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A La Ronde Off A376, 2 miles north of Exmouth This cottage was designed in 1795 by two spinsters, Jane Parminter and her cousin Mary, who aimed to combine the charm of a 'rustick' cottage with the Byzantine splendour of the Church of San Vitale, which they had visited in Ravenna. Eight doors lead from the octagonal hall. The cottage still has much of its original furniture, and contains almost every kind of Regency handicraft.
Arlington Court On A39, 7 miles north-east of Barnstaple Much of the furniture on the ground floor was specially made for the house when it was built in 1820, and in several rooms silk hangings or wallpaper have survived from the 19th century. One of the delights of the house is the variety of objects collected by Rosalie Chichester - the last member of the family to live here. The daughter of a keen yachtsman, she shared her love of the sea with her step-nephew, Francis, and a silver model of his yacht Gipsy Moth IV can be seen here.
Bickleigh Castle Off A3072, 4 miles south of Tiverton Only the chapel remains of the original Norman castle. But from later centuries there survive thatched cottages and a 17th century farmhouse, surrounding a courtyard, and a massive gatehouse, which contains fine collections of armour and Tudor furniture. In the barn across the courtyard there is a museum with an enchanting range of exhibits. These include dolls' houses and Victorian rocking horses, a display devoted to the Tudor warship Mary Rose, and a collection of gadgets used by spies during the Second World War.
Buckfast Abbey Off A38, 1 mile north of Buckfastleigh The whole of the present Benedictine abbey at Buckfast was built by six monks. The original abbey founded in 1018 beside the River Dart had sunk into decay after its Dissolution in 1539. The six began their work in January 1907 and laboured for 31 years, re-creating the 12th century Cistercian abbey. The abbey church is noted for its fine stained glass and mosaic floors. There is an audiovisual show, and an exhibition about the abbey in the crypt.
Buckand Abbey Off A386, 11 miles north of Plymouth This Cistercian monastery founded in 1278 became the home of Sir Francis Drake for the last 15 years of his life, and still contains many relics of the great seaman. In a case in the Great Hall stands Drake's drum, which was with him when he died at sea in 1596. Elsewhere are documents concerning the Armada, Drake's last will - written the night before he died - and his silver-cased compass. To mark the 400th anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, an exhibition illustrates the building's monastic origins and its reconstruction in Tudor times.
Castle Drogo Off A30, 10 miles west of Exeter After making a fortune from the grocery business, Julius Charles Drewe commissioned Sir Edwin Lutyens to build him a mansion resembling a medieval fortress. In 1930, a year before his death, Drewe and his family were at last able to move in; his castle had taken 20 years to complete. The main entrance is guarded by a heraldic beast known as 'Mr Drewe's Lion'. Inside, the impression of Gothic grandeur is sustained by vaulted or timbered ceilings, arched passages and massive walls of white granite.
Cobbaton Combat Vehicles Museum Off A361, 5 miles south-east of Barnstaple The formidable array of armoured vehicles on show at this military museum include two veteran tanks that saw service in the Second World War. They are the Centaur Mark IV, the first self-propelled armament to land on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, and a monster Churchill Mk VII 'Crocodile' infantry tank weighing 44 tons. Among the other combat vehicles there are armoured trucks and personnel carriers of every kind.
Compton Castle Off A3022, 4 miles west of Torquay With portcullis entrances and buttressed walls pierced by arrow-slits and chutes through which intruders could be pelted with stones, Compton Castle has retained much of its medieval character. It was built around 1329 and enlarged during the 15th and 16th centuries by the Gilbert family, whose home it still is. The solar, or medieval living room, and 15th century withdrawing room both have small windows through which the family could watch services in the chapel. In the kitchen a cavernous hearth has ancient bread ovens on either side.
Dartmouth Museum The Butterwalk, Dartmouth Dartmouth's fortunes have echoed the great days of British maritime history. Crusaders, the explorers Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and the Pilgrim Fathers in the Mayflower, all used the harbour on the Dart estuary. This history is depicted in Dartmouth Museum which is housed in four adjoining houses built by wealthy merchants in the 17th century. There is a fine collection of ship models and many paintings, drawings and photographs of ships.
Elizabethan House Plymouth The Elizabethan House in the Barbican was built about 1584, and its rooms, furnished in period style, show what life was like in Plymouth in the days of Drake. The staircase is built around a great pole that was once a ship's mast, and the house is filled with dark oak furniture, including a magnificently carved box bed.
