The weather didn’t cooperate with us on our first full day in Teignmouth. Heavy rain and wind were expected by the afternoon so we made an early start and headed out to Dartmoor before the worst of it arrived.

I’m a sucker for a good moody moor, as you might remember from our trip to the North York Moors, and Dartmoor is extra special because it’s one of the last remaining wilderness areas in England. Dartmoor is also a national park, one of many that we had visited this trip. If you’re keeping track – the other national parks were the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland, Peak District, and North York Moors. From Teignmouth it didn’t take us long to get onto the moors and as were cognisant of the looming weather we bypassed a longer hike and went straight to Haytor Rocks. Dartmoor is full of these granite tors, which are piles of rocks naturally formed into tower-like formations.

We parked up at the national park visitor centre and took the short but steep walk up to the rocks. The weather was starting to turn and by the time we reached the exposed Haytor Rocks the wind was so strong that we could barely talk – it was literally taking our breath away. We very quickly called it a day before someone got blown away, which was a shame because the rocks looked perfect for scrambling on. No clambering was possible in that kind of weather – at one point Rose attempted it and nearly got blown clean off the rocks. The walk up and back to Haytor was beautiful though – classic moorland rugged scenery with far-reaching views across to the coast. We saw cows, highland cows and even wild Dartmoor ponies. It obviously would have been more enjoyable without the gale-force winds pounding into us, but the visibility was still good and we certainly got some fresh air – perhaps a little too much! Let’s just say we were all extremely relieved to get back into shelter after that walk.

Our next stop in Dartmoor was Widecombe in the Moor, a really lovely village with grey stone buildings, a village green, 14th century church, pubs, shops and tea rooms. All around the village were footpaths meandering through fields with blackberry hedges on the sides. And to my delight the village green featured a substantial horse chestnut tree, one of my favourite trees. Is it just me that has favourite trees? The reason I love the horse chestnut tree is because of the conkers, which are the brown shiny nut-like seeds of the tree that hide inside green spiky shells and look a lot like chestnuts. You can’t eat conkers, but you can play a wicked game that all British kids of a certain age will know. The game is called, rather imaginatively, “conkers“. It involves tying a piece of string around your conker and hitting other people’s conkers to try and break them. We spent quite a bit of time under this tree, teaching the kids all about conkers. Like the blackberry-picking and pooh sticks, it was another part of our childhood that we were handing down to our Australian-born kids who, if not for this trip, would never have heard of a conker or the simply joy it can bring.

It was Sunday and you guessed it – time for another Sunday pub roast! Our first choice was the Rugglestone Inn but they were full, so instead we chose the Old Inn in the middle of the village. They did us a fantastic roast beef with Yorkshire puddings, cabbage and cauliflower cheese.

The rain was really coming down by this point and the mist was rolling in from the moors, so we called time on Dartmoor and retraced our steps back to the coast. On the way back we stopped at Otter Garden Centre just outside Teignmouth. I want to pause briefly here and say something about garden centres, because much like motorway services they are done so well by the Brits. Obviously they sell plants and garden supplies, but they are so much more than this. They might also sell fish, homewares, gifts, clothes, toys and books. In fact they are more like department stores – this is no ordinary Bunnings! And on top of this, they have cafes with excellent home made cakes and feature displays of the season. While we were there it was an autumnal scarecrow pumpkin patch theme but they were setting up the Christmas grotto ready for the festive season ahead. If you’re in England and at a loose end – I highly recommend finding your nearest garden centre and paying them a visit.

The rain was absolutely torrential by this point but we thought we’d see if the Teignmouth amusements were open. Well they weren’t. In fact, the pier was completely closed and as we approached we could see why. The weather was wild. The waves were crashing into the seafront like I’d never seen before and the pier looked like it would get washed away any minute from such a battering. I mean obviously it’s been standing for 150 years so it’s unlikely, but still, it was wild.

The whole of Teignmouth seemed to have shut up shop – even the train station was closed. So instead we drove over to nearby Dawlish, another little seaside town just a few miles up the coast. Luckily the amusements in Dawlish were open and we spent a fun few hours on the 2p machines. A note about British amusement arcades – much like motorway services and garden centres, they are also brilliant. Mostly because of the 2p machines. If this is an unfamiliar concept to you, a 2p machine is a game where you put 2p coins into the top of the machine which push onto a lower shelf which then pushes 2p coins out of the machine and into your pocket. You will almost certainly put in more 2p coins that you’ll win, but it’s addictive and fun and cheap. A couple of pounds in 2p coins will entertain you for a good hour. Nowadays the 2p machines come with extra plastic prizes to win other than just the coins and we ended up leaving the amusements with several buckets of plastic tat.

We ended our day with a sticky toffee pudding and a pint back in Teignmouth. What a great first day in Devon!

