Honiton as a springboard for Exeter and Dartmoor adventures
A small market town in East Devon is hardly the obvious choice for travellers planning to cover two of the south-west's biggest draws, the cathedral city of Exeter and the brooding expanse of Dartmoor. Yet Honiton, with its quick rail links, plentiful B&Bs and a high street that still feels like a working town rather than a museum, makes a surprisingly practical base for both.
For Australians weighing up where to plant themselves for a week or two of Westcountry exploring, the calculus is familiar. Back home, anyone planning a road trip from Sydney to Melbourne, or a rail journey on the Ghan, thinks carefully about which town offers the right mix of amenities and day-trip potential. The same logic applies here. Honiton sits on the main line from London Waterloo, the Exeter to Salisbury route skirts the northern edge of Dartmoor, and a string of villages between the two gives plenty of excuses to stop the car.
This piece sets out how to use Honiton as a comfortable hub for trips into Exeter and the national park, with notes on lace heritage, transport and the kind of practical details that matter when you have crossed half the globe to get here.
Reaching Honiton and settling in
Honiton station sits on the main line between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids, with direct trains taking roughly two and a quarter hours from the capital. For travellers arriving from Australia, the most common route involves flying into Heathrow, then catching the Elizabeth line or a National Express coach down to the Westcountry. Those who have booked an open-jaw ticket into London and out of Edinburgh or Dublin often find Honiton a convenient first stop, since the line continues west towards Exeter and the Cornish coast.
The town itself is compact. Most of the B&Bs, guesthouses and small hotels cluster within a ten-minute walk of the station, which means a heavy suitcase is never a serious problem. Parking is generally straightforward, and for those who prefer the independence of a hire car, the A30 and A35 trunk roads pass close by. Australians used to hopping in a four-wheel-drive for a weekend at the Royal National Park or a long loop through the Blue Mountains will find the Devonian lanes narrower and the hedgerows higher, but the driving is rewarding rather than difficult.
Booking ahead is wise in summer. Honiton hosts the annual Honiton Agricultural Show in early August, and the town's handful of quality inns fill up quickly. Sites like Wotif and Booking.com, familiar to most Aussie travellers, list local options, though many of the best family-run B&Bs still prefer a phone call or an email.
Exeter: the cathedral city on the doorstep
Exeter is a twenty-minute train ride from Honiton, or roughly half an hour by car. The city rewards a full day, and unlike many British cities it remains genuinely lively, with a large student population from the University of Exeter keeping the centre busy year-round.
The cathedral is the obvious starting point. Its two Norman towers and the longest unbroken Gothic vault in England draw visitors in, but the real surprise is the scale of the medieval undercroft and the small library tucked behind the quire. Allow at least a couple of hours. From there, the medieval city walls can be followed for almost two miles, offering a different perspective on the place. Visitors from Sydney or Melbourne, used to walking harbour circuits or the Tan track, will appreciate that the walls provide a proper urban loop with views across the rooftops to the river.
The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, free to enter and well-curated, covers local history, world cultures and natural history, and is a useful rainy-day option. A wander down to the quayside, with its converted warehouses now housing independent shops, cafes and a couple of small boat operators, rounds out a satisfying day. Trains back to Honiton run late into the evening, so there is no pressure to rush.
Dartmoor National Park: moorland, tors and granite
Dartmoor is the wilder half of the equation, and the one that will most likely remind Australian visitors of home. The national park covers 368 square miles of open moorland, granite tors, deep wooded valleys and tiny villages, and it has a starkness that feels closer to parts of the Tasmanian highlands than to the gentle patchwork of lowland Devon.
The town of Honiton sits just outside the eastern boundary of the park, and the drive to the moor at Postbridge or Princetown takes roughly forty minutes. From there, a network of lanes and byways winds past landmarks like Haytor, Widecombe-in-the-Moor and the stark prison at Princetown. Those who want a proper walk can tackle sections of the Dartmoor Way or the shorter but dramatic hike up to the summit of Yes Tor. The walking is generally straightforward, though the weather can change in a matter of minutes, and sturdy boots and a waterproof jacket are non-negotiable.
