Clovelly Village

From Elizabethan days until today, Clovelly Village has preserved its original atmosphere.

Visitors can only gain access to the village on foot as no traffic is allowed. For those who do not wish to walk back up, there is a fare-paying Land Rover service (Easter to end October) to the Visitor Centre .  Man-powered sledges transport all goods to the village, from groceries to furniture. Donkeys used to be the main form of transport for centuries, but they are now mainly used to give children rides around their meadow during the summer or can be seen posing for photographs in the street.

There is a lot to do and see besides. There are two museums in the village, one of which is dedicated to the author, Charles Kingsley, who lived here as a child and returned many times as an adult. . He wrote ‘Westward Ho!’ here and the village itself inspired him to write ‘The Water Babies’ and ‘The Three Fishers’.  The other museum is Fisherman’s Cottage, a time capsule of the life of a Clovelly fisherman in the C19th.

Watch skilled craftsmen working in the converted stable yard, creating beautiful silks and pottery. You can also visit Clovelly Court Victorian kitchen gardens (token admission charge) and see its splendid herbaceous borders and magnificently restored Victorian glasshouses. It lies adjacent to the C13th parish church of All Saints where generations of the village are buried.

In addition at the Visitor Centre, you’ll find a range of gift shops, a cafe and an audio-visual theatre in which visitors are treated to a history of the village.  Clovelly also has two hotels: the New Inn, which is 400 years old, is halfway down the street, and another, the Red Lion, is right on the quayside.  Both inns have long histories and an atmosphere rarely found in the modern world.

Once a bustling fishing port, Clovelly was renowned for its herring and mackerel and, although fishing has declined, it is still very much a part of village life. Clovelly is also today famous for its lobsters (and crabs), which are sent away as far afield as France and Spain. In past centuries, the coastline was occupied with smuggling, wrecking and piracy and was notorious for shipwrecks, so since 1870, Clovelly has also had its very own lifeboat.

Clovelly offers breathtaking scenery and lengthy walks along the cliff tops. Hobby Drive, built after the Napoleonic wars to give employment to Clovelly’s returning soldiers, winds its way through woods and offers superb views of both Clovelly harbour and Bideford Bay. Walking the other way takes you along the dramatic North Devon stretch of cliffs to Hartland Point, taking in the little carved shelter of Angel’s Wings and the newly restored Summerhouse with its magnificent view over Mouth Mill Cove, once the haunt of smugglers.

Special annual events:

• Easter:                   Clovelly Letter Days
• May:                       Clovelly Celebration of Local Ales and Cider
• July:                        Clovelly Maritime Festival, Lundy Gig Row, Woolsery Agricultural Show
• August:                   Lifeboat Weekend, Clovelly Gig Regatta,The Great Tour (round Britain cycling challenge)
• September:             Lobster and Crab Feast
• November:              Clovelly Herring Festival
• December:              Christmas Lights