturesque fishing villages. Our picture this week is of one of the better known of those villages - Clovelly, where donkeys are used to carry goods up and down the steep, cobbled streets known as Down-Along and Up-Along.