Turkey & Tinsel – North Devon

Staying at the comfortable Durrant House Hotel Bideford situated just outside the town, there is however a a bus stop right outside the hotel. Entertainment.

Durrant House Hotel

Included
Bideford/Barnstaple: Bideford is an attractive town on the west bank of the River Torridge, where the river begins to widen to form the estuary. The old road has a lovely old bridge crossing the Torridge linking the town of Bideford to its neighbouring village East the Water. This impressive, arched stone bridge was built in 1535. The original bridge was built from timber in 1300, and was replaced by a stone bridge in the 15th century. Various adaptations have been made to the bridge throughout the intervening years.

Barnstaple; famous for its pannier market. The largest town in North Devon is Barnstaple on the River Taw. This ancient town was granted its charter in 930 AD by King Aethelstan – the grandson of Alfred the Great. It lies to the north of Dartmoor and to the west of the beautiful Exmoor National Park.

Barnstaple Pannier Market. The town was a prosperous place in the past, at one time a major port particularly for the American trade. It remains a thriving market town with a traditional Pannier Market. Today Barnstaple has a partly pedestrianised centre and features many fine buildings and attractive narrow streets and alleys. The oldest surviving part of town is the Norman mound and remnants of the original Norman castle wall can still be seen. There is also the ornate Queen Anne’s Walk and the 13th century Long Bridge. Close by is the Museum of North Devon.

Day off in Resort

Optional
Dartington Crystal & Okehampton: Visit the famous Dartington Crystal they have been handcrafting their range of English crystal products in our factory in Devon since 1967 – the only major crystal factory in the UK. The Visitors Centre, see and hear the fascinating story of over 40 years of Dartington Crystal then follow the Timeline from 1967 to present day and see how the first pieces of glass were made in our museum section. Watch our talented expert Master Engraving demonstration create award winning works of Art;  You can watch the live demonstration of glass making and try the many hands-on activities they have to offer.

The area now occupied by Okehampton has a long history. It is known that Iron Age people lived here before and around AD 0, that before AD 70, following the invasion of Britain by the Emperor Claudius in AD 43, the Romans built a fort (found by aerial photography in 1975) close to what is now Okehampton and also at nearby North Tawton, and that the Saxons had a settlement and a church (now part of a much later building) in the area. However, it was Baron Baldwin de Brionne , one of the knights of William the Conqueror, who, by building a castle, established the basis for the present town of Okehampton as an important trading and market centre throughout the centuries in this part of Devonshire. Baron de Brionne was William’s Royal Sheriff of Devonshire, and his castle in Okehampton is the only Devon castle listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. The present castle, on the same site, is that rebuilt and considerably enlarged in the early 1300s by Earl Hugh Courtenay, of the powerful Courtenay family of the County. In 1539, its owner, the Marquis of Exeter, was executed by order of King Henry VIII, and it gradually fell into disuse from then onwards.