Clovelly

The cobbled high street drops so steeply towards the sea that cars have been banned since the 1600s. You'll either love or hate Clovelly depending on how you feel about wheeling a suitcase down a donkey-steep slope to reach your accommodation. It's genuinely vertical - picture a Devon village that's essentially been tilted 45 degrees and left there.

What you're looking at is a proper working fishing village, not a museum piece. Whitewashed cottages line the main street, their front doors opening directly onto the cobbles. Fishermen still moor boats in the tiny harbour below, nets actually get hung to dry, and the Red Lion at the bottom serves real pints to locals. It's touristy, yes, but there's substance behind the postcard appeal.

Walkers get the most from it. The coastal path stretches either direction, and the village itself takes 20 minutes to descend and considerably longer to climb back up - a proper leg burner. Families with young kids might find the steep walk tedious on the return journey, and prams are genuinely impractical. History enthusiasts will appreciate its medieval layout, which hasn't fundamentally changed in centuries.

Clovelly sits handily between Bideford and the holiday parks dotted around this corner of Devon - Roeys Retreat is less than a mile away. Call ahead about admission fees and parking (it's at the clifftop), as the village operates on its own terms. Morning visits beat afternoons if you want the place to yourself.