Cookworthy Museum of Rural Life


An engaging collection of school desks, cooking ranges, wagons and ploughs, plus a particularly fine photographic archive.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Maritime Museum

3.43 MILES

Here be treasure: the highlight of the hauls from local shipwrecks are the 500 glittering Moroccan gold dinars from the Salcombe Cannon wreck site, dating…

2. North Sands

3.97 MILES

Compact North Sands lies a short walk or drive (1.5 miles) south along Cliff Rd from the centre of Salcombe (on the same side of the estuary as the town)…

3. Mill Bay

4.04 MILES

Salcombe's best high-tide beach, sand-filled Mill Bay sits across the water on the east side of the estuary. It's reached by either walking the lane south…

4. South Sands

4.27 MILES

Although it gets busy in the summer holidays, South Sands has immense charm. It's something to do with the broad beach (at low tide), the mini watersports…

5. Bantham Beach

4.46 MILES

Bantham is, arguably, South Devon's finest low-tide beach. Set at the mouth of the River Avon, this dune-backed sweep of sand offers a cool cafe, surf…

6. Overbeck’s

4.47 MILES

An Aladdin's cave of curios, Edwardian country house Overbeck’s crowns the cliffs at Salcombe's estuary mouth. It's set in 3 hectares of lush, subtropical…

7. Burgh Island

5.34 MILES

A slanting 10-hectare chunk of grass-topped rock, tidal Burgh Island is connected to Bigbury-on-Sea by a stretch of sand at low tide. At high water the…

8. Sherman Tank

5.71 MILES

Wave-dashed as they are today, Slapton Sands have an even more dramatic past. During WWII, thousands of American servicemen trained here for D-Day using…