Babbacombe Downs

Babbacombe Downs is situated approximately 300 feet above sea level, overlooking Babbacombe Bay and Lyme Bay. On a clear day, you will have visibility for about 30 miles of coastline. Babbacombe's promenade high cliff top is probably one of the highest in Britain, but this does not diminish its popularity with visitors.

The panoramic view beyond East Devon and into Dorset, causes many people to insert coins in the cliff top telescope, in a bid to spot the distant landmark of Portland Bill.

It is an arduous climb from the harbour up to Babbacombe Downs, a wide paterre laid out with lawns and flower-beds with seats and shelters that look out over the blue reaches of Babbacombe Bay.

At the other end of the Downs is Babbacombe Theatre, and below it is a woodland garden with a network of paths running down to the beach, known as Babbacombe Court. There are other footpaths running between Babbacombe and Oddicombe, through steep woodland with glades and a stream and waterfall. The woods are one of the Torbay sites for rare species of Whitebeam.

Babbacombe Beach shelters behind a breakwater, built in Victorian times. It was the home of one of Torbay's more notorious figures - John 'Babbacombe' Lee "the Man they couldn't hang". Lee was convicted of murder, but every time they tried to hang him the trap refused to open. He was pardoned and lived to old age, a local curiosity.

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