Dartmoor is also home to a small population of free-roaming ponies, the famous Dartmoor herd, which adds a particular charm for anyone used to the brumbies of the Australian Alps. Visitors should keep a respectful distance and never feed the animals, as signs throughout the moor request. After a day on the tors, returning to a comfortable bed in Honiton, with a decent pub meal waiting, feels like a fair swap for any long-haul traveller.
Honiton's own story: lace and market town heritage
It would be a shame to spend a week in Honiton without spending a morning exploring the town's own story. A good starting point is The Story Behind Honiton's Famous Lace Industry, which traces how a local cottage tradition grew into a global luxury product. The museum on the high street holds a fine collection of antique pieces, including lace worn at royal weddings in the nineteenth century.
The high street itself, with its mixture of independent shops, a long-established department store and a scattering of cafes, retains the rhythm of a working market town. There is a weekly street market on Saturdays, and the annual Honiton Show remains one of the biggest one-day agricultural events in the county. Visitors with an interest in textiles and craft traditions often find that the local lace story opens a door into other craft cultures around the world.
A short walk from the town centre brings you to St Michael's Church, with its rare painted ceiling, and to the Allhallows Museum of Lace and Local History, which is housed in a Tudor building that was once a house, a school and a workhouse before becoming a museum. The whole experience takes two or three hours and grounds any visit in something more specific than a general sweep through the Westcountry.
Practical notes for travellers from Australia
A few details tend to catch Australian visitors out. First, the British habit of driving on the left is well known, but the narrow country lanes around Honiton require an extra degree of patience, especially when meeting agricultural vehicles or a delivery van. Second, tipping culture in pubs and restaurants is more modest than in the United States; rounding up the bill or leaving ten per cent is plenty.
Weather is another adjustment. Even in July and August, the average daytime temperature in Devon hovers around the high teens or low twenties Celsius, and rain can appear at any moment. Layers and a compact umbrella are sensible. Daylight, however, extends late into the evening in summer, which means more hours for walking the moors or sitting in a beer garden.
Connectivity is rarely a problem. Australian phones generally roam well in the UK, though data charges can mount up, and a local SIM from EE, Vodafone or Three is cheap and easy to arrange at any major airport. Most pubs, cafes and the B&Bs in Honiton offer free Wi-Fi. For travellers keen to keep up with cultural traditions from elsewhere, reading about Khasi New Year celebrations in one of the wettest places on earth is a reminder of how communities everywhere mark the turning of the year, much as Honiton does with its agricultural show and Christmas markets.
| Destination | Travel time from Honiton | Best for | Family friendly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exeter city centre | 20 min by train, 30 min by car | Cathedral, museum, city walls, dining | Yes |
| Dartmoor (Postbridge) | 40 min by car | Moorland walking, tors, pony spotting | Yes, with care |
| Beer and the Jurassic Coast | 45 min by car | Fishing village, beach, cliff walks | Yes |
| Sidmouth | 25 min by car | Regency seafront, fossils, gentle walking | Yes |
| Seaton | 20 min by car | Wetlands reserve, tramway, easy terrain | Yes |
Plan your Westcountry week
Honiton is small enough to feel like a village but well-connected enough to keep a traveller busy for a week. A typical itinerary might include two days on Dartmoor, a day in Exeter, a half-day exploring the coastal villages of Beer and Branscombe, and a leisurely morning on the Honiton high street with the lace museum and a long lunch.
For those who want to extend the trip, the South West Coast Path passes within easy reach, and the line west from Honiton continues through Tiverton and on towards the North Devon coast. Heading east instead brings you to the Dorset border and the start of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage site that will appeal to anyone with a background in geology or palaeontology.
Book the lace museum visit in advance during the summer months, check train times on Sundays when services run less frequently, and pack a waterproof jacket even if the morning looks promising. The Westcountry rewards the prepared traveller, and Honiton is a comfortable, well-placed place to begin.