Brixham Harbour — Attraction in England

I love Brixham but always have done since being a child. It has changed over the past decade or so, with café/bar seating on the harbour front and a craft market daily but this definitely for the better. Excellent coffee shop a short walk from the main fish market called "The bay coffee company" where you can get your coffee and sit on the harbour front watching the world go by- excellent coffee, cakes or savouries. Would recommend a trip into the 'Blue Anchor' pub two very old converted buildings that retains an old pub atmosphere which is much more pleasant than some of the more modern pubs -just mins your head on the beams. If you are going to crab line you now need to go round towards the RNLI station and again I would suggest you get all you need for this activity from the RNLI shop. Look at tide times if you are planning this you really need high or incoming tide. Stop and watch the sea in the harbour, we got to see seals and an octopus in the inner harbours (again not far from the RNLI slip). Don't be surprised that the bins talk to you when you use them either. They are very polite! The whole area is just so friendly and also dog friendly and most people do pick up after their dogs. Be prepared to talk to total strangers as you wander round the harbour. There are some lovely shops, most open at 10am but there are some cafés that open sooner if you want to get in to park before the rush of holiday makers. We used freshwater car park which does start to fill by 9.30am, parking charges at £10+ for the day which I consider quite expensive and you need to remember it's 30p to use a toilet (not very clean either and quite worrying that they have sharps disposal units in them) . You can visit the "Golden Hind" replica boat between 10am and 4pm or even rent it as an Air'b n B for a night. All in all we spent a good few days wandering, shopping and...

We went to Brixam harbour primarily to visit the Golden Hind. My autistic son is pirate mad, it was worth every penny. A really interesting and fun thing to do. Very engaging for young and old. I've promised my son we will go back in the future.

I will say that for such a busy place, parking is atrocious. We got parking in the car park that was central to the harbour. Its a 3 hour max stay, no return within 24h! Ridiculous. I had to dash out of my lunch to find another car park with spaces. I was unsuccessful. I drove for almost twenty minutes around the three advertised carparks. I couldn't get a space. I ended up having to park on a residential street and walk quite a distance to find my family.

Also, a really important thing is the toilets. I had the most appaling and bizarre experience. My disabled child needed the loo. I went to the public toilet located in the car park. You have to call a phone number to access it. Then, you have to give your full name and address to someone on the phone. Then they give you a code. My disabled son actually wet himself while this was all happening. The code I was given wouldnt work for several minutes. Then on my tenth or so attempt, the door swung open. I was perplexed as well as upset for my son. Why on earth do you need to do all of this to access a loo?!

The place itself is absolutely worth a visit. Lots to see and do. But parking and accessibility as well as the facilities are poor. Sad for those like myself, who would have stayed all day and spent money at the local businesses. We couldn't do as much as we'd like as a direct result of the...

We went for the Sardine Festival - what a fabulous event. Unfortunately for us we didn't see that it was on until it was too late to book a dining slot. We could have queued, but chose not to as they were so long - this was the first one so expect there will b more grills next time - I don't suppose the organisers were expecting such massive attendance. It was great to see some of our finest local chefs working hard on the grills - Nathan Outlaw was wiping away tears on a tea cloth as we arrived! It may have been the joy of such a success at the events launch, but I expect it was the atmospheric smoke from the large sardine grills. The sardines were excellent value, for only £10 a plate and we were able to buy a bottle of excellent local cider for a fiver, find a seat and enjoy the music and atmosphere. This all went on til 9.30 that evening. We were sorry to have to leave earlier. We will be better organized next year n might even find somewhere to stay. Over the moon at the success of this ambitious...