Through the year
What's on in Lynton and Lynmouth
A small place with a busy calendar, most of it outdoors and most of it clustered between May and October.
The calendar here runs on the weather and the farming year rather than on a marketing plan, which means most of it happens between May and October and a good deal of it is decided closer to the date than a visitor would like. This is the shape of the year rather than a fixed listing - check locally for dates.
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Spring
Walking festivals are the first thing to fill the villages after winter, taking advantage of long light, firm ground and a moor that is at its greenest before the heather turns. Guided walks run at a range of distances, several of them starting from Lynmouth harbour and climbing straight onto the moor.
Open-garden schemes run through late spring across North Devon and Exmoor, opening private gardens for a day at a time. In a landscape this steep, several of them are remarkable pieces of engineering as well as planting.
Spring is when the valleys are at their best and the villages are still quiet. The woodland at Watersmeet fills with bluebells and wild garlic through April and May, lambing is finishing on the moor farms, and the walking festivals and open-garden weekends start once the light is long enough to justify them.
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Summer
The regatta weekend at Lynmouth is the harbour's own event, and the one time in the year when the small tidal harbour is the centre of attention rather than the backdrop. Village fetes run through July and August in the surrounding parishes.
The agricultural shows are the serious fixtures of the Exmoor summer - livestock, machinery, competitions and food, on a scale that is genuinely surprising if you have not been to one. They are worth planning a day around.
Summer is the busy season and the events follow the visitors: regatta weekends at the harbour, carnival processions in the surrounding towns, agricultural shows on the moor and live music in the pubs. It is also the only time of year when booking a table on a Saturday evening is genuinely necessary in both villages.
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Autumn
Carnival season runs through the autumn across North Devon, with illuminated processions moving between towns on successive weekends. They are late, loud, and much bigger than the size of the towns suggests.
On the moor, the red deer rut is the wildlife event of the year - stags roaring on the open ground at dawn and dusk through October. See Exmoor National Park.
Food and produce events cluster around the harvest, often attached to the pannier markets covered in market days.
Autumn is the connoisseur's season here. The heather turns, the red deer rut fills the moor with noise through October, the light comes in low along the coast, and the summer crowds have gone. Food and drink events cluster around the harvest, and the walking is at its best on ground that has finally dried out.
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Winter
The calendar thins out. What replaces it is the dark-sky season: Exmoor was the first International Dark Sky Reserve in Europe, and the moor above Lynton on a clear moonless winter night is as dark as anywhere in England. Some accommodation and eating places close for part of the winter, so check before travelling.
Winter is the quiet season and the villages behave accordingly: fewer places open, shorter hours, and the events that do run - carol services, the New Year swim, the odd firelit evening in a pub - are local rather than staged. It is the best time of year to have the coast path to yourself and the worst to arrive without checking what is open.
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Booking around events
Both villages are small and their accommodation stock is finite. On festival and regatta weekends it fills months ahead, and the surrounding villages fill after it. If your visit is built around a specific event, book the room before you book anything else - see places to stay.
Anything with a fixed date fills the beds for miles around: a regatta weekend, a festival, a bank holiday. If the trip is planned around an event, book the accommodation before the tickets; if the trip is planned around quiet, look up what is on before choosing the weekend.
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Fixtures and the farming year
A good deal of the Exmoor calendar is still set by agriculture rather than tourism. The shows fall when stock is ready to be judged, the ploughing matches when the ground allows, and the harvest suppers afterwards. This is why the dates move, why they are announced late, and why the biggest events of the Exmoor summer are not in any national listing.
The practical consequence for a visitor is to ask locally. Noticeboards outside village halls and shops carry more of the real calendar than any website does, and the people running your accommodation will know what is on in the next fortnight.
Common questions
What events happen in Lynton and Lynmouth?
Walking festivals and open gardens in spring, the Lynmouth regatta weekend and village fetes in summer, carnival processions and food events in autumn. Dates move year to year, so check locally.
When is the best time to visit Lynton and Lynmouth?
May to October for the calendar, the weather and the daylight. Autumn adds the red deer rut and empties the beaches. Winter is quiet, and the dark skies are the reason to come.
When is the Exmoor red deer rut?
Through October, with stags roaring on the open moor at dawn and dusk. It is the wildlife fixture of the Exmoor year.
Do I need to book accommodation for event weekends?
Yes, and early. Both villages are small, and festival and regatta weekends fill months in advance.
