A 1920s holiday, the Devon way

Look what I discovered recently in a junk shop in Clifton Village!  Sitting in amongst a collection of vintage travel guides featuring locations nationwide, this little Ward, Lock & Co's guide to Torquay and South Devon leapt out at me.  Well I was more than tempted, and with change from a fiver, how could I say no?  Ward, Lock & Co were a London-based publishing company, which became famous for its "red guides" at the turn of the 20th century, and continued in business until 1964, when the company was split.  This guide was published in 1925, and for the particularly eagle-eyed amongst you; yes, that is the Torquay town coat of arms on the cover, bearing the town's motto Salus et Felicitas (Health and Happiness... obviously the motto-makers weren't Torquay United fans, ha!)

It's easy to get absorbed in the interesting local adverts, such as W.H.Gubb & Sons' popular motor trips into the heart of Devon from Ilfracombe; Ye Olde Whitpot Mill Tea Gardens (under new management) of Kingskerswell; and Torquay's Lincombe Hall Hotel ("charming situation, four acres of lovely grounds, the Acme of comfort and refinement...")  There then follows a list of hotels and boarding establishments, in which my eye particularly picks out Torquay's Osborne Hotel, the Redcliff in Paignton, and Newton Abbot's long-since-closed Globe.  The previous owner of this little book also pencilled an 'X' next to all the places they intended to visit during their holiday.  It certainly seems that this lady or gent got about, visiting many sites in Torquay (Torre Abbey, the Museum, Babbacombe, Kent's Cavern, Anstey's Cove, St Marychurch, Cockington, Compton, the church at Marldon, and Watcombe,) Newton Abbot, Ogwell, Torbryan, Paignton, Berry Pomeroy, Brixham, Totnes, Dartmouth, and a cruise up the Dart.  What a holiday!

So, what does the guide have to say about our towns, coast and countryside?  Some places have evidently changed beyond recognition, whilst the character of others appears to have remained intact, nearly a century on.  There's too much detail, of course, to transcribe the entire book here, so below are a few gems I've picked out, that speak of the interesting history and unique character of my neck of the woods:

"Since Kingsley and Blackmore gave to the world Westward Ho! and Lorna Doone, much has been heard of the grandeur of the North Devon coast scenery, but it was the beauty of South Devon - Torquay with its terraces, trees and sheltered nooks, Dawlish with its pretty Lawn, Teignmouth with its Den, Dartmouth and its land-locked harbour, Totnes with its ruined Norman castle, and the tortuous river Dart - that won for the county its fame as one of the playgrounds of England."

"Not merely because its cliffs are so lofty and picturesque, its sea so blue, its vegetation so rich, its site so well environed, its gardens to attractive, or its harbour so admirable, but because it enjoys all these features in so complete a combination, Torquay asserts with reason its claim to be the Queen of Devon."

"Few watering-places in England have made such strides in so short a time as Paignton.  Little more than thirty years ago a mere village, unknown to the world at large and associated by natives of the surrounding district with its sweet flatpole cabbage... Paignton has rapidly developed into a flourishing seaside resort... Nestling in a valley in the centre of Torbay, and surrounded on all sides by hills which afford a magnificent views of the sea and land, Paignton has every reason to look forward to a prosperous future."

"No one who stands on the quay and surveys the scene - the many fishing boats and trawlers, with their red-brown sails, in the inner and outer harbours and the fishermen and boys on the piers - can be in doubt as to the trade of Brixham.  It has been called the mother of the trawl fishery in England, and even the men of Grimsby and Lowestoft are said to have learnt their cunning from Brixham men who settled on the East Coast to be nearer the North Sea...  Special interest attaches to the Parish Church of Lower Brixham from the fact that its first incumbent was the Rev. Henry Francis Lyte, who wrote the beautiful hymn "Abide With Me," so popular with Christian communities in all parts of the world."

"Apart from its historical associations and its central situation, there is little to commend Newton Abbot to the visitor to Devonshire, who has all this fair county to choose from for his holiday, but since it has become nearly as good a centre for road as for railway traffic, bringing it into close touch with sea and moor, it is attracting an increasing number of holiday-makers... The town stands in a beautiful vale, watered by the river Lemon, which flows into the Teign a short distance below the spot where that river changes its character as a boisterous moorland stream for that of a placid estuary...  Newton is very proud of its War Memorial, which is unique in Devon."

"Totnes is one of the very few places in the kingdom where the curfew bell is still rung... The town is seated in the midst of the South Hams, a district not improperly called the "Garden of Devonshire," and is the centre of an important cider industry.  It was spoken by Camden as a "little town hanging from east to west on the side of a hill" - a description that still holds good."

"Buckfastleigh, where an ancient Abbey which has for forty years been occupied buy a community of Benedictines, who are rebuilding it gradually."

"Ashburton, beautifully situated in a very lovely country, with some of the most attractive portions of Dartmoor within comparatively easy reach.  The town stands on a small tributary of the Dart."

"Dartmouth is one of the most picturesque and interesting old towns in the country, and no one visiting South Devon should go away without seeing it... The old town retains many of the features of bygone centuries.  Narrow streets with overhanging houses, may not be beautiful in themselves, but they have a peculiar interest.  It is in its setting that the town is so attractive.  With the river in front and the hill towering behind, the effect is very fine."

"Kingsbridge is not a town of importance or of great beauty.  It owes its prosperity to its situation in the centre of the South Hams, where agriculture has always held up its head."

"Salcombe can, in summer, also be approached by steamer from Dartmouth, Torquay, Paington, Teignmouth, Exmouth, and Plymouth.  It is a delightful day trip down the rugged Devonshire coast, past the Start Lighthouse, at the extreme end of Start Bay... The sight of the beautiful harbour from the steamer is alone sufficient reward for the journey...  Salcombe is developing fast, and finds difficulty in accommodating the increasing number of visitors who throng it every season."

"The Dart is still referred to as "The English Rhine" but there is little resemblance, or the Dart would not be so beautiful as it is... It would be impossible to exaggerate the charms of the Devonshire river.  What other stream is so typically English, so intensely Devonian?  It sweeps along in leisurely fashion. Beyond all question, the way to extract the most pleasure out of the Dart is to drift along with the tide in the glow of a summer evening, when the sunlight slants across the stream, turning the reaches into golden lakes, and when the dense shadows of the gigantic oaks that bend over it contrast with the resplendent branches far above.  Under such conditions the voyager may well let the sweet influences of the scene intoxicate him, and make him content lazily to drift on down the shimmering stream between the banks."