LATE AVAILABILITY HOLIDAY COTTAGES AND SELF CATERING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

A south-west county of England, Devon is bounded by the Bristol Channel, Somerset, Dorset, Cornwall and The English Channel. Only accommodation in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire is larger in area. The entire landscape is uneven and hilly and the county includes the highest land in England south of Derbyshire (apart from points on the South Wales border) and the scenery is very varied, striking and pretty. The heather covered uplands of Exmoor, although mainly inside Somerset, extend to North Devon where you can find the small hardy ponies named after the district. Like Dartmoor, on Exmoor the streams are filled with trout.

Dartmoor, the main physical feature of the area, is a wide, wild and high expanse of moor. Its highest point at 2039 ft., is in the north-western portion. Its stunning and wild landscape contrasts dramatically with the leafy wooded region which surrounds the granite of which it is made and with the fertile farmed country lying around. Noteworthy in this fertile area is the South Hams, a lush district of orchards lying between the Erme and the Dart and the high grass-land around Crediton which is in the vale of Exeter, and the red rocks of East Devon near Sidmouth.

Two features which lend a rustic charm to the Devon are the number of beautiful old holiday cottages to rent which are sometimes roofed with thatch and the lush, green lands sunk on a lower level of ground which are bordered by high hedges and overlooked by an arch of branches. The north and south parts of the county differ greatly in character and both have dramatic cliffs and rocks not overshadowed by any other in England or Wales and resembling the Mediterranean seaboard in its tones of colour. Most of the long valleys down which the rivers flow are densely wooded and the countryside immediately around is absolutely stunning. The Tamar which is the dividing boundary between Devon and Cornwall flows straight into the English Channel and forms in its estuary the Naval ports of Devonport and Plymouth but the main rivers start on Dartmoor. The Teign, Dart, Plym and Tavy all fall into the English Channel with the Taw flowing in a northwards direction towards Bideford Bay. The river Torridge which is also in the northern part of Devon receives its waters from Dartmoor through the Okement but actually starts in near Hartland Point in the North coastline and makes a wide sweep to the south.

The smaller Dartmoor streams are the the Erme, Avon, and the Vealm, all going in a southerly direction. The Exe starts in Exmoor in Somerset but most of its way is through Devon where it flows through Exeter and is joined on the way to the Channel by the minor streams - Culm, Creedy and the Clyst. The Otter, coming from the Blackdown Hills also moves in a southerly direction and the Axe, partly divides Devon and Dorset. These streams to the East are relatively slow but the rivers of Dartmoor have a less long but much more speedy course.