Eden Project St Austell (115 min) 01726 811911
If you believe there should be a place that celebrates life and puts champagne in the veins, .is all about education but doesn't feel like school, to hold conversations that might just go somewhere, where research isn't white coats in secret but shared exploration to help us all, .that is a sanctuary for all who think the future too precious to leave to the few because it belongs to us all, Then welcome. That's why we built this place and that's where the money goes.
Woodlands Leisure Park (7 min) 01803 712598
All weather fun Guaranteed! Play a Day! Whoopee! Woodlands have it all! Acres of Action Massive indoor Play centres Great Rides and beautiful Animals what’s New at Woodlands for 2005? –“The Avalanche”! Looks cool from a distance. From the top the sheer drop with folks going 50kph on a plastic tray is scary. Will you bottle it out? Great Indoor play centre.
China Blue Totnes (22 min) 01803 860908
In the ceramic studio you can paint your own pottery to yourown design. There is a huge range to chose from. We tiny ornaments through to large vessels and dishes. We provide the brushes, piant, sponges and stamps. Experienced and friendly staff are on hand to provide you with help and idea’s. We have loads of samples for you to copy and design books full of funky idea’s. When you have painted your pot leave it with us and we will glaze it for you. Your piece will be ready to collect in a few days or can be posted to you. The Ceramic Studio is a great place groups of people of all ages.
Sharpham Wine & Cheese Ashprington, Totnes (23 min) 01803 732203
Quality, Taste, Excellence. A range of fine English red and white wines, and specialty cheese, which is produced from a beautiful 200 acre Estate on the bank of the River Dart. A range of tours are available which all include a wine tasting (£3.50/£7.50/£35). (Large groups by arrangement only). The vineyard shop sells wine and cheese (styles as available). Sharpham is open from March 1st – Christmas Eve, Monday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm. (Open 7 days a week during June, July and August).
Lea Phillips' Studio Ashprington (27 min) 01803 863895
Lea Phillips' Studio produces a full range of tableware, from bowls and mugs to dinner plates and coffee pots. Her complete dinner services are available in 'Splash' decoration, with certain larger pieces also available in 'Formal' decoration Jugs and bowls are a particular speciality. They range from the very small to the very large and are available in both 'Formal' and 'Splash' patterns. Lea also makes bigger items such as lamp bases and large vases, as well as tea pots and coffee pots.
Dartington Cider Press Centre (26 min) 01803 847500
Dartington Cider Press Centre, Shinners Bridge, enquiries@ciderpress.co.uk
An unusual and most attractive complex of 12 shops and 2 restaurants housed in a picturesque cluster of 16th and 17th Century stone buildings set on Dartington Hall Estate. Specialising in craft, Dartington Crystal, kitchenware, stationery, unusual gifts, farm foods, herbs, plants and toys. Free parking. Open all year round – Mon-Sat 9.30 pm – 5.30 pm PLUS Sundays from Easter to Christmas 10.30 am – 5.30pm.
Paignton Zoo (30 min) 01803 697500
Paignton Zoo is home to thousands of amazing animals and plants. Visit the desert, cross the savannah, explore the forest and trek through the tropics. Use your senses to discover the wild world: look around, listen out - you’ll even need your sense of smell! It’s a great day out for everyone.
Riverford Organic Vegetables (32 min) Buckfastleigh
We want people to share our enjoyment of growing and eating good, seasonal, organic food. A farm visit followed by a meal in the Field Kitchen gives you the chance to experience the link between the field and plate, and to sample some outstanding cooking in a beautiful environment.
Occombe Farm (32 min)
We believe that eating food grown by environmentally-friendly farmers is one of the greenest, most wildlife-friendly things you can do! Our aim is to inspire people with a passion for local, good quality food and demonstrate the connections between people, food, farming and wildlife. Occombe Farm is a project of Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust, an environmental charity looking after many of Torbay's wild places and heritage sites. All the profits from Occombe Farm go to support conservation work in Torbay. Occombe Farm Shop is a brand new outlet for high quality local produce located just off the main Torbay ring road at Paignton. The shop supports the work of Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust and promotes food from a network of local producers across the Southwest.
