Devon

Since we decided to make the most out of every spare time we have as a family, to travel as much as we possibly could, we’ve been packing our days out with fun filled travel and adventure. With a couple of days off work we decided to just GO, we headed off late Wednesday heading towards Devon, not knowing exactly where to. Since getting the VW transporter it had literally transformed (pun intended) our lives.

We left about 4pm, we were dreading the rush hour but with the kids fed and watered we managed only one stop on our 4 hour road trip to Devon. We needed to stop off for some food but didn’t want to waste time in a restaurant as we know that easily puts on an hour to our journey, time we didn’t have! So we quickly pulled over, made ourselves a bacon sandwich each and set back off again. We headed past Stonehenge, where we were going to stop off, as we thought the kids were asleep, until we hear ‘LOOK AT THOSE ROCKS MUMMY’. Which was great because we have now discovered how they got there, Indiana admitted it was all her so no big ?? anymore. Who knew HA.

We arrived at a beautiful little camp sit called Karrageen where we were greeting by the owner who then showed us around the site and walked us to our little plot. Super quiet, friendly and EXACTLY what we needed.

 Our night in the VW was beautiful! Waking up to the sound of birds, sheep and the fresh air of a beautiful sunny day to come was a feeling we could all get used to! We had a shower in Karrageen’s family shower room which was great to set us all off for our days adventure! Something that we hadn’t thought about before was how we’d dry out wet towels whilst were on the go, luckily we had our Wovii towels, they were nice a light which made the walk back and forth to the shower room ease free, also the most important thing they’re ultra absorbent which meant NO wet towels! 100% recommend for any type of travels.

Our day was beautiful, going back along the south coast of Devon, we drove a minutes walk to the beach from our campsite, taking us to Inner Hope. Then on to Salcome Harbour, Stu needed to catch up on some work so the kids and I watched all the passing boats. This is a beautiful little harbour, although we didn’t spend lots of time here, we like to be able to go for a nice stroll, at Salcome you couldn’t do this without go in and out of their cool little town, so we left after an hour, driving out of Salcome is a beautiful drive, also, make sure to stop by The Winking Prawn for a bite to eat!

We then headed across the Torcross road which is a beautiful stretch of road, heading towards Dartmouth. We absolutely loved going for the drives throughout the coast as this meant the kids could chill, Indiana wasn’t feeling 100% so she was able to get some much needed rest ready to explore each of the towns. As we approached Dartmouth we realised we were going to spend a lot of time here, it was stunning! A beautiful walk along the water, lots of lovely restaurants, although we opted for a fish and chips at Rockfish because well, it’s a seaside, we’re british and that’s just what we do. Oh and it beats spending £40+ on an average pub meal! And boy was it a good fish and chips!! We chilled for a while and then took the kids to a great park, the kids were starting to get knackered so we took the opportunity to head back to the car to head off to the next destination whilst they slept.

We went on a small car ferry over to Kingswear, which only cost £5 and the kids LOVED it. Driving through Brixham (which we didn’t overly rate), then through Paignton and Torquay which were both lovely little towns. We decided we wanted to have a bit of a chilled evening so I started to call up different camp sites near Dawlish as we knew we wanted to spend the next day in Dawlish anyway. After ringing through a few, Cofton Holiday camp site sounded the best option as they had a pool that was open from 8am-8pm. This was £25 for the night, WINNING! The site had two great parks, donkeys, another woodland park and the swimming pool was fantastic, although we had to pay a=£10 extra. Indiana also showed us that she could officially swim all on her own by swimming a short length with no aids! (super proud, just adding that in there HA). We heading back to the van where we had a BBQ as the sun set. This is my highlight of our little trip, for me THIS is what it’s all about, these little moments make all the tough little parts of travelling 100% worth it and what we want our children’s childhood to be about. We all went to sleep with a bag full of goodies once the kids went to sleep (we aren’t real adults and drink alcohol…we just enjoy sugar :D).

I woke up to the sound of seagulls rummaging and cawking through the bin we had left outside, such an amateur camping move right there. Anyway, rise and shine, we all headed straight to the swimming pool for a morning swim and then shower for the day. Phoenix casually had his first floater in the pool which was more than embarrassing, I’m just glad they didn’t have to close the pool OOPS. We were going to head straight to Dawlish but both Indiana and Phoenix must of been knackered from the swimming  that they were both asleep by 10am, so we went for a nice long drive along the coast before heading to Dawlish where we spent the rest of the day.

We spent a little bit of time in the fun fair they had there, which was great fun as the guys working there totally messed up the tokens and we ended up having more than what we paid for which meant the kids were happier!

We walked up to the promenade where we realised we couldn’t take dogs on the beach, we were pretty gutted as the sun was shining, the tide was out and it was a BEAUTIFUL beach. So Stu sat and watched us all play in the sand, he was approached by a couple who said they’d like to look after the dogs whilst we all spent time on the beach. (How nice is that?!) With the dogs in our sight we were able to spent a beautiful afternoon on the beach together.

We then continued our walk along the promenade where we had the most magical walk. On one side of the path we had the glorious beach and on the other hand we had an incredible train line that the kids were able to see and wave at. During the winter months it’s very common for this part of the path and train line to collapse due to the strong waves, I was very excited to see something I had seen in the news so often!

We then found a beautiful little spot called the Red Rock, here we spent lots of time playing in the sand/rocks and water. Had we of had more time I could of spent days in this little spot. There isn’t much to say about this, I’m pretty sure the photos do it justice. If you get a chance, make sure you visit it yourself!

We made our walk back as we had friends visiting our home in the evening so we had to get back. On our walk home we picked up some candy floss and ice cream. We also got speaking to a construction worker too, he happened to own an old train that we could see was being renovated. He went on to tell us that he’s turning it in a hotel, and boy does it look amazing. So keep an eye out for that space, it’s going to be THE place to be in Dawlish!

The drive back went smooth, apart from the kids alternating waking up every 10 min before going back off to sleep again, making sure they keep us on edge every time we spoke (thanks kids). But we got back safely, just in time for our friends, ready for the next adventure!

It’s funny, we have always looked across the other side of the world to see some beautiful sights. When really there are some incredible spots just down the road from us. All together, for accommodation, food and spending money we didn’t spend anymore than £60. We could have easily done all that in a tent, So please, if you have an inner travel spark, LIGHT IT! Anything is possible ❤

If you want to see more of our daily adventures, feel free to check out my Insta!