Out and About

Welcome to our 'Out and About' page where you will find ideas and suggestions for local places and areas to visit, plus you can check the 5-Day Weather Forecast for our locality. Simply click on the highlighted place-name and you will be taken through to a linked website with plenty of information and details about that specific area. You will also find plenty of brochures and leaflets of local attractions in our hotel lobby which you are very welcome to take away!

In additon, to the left you will find links to our blogsite which has news, ideas and events listings, such as guided walks and cycling news for our visitors who want to explore the local area under their own power!

Recognised as England’s first natural World Heritage site, the Jurassic Coast covers some 95 miles of truly stunning coastline from East Devon to Dorset, with unique rock formations recording 185 million years of the Earth's history.

For the more energetic The World Heritage Coastal Path offers the opportunity to view the sea at its most dramatic. Walk westwards over the cliffs to Branscombe or eastwards to tackle the famous Undercliff walk to Lyme Regis. Click on the Walkers' Blog links to the left to access our diary of guided walks and on-line maps.

Alternatively if you want to interpserse your walking with hitting a ball, there are no fewer than seven golf courses within a few miles of the nearby Devon and Dorset border! 

The nearby marshes of the River Axe provide a magnificent store of wild birds for the ornithologist’s delight. Colyford Common is an important wetland site on the Axe estuary. Being regularly flooded by high tides, this salt marsh has very unusual flora and fauna, supporting many locally rare and nationally important species.

Within easy reach there is an abundance of gardens and National Trust properties to visit. For example, Shute Barton and Branscombe Old Bakery, Manor Mill and Forge are only a couple of miles away. Further afield you will find Killerton, Knightshayes Court, Montacute House, Forde Abbey, Burrow Farm Gardens, to name a few as well as Bicton Park Botanical Gardens.

Within a few hundred yards of Swallows Eaves Hotel is the famous Seaton Tramway linking Seaton, Colyford and Colyton. The Tramway travels from Seaton alongside the River Axe estuary through two nature reserves providing an unrivalled view of the abundant birdlife, arriving at the historic town of Colyton, proud to be 'the most rebellious town in Devon' after it’s part in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685.

The Donkey Sanctuary near Sidmouth, was founded in 1969 by Dr Elisabeth Svendsen. Home to over 400 rescued donkeys the sanctuary has a restaurant, picnic area & five beautiful walks in serene and relaxing surroundings. Open 365 days of the year from 9am to dusk.

Lyme Regis is an historic unspoiled seaside resort and fishing port, world famous for the Cobb Harbour used in the film The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Close by, you can follow the Thomas Hardy Trail or the Smugglers Trail. 

Sidmouth is a delightful regency town approximately eight miles away, renowned for it’s fine buildings, gentle walks and stunning views.

Exeter, with its Norman Cathedral and historic Quayside is Devon's county town and capital city, with a wealth of shopping (ranging from the specialist shops on Gandy Street to the newly opened Princesshay Shopping Centre) and things to do, including art galleries, cinemas and theatres.