Nestled between the city of Exeter and the magical Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty resides the historic market town of Cullompton. Within easy reach of pristine pastoral scenes and cobbled city streets, it invites all to embark on a spellbinding Devonshire escape. Meander along its winding streets hugged by characterful listed houses and explore its huge wealth of things to see and do, ready to immerse yourself in this unique pocket of the UK.
To make sure you don’t miss out on all the best activities and blissful moments during your retreat, we’ve collated a guide to Cullompton. With everything from Michelin star restaurants to unmissable family-friendly attractions, there’s a world of discovery to look forward to…
History
Cullompton is a historic market town set within a verdant sprawl of interlocking fields and serpentine rivers in the Culm Valley in Devon. With its roots dating as far back as 872 AD when the Saxon King, Alfred the Great, bequeathed the town and its land to his son, Ethelward, its chapters are thick with the tales of time. Today, its various epochs can still be referenced through the historic buildings peppered throughout the town. Among the most notable, you can see its fifteenth century church, old almshouses, bull ring and the Walronds Manor House (set within the eleventh century estate of the former Cullompton Manor). One of its main industries, textile production brought a great deal of trade and wealth to the town and its history can be relived through Coldharbour Mill in nearby Uffculme. The town also proudly boasts one of the world’s last remaining Medieval Golgothas, a large, highly detailed wooden carving that once would have supported the base of a cross, housed in St Andrews Church.
Places to Eat
The Bakehouse, Cullompton
One of the best places to eat in Cullompton, The Bakehouse is a husband-and-wife run, award-winning café and restaurant on the town’s high street. Blending gorgeous period aesthetics with a modern industrialist charm, it provides a delightful setting in which to relax over a coffee and cake or house special and glass of wine. And, part of Food Drink Devon, the team’s proactive efforts to support quality, provenance and sustainability ensure the very highest standards are woven into every dish.
Winslade Manor, Clyst St Mary
Winslade Manor is a Michelin-recommended restaurant tucked within nearly ninety acres of parkland a few miles from Cullompton. With a passion for food that fuels a dedicated team, the manor’s superb restaurant proposes a tantalising menu of local ingredients and fresh flavours. Reserve a table and look forward to sampling daily set menus and seven-course tasting menus for the finest culinary sensations. Dining can be enjoyed in the restaurant itself or outside on the sun-kissed terrace under pearl-white parasols.
Stage, Exeter
Located on Magdalen Road in Exeter, Stage is a well-known restaurant that promises a unique dining experience in Devon. Alongside reoccurring classics, innovative tasting menus are complemented and informed by seasonal ingredients, plucked from the restaurant’s kitchen gardens and sourced from local suppliers. Dogs are welcome, and the pared-back interiors create an intimate setting in which to enjoy leisurely lunches and romantic dinners with your favourite people.
Salutation Inn, Topsham
Whatever the occasion, the seventeenth century Salutation Inn in Topsham offers something to suit every appetite. By day, it opens its light-filled GlassHouse restaurant and atrium for laidback lunches in a bright, airy setting. By evening, it invites diners inside to take a seat within its intimate restaurant, where large windows and open spaces give way to a more atmospheric setup perfect for savouring exquisite repasts. Choose from a range of menus from lunch to afternoon tea to dinner; there’s even a children’s menu for little culinary aficionados.
Lympstone Manor, Lympstone
One of Devon’s Michelin star restaurants, the award-winning Lympstone Manor is a gastronomical force to be reckoned with. Lending a wondrous space for both casual and fine dining, it promises a jaw-dropping setting, the highest quality service and the tastiest foods. Steered by patron and Head Chef Michael Caines, the restaurant’s menus feature modern British cuisine with exotic influences and are accompanied by an extensive wine list. In fact, connoisseurs can choose from hundreds of wines from around the world.
Attractions
Cullompton Farmers’ Market
Cullompton Farmers’ Market started in 1998 to provide a space for the best local ingredients and produce to be bought and sold. Held from morning until midday on the second and fourth Saturday of every month, this popular pannier market can be found at Forge Way and is a must-visit for foodies. Hosting the best producers from the surrounding area, its stalls are lined with all sorts of sweets and savouries including local fruit, vegetables, preserves, cheese, meats and more. Tuck a hamper under your arm and bundle up the freshest produce around.
