East Budleigh is a charming village in East Devon, surrounded by farmland, narrow lanes, clifftop walks, and commons, with the huge sandy beach at Exmouth about five miles away, and the quieter pebble beach at Budleigh Salterton only about two miles away. Our self catering holiday cottage lies on the edge of the village, as you can see in the left-hand picture: it is the cottage just beyond the hedge in the foreground. This picture, like the one on the home page, is taken from the top of the church tower.

East Budleigh itself is a delight. It was once called Budleigh Town, and was one of the major ports in the Southwest, but the haven silted up, and so the village is now two miles from the sea. That means that for many centuries there was no pressure on building land, which is presumably why an ancient cob and thatch cottage like ours has survived all that time. The Otter Valley Association has an interesting page about East Budleigh including a beautiful picture of the High Street looking up at the church, which is very close to our cottage.

The village is very keen on its floral displays, and it has won gold award for the South West region of the Britain in Bloom competition. The East Budleigh in Bloom website has lots more information and some lovely pictures.

The central picture above is taken from the coast path near East Budleigh looking at the sandstone cliffs of Ladram Bay, and on to the delightful town of Sidmouth. In Sidmouth you can find everything from Waitrose to a traditional old department store, wonderful gifts shops, modern wine bars, good restaurants and, of course, a number of tea rooms for that Devon essential, the cream tea.

The right-hand picture is looking towards the mouth of the river Otter, with the charming and slightly old-fashioned seaside town of Budleigh Salterton beyond, where you can find some of the best ice cream in Devon. A walk back along the river to East Budleigh from here may give you a glimpse of some of the varied wildlife of the area, and there are viewing hides for bird watchers.

Below are two maps of the area. Brook Cottage is in the middle of the large scale map on the right, not far from Vicar's Mead. You can also see Budleigh Brook, after which the cottage is named, coming down from Washmoor Farm, past the cottage and through the village. It finishes its journey on the little aquaduct at the bottom, from which it tumbles into the River Otter. Hayes Lane lane leads up onto East Budleigh Common, which connects to several other commons. As you can see on The Clinton Devon Estates site, this is a huge area for walking. In fact there are several delightful walks accessible from Brook Cottage. Apart from the beautiful unsploit countryside, they can take in local attractions such as Otterton Mill,Sir Walter Raleigh's birthplace and Bicton Park Botanical Gardens.