Otters & Butterflies Farm Buckfastleigh (34 min) 01364 642916
The Butterfly Farm is a specially designed and maintained exhibition of living exotic butterflies and moths, where visitors can enjoy direct contact with these beautiful insects. Within the flight area the environment is carefully controlled and monitored to maintain perfect conditions for the butterflies to live and breed as they would in the wild. The natural habitat has been reconstructed in such a way as to allow visitors an insight into the fascinating way of life of these creatures. The Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary has been carefully designed to provide our resident otters with the best possible conditions and our visitor’s excellent opportune unities to see and enjoy them. We also have facilities for the treatment of any sick or injured otters that may be brought to us. We have over the past 15 years treated a number of ailments, not only to otters but also to other animals and birds. It is hoped that having seen and enjoyed our resident otters, and been given an insight into their secret way of life, visitors will be more aware of the plight of otters world-wide, particularly of course our own native British Otter Lutra lutra
Pennywell Farm & Wildlife Centre Buckfastleigh (38 min) 01364 642023
Welcome to Pennywell, the multi award winning Farm Activity Park... the biggest in the South West! The Pennywell we are always ready to welcome you with a team of enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff to guarantee you a fun day. You are not just a spectator, we will help you milk the goats, race a ferret or bottle feed the baby lambs. Pennywell is an all weather experience giving visitors a full day of Pennywell Pennywell is the home of the half hourly activity. Choose from up to 20 hands on activities, shows and displays daily. It's fun, fun, fun! Fun with memories that last a lifetime
Living Coasts Beacon Quay (38 min) 01803 202470
Living Coasts, Torquay's Coastal Zoo, is a unique, world class aquatic visitor attraction, focusing on the conservation of coastal and marine life around the globe. It has been developed by Paignton Zoo, with financial support from the South West Regional Development Agency and the European Regional Development fund. When viewing our animal pages, you will find out about the many birds and mammals including what they look and sound like, what they eat and the conservation issues affecting the species. You can also find out about some of the plant life at Living Coasts
Hedgehog Hospital at Prickly Ball Farm (39 min) 01626 362319
Prickly Ball farm is a busy 'hands on' hedgehog hospital and wildlife garden centre where you can meet, touch, and learn about hedgehogs and much, much more! A great visit for wildlife enthusiasts! Meet the hedgehogs' talks are run throughout the day starting at 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm and 3.30pm, you will hear about the hedgehog's year, about their feeding habits and how we can encourage them into our gardens. There will be time for your questions! This busy hospital cares for sick or injured small mammals and birds and you may see baby hedgehogs bottle feeding (in season!), or the admission of a patient by the RSPCA or a kindly member of the public. Don't forget to bring your camera!
Cockington Court Craft Studios (41 min) 01803 606035 www.countryside-trust.org.uk
Cockington Court Craft Studios are hidden away within a beautiful secret valley dating back to the Doomsday Book. Cockington Court, a C16th manor house is home to Glass blowers, a Blacksmith, Aromatherapist, Quilter, Jeweller, Painter and Calligrapher, Potter and a craft shop. meet the craftspeople, watch them work, view the finished product and buy a gift. The court is set within 450 acres of stunning parkland which offers horse drawn carriages, a Norman church, a demonstration organic garden, a walled Rose Garden and circular walks that allow the beauty of the valley to be enjoyed. The Court also offers a licensed continental cafe, conference facilities and holds a licence for civil wedding ceremonies. Cockington is easily accessible from Torquay seafront and 'pay and display' parking is available in the world famous thatched village.
Abbots Pottery Newton Abbot (45 min) 01626 365485
Caroline Smith is a Devon potter whose slip decorated earthenware reflects the West Country landscape. She went to school in Newton Abbot and then to South Devon Technical College in Torquay, before graduating with a degree in ceramics at the Polytechnic, Wolverhampton. After working for a local pottery she set up this family business with her father. The Moorland design or 'Sheep Pottery' is the result of walking and riding on Dartmoor from an early age and her interest in the natural world. The methods used in production, including hand throwing on the wheel, follow the tradition long established by the old Torquay Potteries.
Tuckers Maltings Newton Abbot (45 min) 01626 334734
Guided tours Good Friday to 31 October. Teignworthy Brewery is the last stop on your Malthouse tour which lasts about one hour and includes a FREE sample of 'Reel' Ale (for people 18 years or over) Edwin Tucker's was founded in 1831 at Ashburton,on the edge of Dartmoor, trading as Maltsters and Seed Merchants. Today, it remains one of the oldest surviving independent agricultural companies in Britain. We continue our agricultural and seed merchanting in Ashburton and Crediton with the addition of our Tucker's Country Stores. Tucker's Maltings in Newton Abbot is the only working Malthouse left in the West Country, and the only one open to the public in England.
