Clovelly
Set into a steep hillside, Clovelly is one of the most famous villages in the world. The single cobbled high street winds its way down the hillside through traditional whitewashed cottages festooned with fuchsias and geraniums.
Unusually, the village is privately owned and has been by the Hamlyn family since 1738 because of this the Lower part of the village was saved from development by the family. The policy of the Clovelly estate has maintained – against all the odds – this picture postcard village as a living village. There are no Holiday cottages allowed in the main village, and the mode of transport is either sledges for the Friday deliveries, or donkeys for the visiting tourists.
“Suddenly a hot gleam of sunlight fell upon the white cottages, with their grey steaming roofs and little scraps of garden courtyard, and lighting up the wings of the gorgeous butterflies which fluttered from the woodland down to the garden.” A quote from author Charles Kingsley from over 150 years ago and since then the village has hardly changed.
Traffic is banned from the high street with visitors parking at the top of the hill adjacent to the Visitor Centre.
