Abbotsham Cliffs

The cliffs here drop dramatically to meet the Bristol Channel, and on a clear day you can see right across to Wales. Abbotsham Cliffs isn't a manicured visitor attraction - it's a proper nature reserve where you come to watch birds, spot wildflowers, and frankly, just breathe properly for the first time in weeks.

The walk along the clifftop path is straightforward, nothing too demanding, and takes about forty minutes to loop round. You'll see fulmar nesting on the rock face if you visit spring or early summer - they're brilliant to watch, wheeling about like tiny white fighter jets. The cliffs themselves are sandstone, which means they shift and change with every winter storm, so it never quite looks the same twice.

Birders come here regularly. Birdwatchers, I mean. The reserve attracts migrants in autumn, and you'll often see people with serious binoculars scribbling things in notebooks. Families with young kids find it a bit thin on activities - there's no café, no toilets, no interpretation boards - but that's rather the point. It's unspoilt because it's been left alone.

Free to access, and no restrictions on when you can visit, though morning light is cracking for photography. Bideford sits just across the estuary, and it's a five-minute drive from Braddicks Holiday Park if you're staying locally. Pair it with Northam Burrows, the wider coastal park, for a proper day out exploring this stretch of Devon coast.