The weather was looking a lot better the next day so we jumped in the car and took off down the coast. The roads are slower and less direct in this part of the world so it took us a good hour to reach Salcombe. Salcombe is a picturesque town, very affluent, right on the water with a couple of nice sandy coves at North and South Sands. We had planned to start a coastal walk from here but the parking was nonexistent and the roads tight so we thought better of it and went into the town instead. The centre of Salcombe is really lovely, with gift shops, a harbour, sweet shops, pubs and cafes.

One thing on our list today was to have a classic Devonshire cream tea. If you’re unfamiliar with this, it’s a traditional repast of freshly baked scones with jam, clotted cream and a pot of tea. Originally from Devon and Cornwall, the cream tea is now found in tea rooms up and down the country. Whether to put the jam or cream on the scone first is a matter of national debate, as is the pronunciation of the word scone. Now I’m something of an afternoon tea expert – I named my blog after a tea room after all – so you can feel confident when I tell you that the correct answers are: 1. jam first and 2. it rhymes with stone. Outside of England clotted cream is very hard to come by, which is a shame because the whipped cream substitute which you get at afternoon teas in Australia is sadly subpar. You haven’t had an afternoon tea until you’ve had a thick luscious dollop of clotted cream on your scone.

Unfortunately, the one thing Salcombe lacked, oddly, was tea rooms. This somewhat scuppered our plans for a cream tea, but eventually we did find a coffee shop which obliged us with a freshly baked scone with all the trimmings. Aside from the cream tea and a delicious fudge shop, the best thing we found in Salcombe was a pasty shop. Now you may have heard of a Cornish pasty. It’s a very famous hand pie with meat and potatoes inside, totally delicious. But apparently you’re only allowed to call this a Cornish pasty if it was made in Cornwall – so in Devon they are just called “traditional pasties”. I have to say, the pasty from The Pasty Shack in Salcombe was the best Cornish – I mean traditional – pasty I’ve ever had.

Onward from Salcombe and back we were to the coastal road. There was a road closure on the main road so we had to drive some pretty dicey back roads. These were officially two way roads, but little more than narrow tracks with grass growing on them and high hedges on either side. There are pullout areas every so often but if you encounter another car coming towards you it’s likely you’re going to have to reverse quite some distance to a pullout point, and hope for the best. Let’s just say this wasn’t a relaxing drive!

It took us 30 minutes to drive 8 miles down these country tracks. At the end of it we were rewarded with beautiful views of the coast, although there weren’t too many places to pull over and enjoy them. At Dartmouth we drove onto a tugboat to get to the other side of the river Dart, much to kids delight. This is a very efficient service they provide to help you cross the river and avoid a large detour on the roads, although you do have to pay for it. On the other side of the river Dart we drove through Paignton and Torquay (where Fawlty Towers was set, one of my favourite TV shows), both fair-sized seaside towns on the English Riviera.

Just outside Teignmouth we stopped at Ness Cove and decided a break from the car was needed. Ness Cove is a fun stop, highly recommended. To get to the beach you have to walk through Smugglers Tunnel and you emerge onto an isolated but beautiful cove. It’s all very Famous Five, and the tunnel itself has great echoes – one for the kids to take note of.

The beach at Ness Cove is a dark red sand beach, the same red colour as all the cliffs in this part of the world – there are no White Cliffs of Dover around here! We pretty much had the whole beach to ourselves, and the kids had a lot of fun collecting some really large shells, trying to skim stones across the water and running away from the waves. One of the kids (I won’t mention which but it wasn’t Theo) didn’t quite run away in time from a particularly large wave which necessitated a trip back to our apartment for a change of clothes.

After this we walked over to Teignmouth’s Grand Pier, thankfully open today now that the weather had calmed, and spent another few hours on the 2p machines. Armed with yet another bucket of plastic tat we saw that the skies had cleared and decided to start the coastal walk towards Dawlish. The walk takes you right along the coast with the beach on one side and the train line on the other. Lots of trains zoomed past while we did the walk which everyone got very excited about. The sun was setting, the kids were happy and we were enjoying the views. Lovely. We didn’t make it all the way to Dawlish but we did reach Sprey Point with its iconic Teignmouth sign. As a good activity if you’re in Teignmouth I would recommend walking one way, pottering around Dawlish, and getting the train back.

For dinner on our last night in Devon we had our last curry of the trip at Naz Indian, and very good it was too. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves and the staff were so friendly; the food was excellent too. Puffy naan, spot-on chicken balti and a pint of mango lassi. The perfect way to end our Devon adventure.

Did you know I’m also part of a Curry Club? We are self-declared curry experts who sample the finest Indian restaurants in Brisbane and beyond. Check us out at @curryclubreviews on Instagram!

Coming up…last day in England

Previously…motorway farmshops and pedalos in Exeter