Exeter Cathedral In centre of Exeter Over all stand the twin Norman towers of the Cathedral of St Peter. Entrance is by the west front. The nave and choir are 300ft long and roofed by the longest single run of Gothic vaulting in the world. On the north side is the Minstrels' Gallery. The nave is divided by a screen erected in 1325, which is topped by the huge organ case. The cathedral library's treasures include a book of Anglo-Saxon poems written in AD 950, the West Country section of the Domesday Book, and the cathedral's charter, awarded by Edward the Confessor in 1050.
Exeter Underground Passages Princesshay, in centre of Exeter This extraordinary system of tunnels, stone-built or cut through the rock, was a system of conduits, built to bring water to Exeter from springs at the head of the Longbrook valley. The canons of Exeter Cathedral built the first passages and they were added to in 1420 by the City Fathers. Some of the tunnels have been lost, some collapsed in the Blitz, others are too dangerous to enter. But tours are offered in the section that runs beneath Princesshay and the surrounding streets. This section of the system is a series of slits hacked through the solid red rock to about shoulder width and anything from 3-18ft in height.
Ilfracombe Museum On Ilfracombe seafront The six rooms of this little museum house an amazing 20,000 exhibits - ranging from a turtle to a turret clock, from butterflies to a Breeches Bible of 1584. As well as local moths and butterflies, the museum's collection also includes tropical specimens of outstanding beauty.
Kent's Cavern Wellswood, 1 mile east of Torquay centre Some of the earliest man-made tools known in Britain have been found in the limestone caves that honeycomb the hillside overlooking Tor Bay. Stone Age hunters sheltered in these caves 250,000 years ago. Guides take visitors through the maze of natural stone passageways that connect high-roofed halls and tiny grottoes. Finds from Kent's Cavern are on show in the Torquay Museum In Babbacombe Road.
Killerton Off B3185, 4 miles north-east of Exeter Set amid beautiful hillside gardens, Killerton House was built in 1778 and occupied by a single family, the Aclands, for more than 150 years. As well as fine furniture, silver and paintings, the house contains a costume collection started by the theatrical designer Paulise de Bush. This contains some 3000 items ranging from the 18th to the 20th century.
Knightshayes Court Off A396, 2 miles north of Tiverton A grandiose Victorian mansion, with a richly decorated interior and one of the most beautiful gardens in Devon, Knightshayes Court was built for the Heathcoat-Amory family in the 1870s. Inside, much of the original decor, removed or covered up as fashion altered, has been restored.
Lyn and Exmoor Museum Market Street, Lynton In St Vincent's Cottage, one of the oldest houses in Lynton, local enthusiasts have collected relics, craftwork and implements illustrating the history of Exmoor. Exhibits range from powder horns to Elizabethan oak pitchers, and there is a typical Exmoor kitchen of 1800. A Victorian cliff railway offers a spectacular ride between the twin towns of Lynton on the cliff and Lynmouth on the shore.
Merchant's House Plymouth Raiding ships on the Spanish Main was a favourite Elizabethan pastime; the Plymouth privateer William Parker used some of his loot to modernise this Tudor residence, now called the Merchant's House. It is the largest and finest building of this period in Plymouth, and today serves as a museum of the city's social and economic history, arranged according to the themes of tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, apothecary, thief.
Morwellham Quay Off A390, 3 miles south-west of Tavistock In the Middle Ages, the River Tamar was the the easiest means of transport through the hilly Devon countryside, and Morwelham became a port to serve the market town of Tavistock. Prosperity grew in the 18th century with the discovery of copper, and then boomed in the 1840s when some of the richest deposits in Europe were found. The port has been resuscitated as a museum. To mirror the great days, the staff wear Victorian dress and assume the roles they might have had in the 1860s. A tour of the village includes a visit to the restored quays and buildings, the Port and Mining Museums and the Victorian farmyard.
Museum of Dartmoor Life West Street, Okehampton Two restored 19th century cottages, a mill of 1811 and an old printer's workshop set around a courtyard house this museum. Its displays tell the story of Dartmoor from its formation to the present day. Equipment from ther area's industries - farming, mining, quarrying. peat cutting. china clay and glass - is on show, and a Cradle to Grave exhibition features the life of ordinary folk last century. An information centre, opal studio, craft shops and Victorian tearooms are also set around the courtyard.
