Village sport
Bowls, tennis and croquet in Lynton
In a place where nothing is level, a flat green is a serious civic achievement and is treated as one.
The geography here does not lend itself to ball sports. Lynmouth is a gorge and Lynton is a shelf, and level ground large enough for a green or a court had to be found rather than assumed. That the village has any at all is the point of interest.
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The clubs
Lynton has kept small clubs for bowls, tennis and croquet on the clifftop, where the only usable flat ground is. They run through the summer, roughly from April to September, and they operate the way village clubs everywhere operate - on volunteers, subscriptions and a fixture list against neighbouring parishes.
The standard is social rather than competitive, and that is a feature. A visitor turning up for a game will find people who play for the pleasure of it and who are generally glad to see a new face.
Both greens are club-run and volunteer-maintained, which in a village this size means the same handful of people cut, roll and mark them through the season. That is worth knowing before turning up: the welcome is genuine and the organisation is informal, and a phone call or a look at the noticeboard beats an assumption about opening hours.
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Playing as a visitor
Contact the club before turning up. Small clubs do not staff a clubhouse all day, sessions are scheduled rather than continuous, and a green or a court may be booked for a match. Most will arrange a visitor session with a little notice, and some will lend equipment - bowls in particular are not something most people travel with.
Dress conventions still apply at some bowls clubs, particularly for matches. Ask rather than guess.
Flat shoes are the one hard requirement - anything with a heel damages the surface and will be turned away, politely. Woods can usually be borrowed, a small green fee covers the session, and a beginner who says so on arrival will generally end up being taught by somebody who has played the green for thirty years.
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The setting
The position is the reason to play here rather than the sport. A green on a clifftop several hundred feet above the Bristol Channel, with the coast running away west towards the Valley of the Rocks, is not an ordinary afternoon’s bowls. The wind is a genuine factor and an honest excuse.
The setting is the part that surprises visiting players. Greens cut into a clifftop shelf with the Bristol Channel behind them are not the ordinary experience of the game, and the same wind that makes the coast path exhilarating has opinions about a running wood.
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Other sport in the area
Cricket and football are played in the surrounding parishes rather than in the two villages, on grounds that had the same problem finding level ground and solved it further inland. Fixtures are local and social, and a Saturday afternoon match in a moorland village is a good way to spend an hour.
For anything more strenuous the area has plenty on offer - see walking, cycling, riding, fishing and golf, all of which use the terrain rather than fighting it.
Beyond the greens the sport here is mostly outdoor and informal: tennis courts in both villages, a cricket square within a short drive, sea and river fishing, and the walking and riding that the moor exists for. Team fixtures are village-level and seasonal, and the pub is a more reliable source of what is on than any website.
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Watching rather than playing
Club fixtures and the village fetes and shows that go with them are a large part of the summer calendar here - see what’s on. They are not staged for visitors, which is exactly why they are worth going to.
A club afternoon is one of the more pleasant ways to spend an hour in either village without spending money: the greens are in the open, the pace is slow, and nobody minds a spectator on the bench. Fixtures are usually pinned up at the club and run through the summer.
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Why the village keeps them
A clifftop bowling green needs levelling, drainage, mowing and a subscription base large enough to pay for all three, in a village whose winter population is a fraction of its summer one. Clubs like these survive on a small number of people doing a lot of work, and they tend to be the same people who run the fete and the carnival float.
That is worth knowing as a visitor, because it explains the welcome. A new face on a Tuesday afternoon in May is genuinely useful to a club of this size, and turning up for a game is closer to joining in than to buying a ticket.
Common questions
Is there a bowls club in Lynton?
Yes - Lynton keeps small clubs for bowls, tennis and croquet on the clifftop, running roughly from April to September.
Can visitors play bowls or tennis in Lynton?
Usually, with notice. Contact the club first rather than turning up, since sessions are scheduled and the green or court may be booked for a match. Some clubs will lend equipment.
Is there cricket near Lynton and Lynmouth?
In the surrounding parishes rather than the two villages, where there is no level ground. Fixtures are local and social.
What sport can you do around Lynton and Lynmouth?
Walking, cycling, riding, fishing, sea swimming and golf, all of which use the terrain rather than needing flat ground. The village clubs cover bowls, tennis and croquet.
