If you like a pre-breakfast sea swim you’ll love the latest idea from the School House cafe in Mothecombe.

Starting this Sunday (22nd June) they are running a weekly swim club starting at 9.30am.

The School House Swim Club meets on the beach, then it’s back to the cafe for brekkie.

The best bits? Warming up by the wood burner with a gorgeous sea view plus 50% off breakfast for anyone who swims.

With such a great deal booking is advised. Here’s their website.

Honiton Hot Pennies Day

700 years after it started the annual tradition of Honiton folk throwing pennies into the street continues as strongly as ever.

Originally the wealthy residents threw hot coins to peasants, apparently taking sadistic pleasure in watching them burn their fingers.

These days only gently warmed coins, which have to be ordered in advance from the bank since electronic payments took over, are tossed to school children mainly.

The first pennies are thrown from the balcony above the Old Pannier Market, and then from several pubs.

12pm, Tuesday 22nd July

Romantic confusion, mistaken identity and yellow stockings

This is Twelfth Night in an all male, outdoor version of Shakespeare’s greatest romantic comedy.

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men have been perfecting their formula for 20 years with accessible delivery and modern interpretations of popular plays.

With the unexpected sight of men with beards wearing dresses you have an evening guaranteed to deliver wit and fun.

Bring a chair and a picnic and prepare to be entertained.

Killerton, Exeter Tuesday 22nd July, and Dartington Hall, Totnes, Wednesday 23rd July, both at 7pm. Tickets: from £12.

Bideford’s bonkers boat race

1.45pm, Sunday 20th July 2025. The start time for the famous Bideford Cardboard Boat Race.

Teams pay £20 to enter vaguely seaworthy creations made from little more than glue and cardboard and strict rules banning anything else more buoyant.

The resulting festival of sinkings provides plenty of laughs. There’s a prize for the most spectacular capsize, and for the fastest and most creative entries.

On land, the locals join a Sailing Through Time fancy dress parade with flapper dresses of the 20s, psychedelic 60s vibes and grungy 90s nostalgia.

See the festival website for all the day’s fun.

Sausages in red wine and naughty cake

As you reach the ground floor of Buckland Abbey you may smell an open fire and something cooking.

Enter the kitchen to see the National Trust’s Tudor cooking team in full costume cooking up historically accurate dishes.

Previous events have produced chicken pottage (thick soup), sausages in red wine, May Day sallet (salad with edible flowers), and Elizabethan naughty cake (sounds amazing, made with butter, honey and fruit).

Sadly the food is not available to sample (probably for health and safety reasons) but recipe cards are available to take home.

Friday 25th and Sunday 27th July and dates in August to November. Cooking from 11am to 1pm. Talk to the cooks from 1pm to 3pm. Abbey admission: £17

Devon Curiosities #63: Braunton Burrows

More than just sand dunes, Braunton Burrows is a complex landscape balancing nature, recreation and military use.

Home to the rare sea stock, sand toadflax and water germander plants which you will have to search for, you can also see military exercises, WW2 relics and Devon Ruby Red cattle.

You may see foxes, deer and birds of prey and be aware of adders, particularly if you have a curious dog who likes rummaging in the bushes.

Tractors keep the undergrowth down to promote plant growth, but wetlands are in decline despite the area being a “biosphere reserve”, as are the rabbits whose diggings gave the area its name.

If you are walking the SW Coast Path your trek will take you right through the dunes. Watch a video with some great drone footage here

WHAT ELSE IS ON?

🌊 North Devon 

🐬 South Devon

🏆️ Get lucky! Win Devon leisure prizes

FEATURED: 🆓 A competition bundle of free holidays, free days out, a Dartington Crystal hand or paw print, and a £100 shopping voucher (30th Jun)

NEW!  🍷A collection of 5 Venn Valley vineyard wines including Devon White, Devon Rose and Pinot Rose. (Tomorrow, 20th Jun)

🏝️ A night for 2 with dinner, bed & breakfast at Burgh Island Hotel, one of Devon’s iconic locations, worth £900 (25th Jun)

💥 A £650 South Devon prize bundle: a 2-night stay in a cosy shepherd's hut for 2 adults, welcome hamper and logs, late check out, £100 local pub voucher, River Dart cruise, £50 pizza voucher (27th Jun)

🦙 An alpaca experience at Compton Pool Farm near Torquay for 4 people including a Devonshire cream tea (30th Jun)

♨️ An afternoon tea and spa visit for 2 at the Ilsington Country House Hotel and Spa on Dartmoor. (30th Jun)

🐔 A 2-night full-board farm stay for 2 with 4 course dinner and breakfast, snacks throughout the day and a programme of onsite activities (30th Jun)

🌊 A 1-night stay with a sea view at a Woolacombe hotel, a 3 course dinner, full English breakfast and free access to swimming pools, jacuzzi, and steam room (30th Jun)

NEW!  🪡 1 of 5 pairs of tickets to the Creative Craft Show and The Stitching Show in Exeter this September (24th Jul)

🏰 A 2-night stay for 2 at the 5-star Bovey Castle, including a Land Rover Defender tour, a free activity of your choice, dinner and 2 breakfasts (24th Jul)

NEW!  🐮 A luxury 3-night farm stay experience for up to 4 people at Little Comfort Farm, North Devon (31st Jul)

🍎 A summer bundle of BBQ, cooler and 4 cases of Devon Red or Red Zero Cider. Plus 50 runners-up win a case of cider (25th Aug)

😀 A 1-night wellness break at Boringdon Hall Hotel, Plymouth including dinner, spa membership and breakfast (29th Aug)

🐕️ A 4-night break in an East Devon cottage with its own dog friendly enclosed garden and views across open countryside (30th Sep)

❓️ Have you won a prize from a link you found here? Let me know.

Want to support Go Devon!

If you enjoy Go Devon! and would like to support our work, you can make a small donation here. Contributions help to keep the newsletter free to members.

New member? Catch up here

🫖 Our best places for a summer cream tea

🍺 The 700-year-old beer ritual still alive in Devon

⛵️ Plymouth’s new boat festival

🍀 Revenge of the Ottery pixies

That’s all for this week.

Thanks for being a member.

Andy, Esme, Lara and the Go Devon! team