Saturday, 30. May 2026
Westward Ho!
This afternoon, on our way down to our self-catering barn conversion near Holsworthy, we stopped at Westward Ho! on the North Devon coast.
It was actually not a bad drive – the M5 was relatively clear, considering it was a Sunny Saturday – half term too. We were going against most of the traffic though – end of half term…so most traffic was coming North, while we were going South.
I arrived slightly too late for lunch (getting stuck behind a caravan on the A361 delayed my arrival!) so I just grabbed a roll from Tesco. We sat down on the beach for a bit – Mum and I had a paddle in the sea, and we watched the tide coming in (only a couple of hours from high tide).
Fun facts about Westward Ho!
- It is the only place in the UK with an exclamation mark in its name,
- The name came from a Charles Kingsley book, titled Westward Ho! – It was a best seller and brought a new wave of tourism to the Bideford area leading to the creation of village.
- Rudyard Kipling once lived in Westward Ho!
We then continued our journey on to Holsworthy. We’re staying at the same place we stayed for my birthday back in December, but this time, in one of their barn conversions. 6 bedrooms. Each bedroom with a TV. 2 bedrooms with en-suites. 10 seater hot tub…. The life of luxury (at least there’ll be lots to do if the weather is bad).
Might share some photos of where we’re staying in a separate post later in the week.
Good night,
FH.
