Sidmouth

A weekend between Jacob's Ladder and Salcombe Hill

A weekend in Sidmouth covers the Esplanade, Jacob's Ladder and Connaught Gardens on day one, then the coast path over Peak Hill towards the red stacks of Ladram Bay. Day two brings Sidmouth Museum, the riverside Byes, the Norman Lockyer Observatory on Salcombe Hill (check open days) and the Donkey Sanctuary at Slade House Farm.

Saturday morning: start at the Market Square end of town and walk down to the Esplanade, where the Regency terraces face the sea. Turn west to Jacob's Ladder, climb the wooden steps and spend an hour in Connaught Gardens, laid out around 1820 and opened under the Duke of Connaught's name in 1934. The café there is the classic tea stop.

Afternoon: carry on along the South West Coast Path over Peak Hill. The grassy top gives the best view back over the town, and if your legs allow, continue to the red sea stacks at Ladram Bay before returning the same way or by bus.

Sunday: visit Sidmouth Museum beside the parish church for its fossils and local history, then walk the riverside Byes up the Sid valley. After lunch, drive or take a taxi up Salcombe Hill to the Norman Lockyer Observatory (check its public open days first). Finish with a run along the coast to the Donkey Sanctuary at Slade House Farm, founded in 1969 and home to hundreds of donkeys.

Crab baps, cockles and Sid Valley bakers

Sidmouth eats well because its independent bakeries, butchers, greengrocers and fishmonger survived. Start at Sidmouth Trawlers for fish baps, Lyme Bay crab sandwiches and pots of cockles, buy hot pies at Haymens the butcher, and take a cream tea in Connaught Gardens. The Anchor, Dukes and The Marine serve pub food and local ales.

For a town of its size, Sidmouth eats well, largely because the old independent food shops survived. The centre still has bakeries, greengrocers, butchers and a fishmonger, so a picnic for the cliffs is easy to assemble.

Sidmouth Trawlers is the place to start: a working fishmonger selling locally landed fish and shellfish, with takeaway fresh fish baps, Lyme Bay crab sandwiches and the old seaside standby, a pot of vinegary cockles. Haymens the butcher does pies and other hot takeaway food and has won Taste of the West awards.

For cream teas, the café in Connaught Gardens has the setting. In the evening, the pubs near Market Square, such as The Anchor, plus Dukes and The Marine closer to the sea, serve pub food and local ales. Most hotels on the Esplanade have dining rooms with sea views and fairly traditional menus.

Folk Week crowds and the quiet coast beyond

Sidmouth's year turns on the first week of August, when the Sidmouth Folk Festival fills the seafront with musicians and dance sides. The rest of the year belongs to the coast: the 899 bus runs east to Branscombe, Beer and Seaton, Ladram Bay is a walk west over Peak Hill, and Exeter is an easy bus trip.

The town's year turns on the first week of August, when the Sidmouth Folk Festival fills the seafront with musicians and dance sides. Since its last commercial sponsor left in 2005 it has been run by a company formed by supporters.

Outside that week, the coast is the reason to come. The AVMT 899 bus runs east through Branscombe and Beer to Seaton, so you can ride out and walk back on the coast path through landslip country above the sea. Beer Quarry Caves and the fishing beach at Beer make a good half-day stop. Westwards, Ladram Bay's sandstone stacks are a walk over Peak Hill, and Exmouth is a short ride on the 157.

Exeter, with its cathedral and quayside, is an easy bus trip for a wet day. From there, trains continue to Bath and London if Sidmouth is one stop on a longer English trip.