There’s far more to the south coast than cream teas and picture-postcard harbours! Victor Charles finds hidden tunnels and a donkey sanctuary among Devonshire’s delights
It was a blustery autumn day when we arrived at Castle Brake Holiday Park, near Exmouth. Our first impressions were good. The campsite is big, with a friendly reception team, a shop, a restaurant and powerful hot showers.
We went for our first look around Exmouth in high winds and rain, to see its sandy beaches and stock up on food for the days ahead. It’s probably absolutely lovely in the sunshine!
Exeter’s mighty cathedral
The following morning, we visited Exeter. The Park & Ride into the city has free parking, with buses running roughly every 20 minutes. It’s worth noting, though, that all have 2.1m height barriers - there is parking for motorhomes/larger vehicles outside the Matford site (EX2 8FD), however.
The cathedral is glorious. It costs £7.50 each to enter, but we had found a leaflet with a ‘two for one’ voucher in the campsite’s information room. We joined a guided tour at noon and were taken around the highlights by an enthusiastic guide. You can see more recently painted bosses on the ceiling, beside some that still have medieval paint.
We learned about the cathedral cat, which lost an eye after a bird of prey snatched a rat from his mouth. The world’s earliest cat flap was pointed out, where the cat went to catch the mice that used to damage the astronomical clock. After the cat flap was introduced, the clock worked much better, because the cat was catching all the pesky mice that kept breaking it.
These and other delightful stories are all highly entertaining, and our guide also pointed out the charming animals carved into the choir stalls.
Going underground
After lunch, we headed into the Underground Passages, donning hard hats for a guided tour. The first tunnels were built in the 14th century, with more added later, so lead piping could be run through the city as a way of transporting water from a natural spring in the countryside.
The first tunnels were to deliver water to the cathedral, but as demand and the population grew, the tunnel network expanded, until the whole city had access to fresh piped water. This helped to eradicate waterborne diseases, such as cholera.
We could hear noises overhead. “We’re under John Lewis now,” said our guide. “Don�
