Because few English counties offer such variety. Devon is the only one with two coastlines — a wild, surf-pounded north and a soft, estuary-laced south — plus two national parks in Dartmoor and Exmoor, so you can surf, sail, hike granite tors and laze on sandy beaches all in one trip. Add the fossil cliffs of the Jurassic Coast, the cathedral city of Exeter, a thriving food scene and the cream tea itself, and it is the quintessential English holiday county, equally good for families, walkers and foodies.

North Devon or South Devon — which is better?

They are different holidays. South Devon is gentler and smarter — wooded estuaries, sailing harbours like Salcombe and Dartmouth, the English Riviera and the Jurassic Coast — and suits those after pretty towns, good food and calm water. North Devon is wilder and more dramatic, with the UK's only World Surfing Reserve and the big Atlantic beaches of Woolacombe and Croyde, better for surfers and walkers. For a first visit, the south is the easier introduction; for surf and rugged coast, head north.

How long do you need in Devon?

A long weekend covers one corner — the south coast, say, or Dartmoor and Exeter — but Devon properly takes five to seven days, enough to see both coasts, a moor and plenty of cream-tea stops. The county is large and the lanes are slow, so it pays not to rush: keep daily drives short and base yourself in one or two areas rather than dashing across. Exeter makes the best single base, with both coasts and Dartmoor within about an hour.

What is Devon known for?

Its coast and countryside above all — two coastlines, the surf beaches of the north, the estuaries and English Riviera of the south, and the wild moorland of Dartmoor and Exmoor. It is famous for the Devon cream tea (cream first, then jam), for clotted cream and farmhouse cheese, for the Jurassic Coast fossil cliffs, and for the cathedral city of Exeter. It is one of Britain's best-loved holiday counties, known for beaches, walking, sailing and an increasingly good food scene.

When is the best time to visit Devon?

Summer, June to September, is the classic season — warm, long days for the beaches, the coast path and the moors, though July and August bring crowds and you should book well ahead. Late spring and early autumn are quieter and lovely, ideal for walking and gardens with fewer people. Winter is cooler and wetter but atmospheric on Dartmoor and along the coast. For beaches and watersports come in summer; for walking and value, the shoulder seasons are best.

Boutique Hotels in Devon, England

Two coasts and a wild middle

South Devon is the gentle one — a coast of wooded estuaries and sheltered harbours that has long drawn the sailing-and-second-home crowd. Salcombe, on its ria, is the smartest of the resorts, all crab lunches and Salcombe Dairy ice cream; Dartmouth, up the coast, mixes a deep-water harbour and colour-washed merchant houses with the hilltop Britannia Royal Naval College; and the English Riviera around Torquay brings palm trees and Victorian-resort nostalgia. To the east runs the Devon stretch of the Jurassic Coast, England's only natural World Heritage Site, where the fishing villages of Beer and Branscombe sit beneath crumbling fossil cliffs.

North Devon is the wild counterpart. Its Atlantic-facing beaches form the only World Surfing Reserve in the UK — Woolacombe, with the longest beach in England, alongside Croyde, Saunton and Putsborough — while the coast path climbs over headlands between surf villages and the harbour town of Ilfracombe. Inland lie the two moors: Dartmoor, 368 square miles of granite tors, beech-lined rivers and free-roaming ponies, and quieter Exmoor on the Somerset border. Tying it together is Exeter, the county town, with its Gothic cathedral — home to the longest uninterrupted medieval vaulted ceiling in the world — and a lively quayside; it is the obvious base, with the M5 and two mainline stations putting both coasts and the moor within an hour. The Tarka Trail and the Exe Estuary path add easy, traffic-free riding for families.

Devon's food matches its scenery: seafood landed along both coasts, farmhouse cheese and clotted cream, and a serious modern dining scene. For where to stay, the club's choice is inland, in the deep quiet of the Tamar Valley: Hotel Endsleigh, a Grade I-listed former ducal lodge near Tavistock, set in Humphry Repton's celebrated gardens above the river — a garden-lover's country house on the edge of Dartmoor, and a romantic counterpoint to the busy coast.