Lynmouth – Devon Valley Town

On the North Devon coast, on the Bristol Channel, lies on of the loveliest villages in England. Beautifully situated at the mouth of East Lyn and West Lyn, two small streams that unite their waters just before reaching the sea, Lynmouth is a haunt of artists. It is much favored as a summer resort and carries on a small coasting trade. Fishing is also carried on.

Lynmouth is the natural starting point for many pleasant valley excursions. Well-wooded valleys lie inland and the streams afford good trout and salmon fishing.

Southey visited Lynmouth and not far from Lynmouth is Doone Valley, part of the vale of East Lyn, and famous through Blackmore's novel "Lorna Doone." Lynmouth is a very small village with less than two thousand inhabitants. From Lynmouth, a steep, rough white roads winds up the slope to Lynton, Lynmouth's twin village that stands 400 feet above it, on the other side of the river. From the terraces at the top of Lynton beautiful views may be had of the sea.

Shelly lived in Lynmouth for several months in the summer of 1812, and up the coast from Lynmouth, on the Channel, is the beach where it is said Stevenson placed the Admiral Benbow Inn of his "Treasure Island." Of Lynmouth, Shelly wrote, Mountains certainly of not less perpendicular elevation than a thousand feet are broken abruptly into valleys of indescribable fertility and grandeur. The climate is so mild that myrtles of an immense size twine up our cottage, and roses blow in the open air all winter.