Hartland

This pleasant village with its narrow streets and small square was once larger and more important than Bideford. Hartland was a royal possession from the time of King Alfred until William the Conqueror and continued to be a busy centre right up to the 19th century. It was at its most prosperous in the 1700s and some fine Georgian buildings survive from that period. But the most striking building is the parish Church of St Nectan which stands about 1½ miles west of the village. This is another of Devon’s ‘must-see’ churches. The exterior is impressive enough with its 128 feet high tower, but it is the glorious 15th-century screen inside that makes this church one of the most visited in the county. A masterpiece of the medieval woodcarvers’ art, its elegant arches are topped by four exquisitely fretted bands of intricate designs. The arches are delicately painted, reminding one yet again how colourful English churches used to be before the vandalism of the Puritan years.

In the churchyard is the grave of Allen Lane who, in 1935, revolutionised publishing by his introduction of Penguin Books, paperback books which were sold at sixpence (2½p) each.

From the village, follow the signs to Hartland Abbey. Founded in 1157, the abbey was closed down in 1539 by Henry VIII who gave the building and its wide estates to William Abbott, Sergeant of the Royal wine cellars. His descendants still live here. The house was partly rebuilt in the mid 18th century in the style known as Strawberry Hill Gothic, and in the 1850s the architect George Gilbert Scott added a front hall and entrance. The abbey’s owner, Sir George Stucley, had recently visited the Alhambra Palace in Spain, which he much admired. He asked Scott to design something in that style and the result is the elegant Alhambra Corridor with a blue vaulted ceiling with white stencilled patterns. The abbey has a choice collection of pictures, porcelain and furniture acquired over many generations and, in the former Servants’ Hall, a unique exhibition of documents dating from 1160. There’s also a fascinating Victorian and Edwardian photographic exhibition, which includes many early photographs.

A mile further west is Hartland Quay. Exposed to all the wrath of Atlantic storms, it seems an inhospitable place for ships, but it was a busy landing-place from its building in 1566 until the sea finally overwhelmed it in 1893. Several of the old buildings have been converted into a comfortable hotel; another is now the Hartland Museum, which records the many wrecks that have littered this jagged coastline.

About three miles to the north of the Quay, reached by winding country lanes, is Hartland Point. On Ptolemy’s map of Britain in Roman times, he names it the Promontory of Hercules, a fitting name for this fearsome stretch of upended rocks rising at right angles to the sea. There are breathtaking sea and coast views and a lighthouse built in 1874.