Food and drink
Eating and drinking in Lynton and Lynmouth
Two small villages with more places to eat than their size suggests, plus a ring of moorland inns within twenty minutes of the harbour.
The eating here divides fairly neatly by altitude. Lynmouth, at sea level, is inns and tea rooms strung along the Esplanade and Lynmouth Street, most of them with a view of either the harbour or the river. Lynton, five hundred feet up, has the restaurants and the hotel dining rooms, which is where the longer evening meals happen. Beyond both, the moorland inns take about twenty minutes to reach and are worth the drive.
-
AI-generated image 01
Down in Lynmouth
The harbour front carries the majority of the daytime trade. Tea rooms here do the standard and entirely correct North Devon repertoire - home baking, scones with clotted cream, coffee that has improved a great deal in the last decade - and several of them are set up so you can sit outside and watch the tide come into the harbour.
The inns along the river and the Esplanade do pub food with fish on the board when it has come in. The Rising Sun, on the harbour, is the one with the literary footnote: R. D. Blackmore stayed there in 1865 while collecting material for Lorna Doone.
Ice cream, sweets and waffles are a Lynmouth Street institution, and on a hot afternoon the queue is a reasonable indicator of quality.
-
AI-generated image 02
Up in Lynton
Lynton has the quieter evening. Several of the Victorian hotels run dining rooms that are open to non-residents and take booking, which is the reliable option for a proper dinner, particularly out of season when the harbour front winds down early. There is a smaller cluster of cafes and a couple of restaurants around Lee Road near the Town Hall and the top station of the cliff railway.
Lynton eats a little later and a little quieter than Lynmouth. The cluster around Lee Road and the hotel dining rooms on the clifftop take most of the evening trade, and because they serve residents as well as visitors, booking on a summer evening is the difference between dinner and a walk back down the hill.
-
AI-generated image 03
Out on the moor
Some of the best eating in the area is not in either village. The inns at Rockford, Brendon and Countisbury sit on the walking routes and are the natural lunch stop on a long day. Further out, the villages around Porlock, Simonsbath and Exford have pubs that cook seriously and fill up on Sundays. Most are twenty to forty minutes by road on the 21 Mile Drive or the moor roads.
Watersmeet House, at the confluence a mile and a half up the East Lyn, is a National Trust tea room with a garden above the water. It is seasonal, and it is the reason a good number of people do that walk.
-
AI-generated image 04
What the area produces
Exmoor is livestock country, so lamb and beef raised on the moor turn up on menus across the area and are worth ordering where they are named. The Bristol Channel supplies the fish, and what lands varies with the season and the weather rather than a menu cycle. Devon clotted cream is not a novelty here, it is an ingredient. Local cider and a growing number of small West Country breweries fill the pumps.
The produce here is what the ground allows: Exmoor lamb and beef off the moor, game in season, fish and shellfish landed along the north Devon coast, and the dairy that makes clotted cream a local product rather than a souvenir. Menus that name the farm or the boat are common enough that it is worth reading them.
-
AI-generated image 05
Markets and buying to cook
If you are self-catering, the pannier markets are the best source of produce. Barnstaple, South Molton, Minehead and Dulverton all run them, on different days through the week, and they carry vegetables, meat, cheese, baking and crafts. Details on market days. The villages themselves have small shops rather than a supermarket, so a stock-up on the way in is sensible.
For a self-catering week the pannier markets in the surrounding towns are the better shop, and the village stores cover what you forgot. Neither village has a supermarket, which is a nuisance on arrival day and a pleasure for the rest of the week.
-
AI-generated image 06
Practical notes
Booking is worth doing at weekends and through the summer, especially in Lynton where the dining rooms are small. Out of season, opening hours contract sharply and some places close entirely for part of the winter - phone ahead rather than walking down the hill on spec. Dogs are welcome in a good proportion of the bars, less often in the dining rooms.
Two practical habits: book ahead at weekends and through the summer, in both villages, and check winter opening before travelling, because several kitchens close for part of the off season. Outside those two points, eating here is easy - the walk between most of it is ten minutes and the cliff railway does the climb.
Common questions
Where is the best place to eat in Lynmouth?
The harbour front carries most of the daytime trade - tea rooms with outside tables and inns doing pub food with fish when it has landed. For a longer evening meal, the hotel dining rooms up in Lynton take booking and stay open later out of season.
Do you need to book restaurants in Lynton and Lynmouth?
At weekends and through the summer, yes, particularly in Lynton where the dining rooms are small. In winter, phone ahead - hours contract and some places close for part of the season.
Is there a supermarket in Lynton or Lynmouth?
No. Both villages have small independent shops. If you are self-catering, stock up in Barnstaple or Minehead on the way in, or use the pannier markets.
What food is North Devon and Exmoor known for?
Moor-raised lamb and beef, fish landed from the Bristol Channel, clotted cream, and West Country cider and beer from a growing number of small producers.
