World of Country Life

Just outside Exmouth, World of Country Life is one of those places that looks a bit rough around the edges from the car park but rewards a proper look around. It's essentially a working farm mixed with a museum of rural life - animals roaming about, vintage tractors you can climb on, and enough sheds filled with old farming kit to keep anyone interested in how people actually lived off the land genuinely occupied for a couple of hours.

The appeal here is straightforward. Kids will spend a happy afternoon with the animals and the hands-on stuff - there's usually something to feed or touch, which beats staring at glass cases any day. Adults interested in social history get a real sense of what rural Devon looked like fifty or a hundred years ago, not some sanitised theme park version. It's the kind of place where you stumble across odd details - old shop fronts, a blacksmith's forge, tools whose purpose you have to guess at.

If you're staying at Haven Devon Cliffs or Devon Cliffs Resort practically on the doorstep, it makes an easy rainy-day option or a half-day break from the beach. The nearby Dawlish Sands, Welcome Family, and other parks along the coast are within striking distance too. Go midweek if possible - weekends get rammed with school groups and the whole thing loses its charm. Allow two to three hours maximum unless you're really into agricultural history. Bring a hat in summer; there's not loads of shade.