National Trust - Watersmeet

Two rivers collide in a steep wooded gorge just outside Lynton, and Watersmeet is where you go to watch it happen. The East and West Lyn rivers meet here in a proper dramatic fashion - water crashes over boulders, the valley walls rise up thick with oak and ash, and the air smells of wet stone and moss.

It's a National Trust property, so you're getting the full package: maintained paths, decent signage, and staff who actually know what they're talking about. The main walk takes you down into the gorge itself - a bit steep for what it is, and you'll feel it in your legs on the way back up - but the payoff is standing right there where the waters meet. The noise is something else after heavy rain.

This works brilliantly for families with older kids (under-eights might struggle with the gradient) and anyone serious about walking. History buffs get a kick out of the Victorian hunting lodge that sits above the meeting point. Allow a good two hours if you're doing the full circuit rather than just poking about for thirty minutes.

Combine it with a stay at Lynmouth Holiday Retreat down the road, and you've got yourself a proper Devon break. The whole thing sits within easy reach of the coastal paths along the north coast - Watersmeet makes a cracking inland counterpoint to all that cliff and sea air.