Torquay

Dartmoor unfurls as a great, bronzy blanket of peat bogs, granite tors, and heather-clad moorland that has inspired everyone from Arthur Conan Doyle to Steven Spielberg. Its 368 square miles (954 km²) of open access land offer some of England’s wildest walking, where semi-wild ponies graze beside prehistoric stone rows and clapper bridges. The weather here is a character in its own right—sun, mist, and rain can chase each other across the horizon in a single afternoon—so come prepared for every season.

Exeter Cathedral is the supreme expression of Decorated Gothic in England, its two massive Norman towers framing a west front alive with one of the finest collections of medieval sculpture in the country — kings, prophets, and angels frozen in Bath stone. Step inside and the eye is drawn irresistibly along the longest uninterrupted medieval vaulted ceiling in the world, a 300-foot ribbon of tierceron ribs painted in vivid blues, reds, and golds. The Minstrels’ Gallery, unique in an English cathedral, projects into the nave, its carved angels playing period instruments. The 14th-century Astronomical Clock still marks the hours, its dial showing the moon’s phases and the sun’s position in a geocentric universe. The Bishop’s Throne, a soaring 18-metre canopy of Devon oak, dominates the choir, while the Lady Chapel’s stained glass glows with 19th-century brilliance. Outside, the Cathedral Green offers a classic Devon panorama: the cathedral’s warm red sandstone against manicured lawns and ancient trees, a scene unchanged for centuries.