Salcombe Dairy Ice Cream Salcombe (45 min) 01548 843908
Devon Clotted Cream & Farmhouse Fudge by post. Harbour Confectionery is a family run business situated in Salcombe Devon. We are retailers of the highest quality Ice Cream & Confectionery. We are now able to offer a postal service for Salcombe Dairy Ice Cream, Fresh clotted cream & Devon farmhouse fudge.
Famouse Lee Mill Factory Outlet Shop Ivybridge (50 min) 01752 691100
The Edinburgh Woollen Mill is a specialist retail company with over 280 outlets in locations throughout the UK. Situated in traditional market towns and key tourist locations, EWM stores offer a wide range of ladies and men's clothing, accessories and gift lines. Specialist stores within the Group also offer luxury cashmere knitwear, plus an extensive selection of traditional Scottish products including kilts, arans and clan tartan items. The company also owns a number of leisure sites and tourist attractions including Designer Zones, Spirit of Scotland Whisky Shops, Ale Shops, animal attractions and spinning and weaving exhibitions. Providing the customer with product choice, quality and value for money is the Group's key objective. Restaurant serving wide selection of drinks & food.
Trago Mills Newton Abbot (50 min) 01626 821111
Thousands travel from far and wide to save fortunes on the biggest range of discounted goods in the West Country from carpets to paperclips - and to enjoy the superb family leisure facilities set in 100 acres of rolling South Devon countryside, including magnificent narrow gauge Steam Railway, Supakarts and Family Go-Karts, Dodgems, Bumper Boats, Trawler Rides and Swan Pedalos, Trampolines, Aquablasters, Orbitors, Shooting Gallery, Remote Control Cars and Cruisers, Forklifts and Mini Diggers, Slide Complex, Fun Dungeon, The Den Animal Park & Course Fishing Lakes, Fort Trago, Picnic Area, Edwardian Penny Arcade and the finest 00 Gauge Model Railway in the UK!
Devon Guild of Craftsmen Bovey Tracey (53 min) 01626 832223
The Devon Guild of Craftsmen is the South West's leading gallery and craft showrooms with work selected from around 240 makers, many with national and international reputations. Riverside Mill, the Guild's showcase, features frequently changing exhibitions, a newly refurbished Craft Shop, and the popular Gallery Café. The 2004 refurbishment of the Riverside Mill is now complete including the Jubilee Gallery, The Terrace café and an extended Craft Shop. A Lift and ramped entrances give public access to all areas.
House of Marbles Bovey Tracey (52 min) 01626 835285
Since its inception in 1981 Teign Valley Glass Studios has been producing stylish yet functional, highly collectable glassware. Our skilled team of glassmakers under the leadership of award winning designer Ian Hankey MA (Royal College of Art) use an eclectic mix of traditional and modern techniques to produce highly individual, intricate designs that cannot be made by mass manufacturers. We are constantly developing new ideas and techniques and using new materials together with traditional glassmaking skills that have been handed down from one craftsman to another over many years to bring our ideas into the forefront of glass design.
National Marine Aquarium Plymouth (67 min) 01752 220084
The National Marine Aquarium is the CHARITY dedicated to raising awareness of the oceans, the challenges they face and the ways in which we can all help ensure they have a sustainable future. Located in Plymouth, the National Marine Aquarium is the result of many years of hard work and fund-raising to establish a leading aquarium in the UK. It is often said that we know more about the moon than we do about the deep seas on our own planet and that we shall manage to get a man to walk on mars before we get one set foot on the bed of the abyss.
Even the shallow seas around our own shores are off limits to most of us - the seas might as well be an alien world populated by bizarre and strange life forms! Because they are difficult to get into and even more difficult to understand the seas are often overlooked and then abused by humans the world over. But they are our very lifeblood - they control our climate and shape the land; they have made world exploration and colonisation possible; they provide us with minerals and power. Above all they are the source of all of our water and much of the world's food supply - without the oceans humans would cease to exist. But we take them for granted.
On the one hand we take from the treasure chest with no thought for how much and for how long we can exploit the seas before we leave them empty. On the other hand we continue to expect the seas to act as a huge carpet under which we sweep our unwanted rubbish. Sewage, chemicals from agriculture and industry, radioactive waste and a host of other junk from the human race all end up in the sea - out of sight out of mind. True the oceans can swallow much without ill effect and true they can support us with food and power but we need to know how much they can take and when we should stop.
The National Marine Aquarium is the CHARITY solely concerned with spreading the message of ocean sustainability through entertaining programmes of education and exhibits, and carrying out research with a view to handing healthy oceans on to the next generation. We know that your visit to the Aquarium or this website will inspire a greater understanding and appreciation of the oceans, the life they contain and the ways in which us humans affect them.
