Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England are designated for conservation in a special list of natural objects due their significant value. You will never make a mistake choosing to spend a day or even a month visiting such places.
In the County of Devon there are an amazing variety of beautiful landscapes. In North Devon just the area of natural beauty covers 66 square miles. Here you can admire huge wild heaths dotted with giant boulders of granite, the stunning coastline of the Severn estuary and the Atlantic Ocean with fascinating views of bays, rocky cliffs and dramatic capes. You will marvel at the unique forms of sculpted trees formed by the winds. You can stroll along cosy little coves with overhanging mystical rocks, enjoy the peace and quiet in a harbour with boats, discover the harmony of sand dunes, or simply spend time on the golden sands along the expanses of sandy beaches.
Travelling to beautiful places, a person fills with a special contentment; life seems to become more beautiful regardless of events. Landscape therapy is the best invention of our life. Nothing raises spiritual vibration as the contemplation of natural beauty.
Near the coastal town of Ilfracomb in North Devon, the village of Combe Martin is located in an enclosed bay, where a long street in a narrow valley and the name of the village comes from the Old English word “cumb” meaning a “wooded valley”. Martin is derived from the name of the Barons who owned the estate in Combe. Here silver used to be mined, from which, among other things, the Royal Jewels were made. A few disused silver mines are still preserved to this day.
The most unusual story in the village is about the Pack of Cards Inn, built by George Ley in 1700 to celebrate a big win at cards. The building resembles a deck of cards; it has 4 floors, for the number of suits and exactly 52 windows, same as the number of cards in a deck.
One of the old traditions in this village is a race with wheelbarrows along the main street from pub to pub, where one has to stop and drink a glass of beer. There are many legends about drunken traditions in the local valley. Some traditions were even cancelled due to “licentiousness and drunken behaviour”.
The main attraction of this place is a bay with a coastal strip of outstanding natural beauty. A concrete pedestrian path leads to the west of the beach along rocky ledges and caves where natural water baths are formed in the rocks.
The most desperate tourists can walk along the coast through three counties by The South West Coast Path that leads through Combe Martin. At 600 miles this is longest walking trail in England, it begins in Minehead, Somerset and finishes in Poole, Dorset. Along the way you will admire many other beautiful bays and beaches and pass along the Devon and Dorset Coast known as the Jurassic Coast.