Clovelly

We're spending two nights in Clovelly, a small village on the north coast of Devon. It has a harbour and is a tourist attraction notable for its steep pedestrians-only cobbled main street, donkeys and views over the Bristol Channel.

It's a cluster of largely wattle and daub cottages on the sides of a rocky cleft; its steep main street descends 120 metres to the pier, too steep to allow wheeled traffic. Sledges are used for the movement of goods. Unusually, the village is still privately owned and has been associated with only three families since the middle of the 13th century, nearly 800 years.

There are two hotels, one near the top of the village and one down on the shore. We're staying a night in each.

On Sunday 28 October 1838 twelve fishing vessels with a total of 26 men on board left Clovelly harbour for the fishing grounds. Only one vessel and its crew ever returned after a ferocious storm in the Bristol Channel. This event led to the founding of the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society.