So what is it about Exmouth?
My tour is about the past, present and future of the town – I detail fascinating stories that happened along the seafront, tell you about how the town grew to become one of Devon’s premier beach resorts and tell you local favourites for restaurants, walks and beaches.
But here’s a brief history about Exmouth, which I’ll go into more detail about on the tour.
We’re going to go back 200 million years, but I’ll try to not take up too much of your time!
The Jurassic Coast, which we’ll see more later, is England’s only natural UNESCO site, and it offers a walk-through time. The part in Exmouth is the oldest at 200 million years; at this point, the continents we’re still all one super continent, Pangea!
Exmouth became settled in around 13th century, although the parishes of Withycombe and Littleham can be traced to pre-Saxon times.
It started with a windmill, and a few cottages built up, slowly becoming a small fishing village. Smuggling was rife on the coastline over the centuries, as were bouts of piracy; both British pirates leaving the coastline and pirates from abroad raiding Devon.
In the 18th century, Exmouth started marketing itself as a holiday destination, stating it had healing water that could cure any ailments! When the train came to Exmouth, the tourist industry supercharged, and it quickly became a desirable Victorian holiday town.
Its popularity as a holiday destination has waxed and waned over the years, but in recent times it’s had good investment into its watersports facilities and its culinary scene has improved in leaps and bounds.
I see the desirability of Exmouth increasing over the next few years; we have a great coworking space, and with more people working remotely, we’re attracting increasing numbers of people to the town.