If you would like to continue your shopping experiences and are looking for something a little different, head over to The Antique Village a few miles from Cullompton. Here, a labyrinth of treasure awaits across a four-acre site. Home to a huge collection of vintage items, collectibles, and antiques, it’s the perfect place to find hidden gems and intriguing curios.
St Andrew’s Church
One of the most recognisable buildings in the town, St. Andrew's Church pierces the skyline with a striking sandstone tower that rises more than a hundred feet into the air. Built in the fifteenth century, it features a colourful wagon roof painted in rich blue, green, crimson and gold, and displays one of the longest rood (a Medieval cross) screens in the South West. It also boasts a rare Medieval Golgotha, one of the last of its kind in the world, carved out of two trees and engraved with skulls and bones. Blackened with age, it would have once supported the base of a cross.
Bickleigh Castle
For a regal escape, why not head over to Bickleigh Castle? Located near Cullompton, this fascinating castle has a history that dates back to 600 AD and is heavily intertwined with the kings and queens of England. If you would like an exclusive peek inside the castle and grounds and learn about the intriguing history of Bickleigh, you can sign up for guided tours with local historians. From the Normans to the Tudors to modern-day attractions, there is plenty awaiting to captivate and inspire. Garden and house tours take place at 10am daily from April to October.
Killerton House
The eighteenth century Killerton House sits within a resplendent 4,600-acre estate surrounded by tamed parkland in Broadclyst. Just a leisurely drive from Cullompton, the house and its grounds are open for languid hours of discovery, soaking up the peaceful nature of its farmland, woods, gardens and orchards. Amongst its many curiosities, the grounds are also home to an extinct volcano and an Iron Age hillfort and afford far-reaching views towards Dartmoor. Play areas for children are dotted around the site and cafés await to serve delicious refreshments to refuel and revive.
Yarak Birds of Prey
An award-winning sanctuary, Yarak Birds of Prey invites visitors to learn about incredible raptors in their own environment. Ensuring the focus is always on the safety, wellbeing and happiness of its birds, it creates a positive place for both birds to thrive and visitors to learn all about the different species within its care. As well as observing the birds, experiences such as bird handling and flying are also available by appointment for a truly memorable visit. See owls, hawks, falcons and eagles and let their natural grace and power take your breath away.
Things to Do
Blackdown Hills
The Blackdown Hills National Landscape is home to some of the most beautiful woodlands in Devon and beckons for adventure. From countryside trails to hillside rambles to footpaths through tangled woodlands, the lands are traced by a maze of routes for walkers and cyclists alike. For one of the best viewpoints in the Blackdown Hills, travel the ten miles or so from Cullompton to Culmstock Beacon and hike up to the summit. Once used in Elizabethan times to light fires to warn of potential invasions, today the beacon’s lofty vantage point enjoys magical views over the Devonshire landscapes.
The Bear Trail
If you have a taste for adventure, then the famous Bear Trail in Cullompton is the place for you. Boasting the title of Devon’s muddiest assault course, this award-winning family-friendly attraction is geared towards all generations looking for a hearty challenge and lots of fun. Within the ten-acre site, it challenges participants with thirty obstacles, with everything from nets to zip wires to crawl tunnels. Take on the obstacles as a team - there’s no limit to how many times you can complete the course, and once you are finished, make the most of hot showers and private changing rooms to de-mud. For more family-friendly things to do, and no mud, you can also pay a trip to the multi-award-winning children’s play venue, Bear Town.
Devon Cookery School
For an appetising activity in Cullompton, peruse the delicious array of courses on offer at Devon Cookery School at Pipers Farm. A superb, family-friendly cookery school serving up accessible courses for all generations, this school promises fun, flavour and new skills too. Select from more than twenty different classes, from Mexican street food feasts to fresh bread baking to back to basic sessions and more. With something for everyone, you are sure to find a course to capture your imagination and practice at your boutique homestay.
Grand Western Canal Country Park
Just a few miles from Cullompton, the Grand Western Canal awaits for spellbinding moments under open skies. A nature reserve, home to the remains of the former Somerset to Land’s End canal, it comprises an eleven-mile stretch of waterway that sets the backdrop for beautiful walks and cycles along the flat towpath. For halcyon moments, spend time wandering the pathways of the reserve, bundle up a picnic to savour by the water’s edge, or hire a boat to explore the water another way and relish the soothing tonic of Mother Nature.
Feeling inspired to explore Cullompton? Take a look at our luxury cottage collection in Devon.