Overbecks Museum and Garden Off A381, 1.5 miles south-west of Salcombe The subtropical vegatation and view of the sea give the garden of this Devon country house a Mediterranean appearance. Palm trees lead from the entrance gates to the garden, where plants seldom found in Britain flourish. The house itself contains many collections, ranging from birds' eggs and butterflies to man-traps and handcuffs. Under the stairs is a secret room filled with toys and dolls, together with dolls' houses, clothes and furniture.
Powderham Castle Off A379, 8 miles south-east of Exeter The castle dates from 1390 but was converted during the 18th century into a grandiose manor with towers and battlements. It has been the home of the Courtenays for nearly 600 years, and still retains the atmosphere of a family home. Many of the rooms have elaborate rococo ceilings, magnificent marble fireplaces and fine Stuart and Regency furniture.
Rougemont House Museum Castle Street, in centre of Exeter John Patch, an Exeter surgeon who had attended the various Jacobite Pretenders to the British throne in France, built Rougemont House in the 1760s. Its wrought-iron balconies were added in 1810. As the Museum of Costume and Lace, its rooms have been redecorated and furnished in the style of different periods. The collection of lace has been gathered together from all over the world.
Royal Albert Memorial Museum Queen Street, in centre of Exeter The displays begin with the story of the excavations at Kent's Cavern near Torquay in the 1850s. An exhibition on the Roman occupation of what is now Exeter tells how the Second Legion raised the first buildings on the site. Devon's preoccupation with the New World is reflected in displays. Finally there are the picture galleries, devoted to the works of painters who lived or worked in the West Country.
Royal Citadel Plymouth The royal coat of arms above the gate and the date 1670 signify that the Royal Citadel was built by Charles II. Its purpose, the king claimed, was to guard against a French invasion, but although some of the cannon faced seawards, others pointed across the city - to subdue the citizens who had supported Parliament during the Civil War. Close by the Royal Citadel is the aquarium of the Marine Biological Society.
Smeaton's Tower Plymouth The view from the top of Smeaton's Tower takes in a wide sweep of Plymouth Sound, with Drake's Island just offshore and the Cornish coast beyond. The tower was the third lighthouse to be erected on the Eddystone Rocks, 14 miles out to sea, and was designed by John Smeaton in 1755. It set the pattern for all other lighthouses built after it, and stood on the reef from 1759 until 1882. When it was replaced by the light that still stands there today, the upper part of Smeaton's Tower was re-erected on Plymouth Hoe.
Tiverton Museum In centre of Tiverton Exhibits give the visitor to Tiverton Museum a broad picture of West Country history. The earlier, turbulent history of Tiverton and the surrounding area is recalled by the thick-walled  towers and great stone gatehouse of Tiverton Castle on the outskirts of the town. Henry I ordered Tiverton and other castles to be built after dreaming that the Lords, Church and Commons would rise against him.
Torbay Aircraft Museum Off A385, 3 miles west of Paignton In this museum, full-size replicas of Second World War fighters stand alongside jet warplanes that saw active service. Besides some 18 historic aircraft, there are indoor exhibitions telling the story of the men who flew them. The museum also has a large 'oo' gauge model railway with rolling stock.
Torre Abbey The King's Drive, Torquay Behind the stuccoed facade of the classical Georgian mansion lie the remains of a medieval abbey, once the wealthiest of the 40 monasteries belonging to the Premonstratensian Order, called the White Canons. Today the house contains collections of terracotta and oriental snuff bottles, as well as glass, silver, sculpture, drawings and paintings. In the clock tower is an exhibition concerning the writer Agatha Christie, who lived in Torquay. Much of the abbey now lies in ruins, but a gatehouse has survived almost intact. So has the old tithe barn in which Spanish sailors were imprisoned after the defeat of the Armada.
Totnes Castle Near centre of Totnes The hollow keep of this Norman stronghold dates from the 13th century, but was much rebuilt over the next 200 years. The parapet includes two arched stairways built within the 6ft thick walls to enable archers to reach the circular wall-walk. Two museums in Totnes offer glimpses of the past. The Elizabethan Museum in Fore Street is a 16th century merchant's house with period furniture and costume and a Victorian grocer's shop. Totnes Motor Museum, on Steamer Quay, houses vintage, sports and racing cars.
Watermouth Castle On A399, 2 miles east of Ilfracombe Although adorned with battlements and turrets, Watermouth is in reality a grand 19th century manor house completed in 1825, though the labyrinth of tunnels beneath it is much older. Most of the castle is today the setting for a range of displays. There are Victorian and Edwardian handcarts, mechanical musical instruments, old kitchen, dairy and cider-making equipment and a collection of early vacuum cleaners.
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