Exetours S2 Teignmouth and Dawlish

S2. Teignmouth and Dawlish

Bus: Stagecoach route 2 (double decker) 2 per hour 06 and 36 past hour (August 2019). 70 minutes Exeter Bus Station to Teignmouth Seaview Diner.

Possible stops Powderham, Starcross (ferry to Exmouth), Dawlish. 

Train: Great Western Railway. Leaves Exeter St David 0900 1001 1032 1058 1135. 30 minutes to Teignmouth, 25 minutes to Dawlish.

The no. 2 bus route leaves Exeter along the Heavitree Road, turning right down Barrack Road then left along the Topsham Road. After the Countess Wear roundabout it crosses the River Exe and then the Exeter Canal. After passing under the motorway bridge it climbs to the Devon County Lunatic Asylum, now a development of select housing. It passes through the picturesque village of Exminster with its church and the village of Kenton. The road passes through cuttings in the new red sandstone. Coming out of Kenton the bus passes a farm shop at the entrance to Powderham Castle

Powderham Castle

The stately home of the Courtenay family set in a deer park beside the Exe Estuary is well worth a visit but may take up too much of the day to complete the tour. See their grandiose website.  

After Powderham the route descends to the Exe Estuary arriving in Starcross where it is possible to take a ferry to Exmouth and join route E2. As the bus turns inland note the large square building in red Heavitree stone. This is a rare surviving pumping house for the atmospheric railway constructed by the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The bus briefly rejoins the estuary at the picturesque harbour of Cockwood and then turns inland to reach the town of Dawlish.

Dawlish

The bus stops near the railway station close to the sea front, although the beaches are cut off from the town by the railway which runs along the coast. The main village was originally inland, but in the early 19^th century two rows of houses were built facing the Lawn, an open space on either side of Dawlish Water. The main sites of the town can be seen by going along Brunswick Place up the southern side of the parkland beside the river, exploring the older streets at the far end and returning along the Strand on the northern side. It is also worth passing under the railway bridge to the beach and turning south (right) to cross the railway bridge and climb up to Coryton's Cove. There are fine views over the town and across to Exmouth and the Jurassic coast.

The bus continues over the cliffs southward to Teignmouth.

Teignmouth

Teignmouth lies at the entrance to the Teign Estuary and as well as being a coastal resort it also retains a small active port tucked away on the Teign Estuary behind the Point. The Literary Places website In the footsteps of John Keats gives an interesting tour of the old town with photographs. The bus stops outside the Seaview Diner [1] which is a convenient place for a fish and chips. The railway station [8] is a little inland. Make your way along the Esplanade to the seafront and turn right (south) along the Den Promenade. Teignmouth has one of the few surviving seaside piers in Devon [2]. Enjoy its tackiness and continue along to the Point cutting across to the estuary by the lifeboat station [3], where it is possible to take a ferry [4] to the quaint village of Shaldon. The return to the bus or railway station is best along the Strand and Northumberland Place to the junction with Teign Street and Bank Street, the original main thoroughfare through the town. A short distance to the left along Teign Street is Thomas Luny House [5], a neat three bay private residence set back behind an archway, the home of the successful marine painter (1759-1837) from 1807. Despite being crippled by arthritis he produced 2,000 of his 3,300 paintings after his move from London to Teignmouth.  Return along Teign Street and Bank Street to Wellington Street where the return bus can be caught in front of W. H. Smith [6]. This is in the Regency building that used to house Croydon's Library, a subscription library established for early tourists to the resort. Inside some of the original decoration can be glimpsed in the roof. 

Shury, J. Croydon's public library. Teignmouth: E. Croydon, 1817. 

Aquatint 100 x 159 mm. (Somers Cocks 2826).

Between Croydon's Library and the railway station by the roundabout at the end of Hollands Road is the Teign Heritage Centre [7] with interesting display of local history - if you are lucky with a section relating to Pike Ward (1856-1937), a fish merchant who operated from the port of Teignmouth and also had a home in Iceland where he became a leading personality, being awarded Iceland's highest honour, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Icelandic Falcon. One cannot help being intrigued by someone whose home in Ísafjörður was called Rose Cottage, while his house in Teignmouth was named Valhalla. 

The railway station [8] is an interesting example of early railway architecture and provides an alternative means of returning to Exeter along the spectacular coastal railway route, so often subject to flooding in the event of storms. 

The South Devon Railway breached near Dawlish

Illustrated London News, 1855.