The English Riviera

The towns of the English Riviera - Torquay, Brixham and Paignton - are a funny lot. Unfortunately we had poor weather so didn't get the full effect of these seaside towns but, like on the Isle of Wight, we managed to eat ice cream, fish n chips and fudge! We saw a lot of old people, enjoying the many entertainment hotels with disco bars and a lot of chavs enjoying the many Wetherspoon pubs.

Not quite as cosmopolitan as I would have hoped, there would still be some sea side fun to be had on a nicer day. We took a boat across the harbour to Brixham and found a great hillside restaurant for a cider and cake and the town was pretty quirky with lots of independent shops and crab fishing going on! Paignton brought a very long beach, an interesting pier and a perfect jug a Pimms!

In its heyday these holiday towns would have provided a lot of fun - not our favourite place in England - but still a welcome respite from a long weekend in London.

As petty as it probably sounds, I found Torquay and the English Riviera to be just a tiny bit depressing.

I’m sure it used to be the place to go on holiday for most Brits, at least before the advent of budget airlines such as Ryanair and Easy Jet, but now it’s a shadow of its former self, a region steeped in past glory. It’s not a bad place; it’s just a little run-down.

All the tourist websites touted how “cosmopolitan” Torquay was, but the French Riviera it was not. There were heaps of hen parties and stag-dos and yet there was only about four or five pretty average pubs – the nicest being a Weatherspoons, a chain of pubs famous for being cheap.

The weather probably didn’t help. It was nasty throughout the UK for the long-weekend but at least it didn’t rain too much – it was just fairly grey most of the time. It certainly wasn’t the shorts and t-shirt weather we would have liked.

Nevertheless, we had a good time. As much as we love London it’s always nice to have weekends away. I think we must have seen just about everything the English Riviera could offer – including all of its many small towns – and while we wouldn’t go back there or recommend it to people, it was nice to visit the town that birthed one of the greatest British television shows of all time, Fawlty Towers.

Please click here for pics of Torquay, Brixham and Paignton!