Cockington Country Park

Lovely historical, picturesque village with cheap parking for the day. Free admission to everything. Beautiful grounds and gardens with working craft centre. Great for a family day out or a romantic stroll. Be prepared for the typical Devon narrow lanes to get to it though. That might put people off going, as it was blissfully quiet for us in the middle of August!

Absolutely stunning little village which is full of historical charm! We enjoyed a delicious jam and cream scone and a wander through the woodland park. There are craft workshops offering items for sale set in the old barns.

What a gem! There’s plenty of parking in a few different locations around the park, so don’t despair if the first place you try has no spaces available! The parkland is gorgeous, so much space to roam free and play! There are places buy food and drink (pub, ice cream parlour and cafe), but also loads of space for picnics. The craft/shopping areas are lovely, really inviting spaces and everyone willing to chat about the work/products if you’re interested. Lots of history to read about too and a gorgeous garden to enjoy. The children’s play area is disappointing, you can see it was lovely once, but parts of it have unfortunately gone into disrepair.

You'll need at least half a day to see and enjoy everything (if the weather is good). Would recommend the Chocolate shop, the cherry ones were particularly divine. Don't forget to visit Cob Barn where Allan will talk you through his art in his workshop. Hoping to buy a steel rose from him at some point. Also check out the Iron Mongers and surrounding shops, then purchase yourself a cute little handmade glass animal at the glass blowers for a bargain £8.

Really lovely place for a few hours out. There are a couple of craft centres and studios where you can watch the makers at work, the glass blowing was amazing! Nice cafe and clean toilets. A lovely 600+ year old church, walks and lakes too! Down into the village is a lovely pub called the Drum in which is reasonably priced and dog friendly 🐶 We parked on the carpark opposite the pub and Cockington crafts and Country Park are a 5-10 minute walk away.

It's definitely worth a visit. However, we went on a Monday, and certain things were not open on that day. Didn't spoil it and enjoyed the walks, the church, and the crafts. Treating ourselves to a lovely hand-made glass fish ornament at Our Glass, you can watch the skill of the artisan as he crafts the glass into his latest creation. Friendly and stops to chat. As do all the crafts folk open for business. We were lucky to catch a small bus, by The Drum pub-restaurant, that visits Cockington and drives into Torquay via local stops. Bus is air-conditioned too.

Cockington is a lovely quiet place, that's off the beaten track and is a very different feeling to almost everywhere else in Torbay. The scenery is beautiful as well the quaint old buildings being a view into the past. There are numerous craft based businesses (glass blowing, metal foundry, bespoke lights, gin makers). There is a nice cafe within the historic building, with internal and external seating so on sunny days you can get a drink or meal and enjoy it whilst looking towards the cricket pitch and pavillion and some absolutely huge pine trees. There is plenty of parking, but we walked from the seafront via the countryside path, which was easy going and flat, but does take half an hour or so to get to the village of Cockington. On route we spotted various insect wildlife, having a stream running parallel to the path, means plentyful numbers of dragonfly and similar species, plus various species of butterfly. I would say this is a place aimed mainly at adults and older children, although they are trying to cater for younger children with a temporary dinosaur trail. The playground was somewhat dull and with many items not working or out of use. The walled rose garden smells devine and is well maintained, unfortunately whilst we were there a wedding party came in to have their photos, so we moved out of the way so they could do that in peace. I image it would be a nice place to sit in the quiet for a while otherwise. Cockington is a full day out, and other than buying a drink or ice-cream is free, it's well worth a visit.

Visited this site with my son the here is a little gift shop in the village and we went and had a walk around the manor which itself is only really a cafe but there are also plenty of nice grounds to walk around and many unique traders in the craft/art traders around the back the gardens and ponds are also great to walk around we did see a sign for carriage rides but could not find them