The town of Salcombe is a holidaymaker’s honeypot, with pretty terraces facing onto the glittering water. This is a busy stretch of the estuary with passenger ferries fetching sandy-footed families from the beach, yachts gliding in from the channel, and fishing boats landing flavourful brown crab, sweet scallops and lobster.
The best bet for your seafood fix is the delightfully unpretentious Crab Shed, a short mosey out to the edge of town. It’s a small spot with a little terrace looking over the water and its popularity means booking is essential, even out of season. With news that Mitch Tonks will open a branch of his sustainably-minded Rockfish this summer, there’s welcome competition on the way.
If it’s a peppery beef pasty you’re after, the best usually come from The Bake House on Fore Street. Eat it on the quayside by the RNLI lifeboat station, away from the threat of swooping seagulls and in view of the boat life bustling by. An ice cream cone from Salcombe Dairy on Island Street is just the thing for dessert.
In recent years, the laid-back East Portlemouth side of the estuary has had more to show for itself, not least thanks to the Village Farm Café at the brow of the hill. Since opening in early 2024 on Susie Wren and Robert Wells' 220-acre farm, it’s become a proper community hub serving visitors and locals seven days a week, all year round. Here you’ll find a short but excellent menu showcasing rare-breed meat and organically grown vegetables from the farm and local suppliers – perhaps a pork and fennel ragu or simple but satisfying Salcombe Smokies with horseradish crème fraîche. There’s a mini shop for provisions and their freshly baked sourdough is a daily sell out.
Back down at a spectacular site on the water’s edge, they’ve also taken over what used to be the Venus Café, now renamed The Old Stable – harking back to a time when the doctor in Salcombe kept a horse here to do their rounds. There’s a short menu of freshly prepared beach-friendly bites and you can’t go wrong with a sausage roll and a pint of refreshing homemade lemonade to take down onto the sand.
Heading up the estuary will take you to calmer, tree-lined creeks that feel lost in time. This is the way to the secluded village of South Pool and boaters should beware of getting stuck up here at low tide. On the flip side, motorists navigating the impossibly narrow track from East Portlemouth should avoid attempting the journey at high tide.
The reward is The Millbrook Inn, surely one of the prettiest settings in Britain for a pub. There’s pastel cottages with thatched roofs, a little stone bridge and a beautiful church dating back to the early 1300s. For nearly a decade chef Jean-Philippe Bidart made the Millbrook a noteworthy place to eat, and now under the ownership of Caitlin Owens and family it’s back on fine form. It’s smarter than it’s ever been and with the talented Tom Westerland in the kitchen, dishes lean to dainty rather than hearty. But the quality of produce and the sympathetic renovation justify splashing out a little.
If cooling off after a day on the beach, an icy pint of Ocean Cider from Salcombe Brewery and a paddle in the babbling stream round the back is just the ticket. If you’ve smartened up for dinner, there might be lobster landed in Salcombe or flavourful Manx Loaghtan hogget chops from the family's Fowlescombe Farm. The Sunday roasts are excellent.
At the top of the estuary is the bustling market town of Kingsbridge. A ferry runs to and from Salcombe at high tide and the first place to stop at is Harbour House: a tranquil gallery and yoga studio with an excellent vegetarian cafe upstairs. A coffee or light lunch in the sheltered walled garden is the most beautiful seat in town.
Head on up the steep hill of Fore Street under the cheery flutter of bunting to gather provisions. For fish, there’s none better than Catch of the Day, a 70-year-old fishmongers now run by the vastly knowledgeable Emma and Darren Carter (Emma was the first woman in the UK to skipper a fishing trawler). The sustainable catch from Plymouth’s day boats is fairly priced and as fresh as it gets.
For meat, a few doors up is Lidstone’s (look out for the life-sized sheep), which dates back to the 1830s and sells organic pasture fed meat and dairy from their own Challon's Combe Farm. Finish your shopping at Mangetout Delicatessen for local cheeses – a ripe Sharpham brie is hard to beat – and their superb homemade quiches.
When it comes to restaurants, Kingsbridge is home to one of the best in the Britain. Wild Artichokes, named The Good Food Guide’s Best Local Restaurant in the South West in 2023, is run by chef Jane Baxter and Samantha Miller and is tucked away in an unlikely potholed pocket of an industrial estate. Incredibly generous communal feasting suppers are the order of the day – you can read more about them here or try one of Jane’s recipes at home here.
