When it rains
The cinema at Lynton, and what else to do in the wet
This is a wet coast. A village of this size keeping its own cinema is not sentiment - it is infrastructure.
Weather is not a marginal consideration here. The moor behind the villages catches a great deal of rain, the cliffs make their own cloud, and any week-long visit will include a day when the coast path is not the plan. Lynton has kept a cinema through all of that, and on the right afternoon it is the best thing in the village.
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The cinema
It is small, it is community-run, and it survives the way village cinemas survive - on volunteers, a loyal local audience and a programme that mixes current releases with the occasional broadcast of theatre or opera. Capacity is modest enough that booking ahead is sensible in the season, and the experience is closer to a village hall with a very good screen than to a multiplex, which is entirely the point.
For a place this size to have held onto a cinema at all says something about how the two villages function out of season, when the visitors have gone and the population that remains has to make its own entertainment.
A working cinema in a village this size is unusual enough to be worth a note in itself. It runs a mixed programme rather than only new releases, the screen is small and the seats are close, and on a wet afternoon in February it is the warmest room in Lynton. Programme times change week to week, so check before walking up the hill.
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The rest of the wet-weather list
The Flood Memorial Hall
Opposite Lynmouth harbour. The scale model of the pre-1952 village, the photographs and the survivors’ accounts make half an hour go quickly, and they change how you read the rest of the village afterwards. See the 1952 flood.
Glen Lyn Gorge
Water power presented as something to play with - wheels, water cannons, a hydroelectric scheme and waterfalls reached by a stepless path. It is outdoors, but it is a gorge in the rain, which is when the water is doing something. Good with children.
The Lyn Model Railway
A London and North Eastern Railway layout from the second half of the 1930s, in a small space, built with an amount of detail that rewards standing still. Twenty minutes, and reliably indoors.
The Watersmeet path
Not indoors, but sheltered. The oak canopy over the East Lyn keeps a good deal of rain off, the river is at its best when it is up, and there is a tea room at the far end. See Watersmeet.
Tea rooms and inns
The dependable fallback, and no worse for that. See food and drink.
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Reading the weather here
Coast and moor are different climates and it is worth checking both forecasts. Cloud regularly sits on the high ground while the harbour is clear, which means a wet day on the moor can be a perfectly good day at sea level - and occasionally the reverse, when sea fog fills the gorge and the moor above it is in sunshine. If one plan is rained off, the other altitude is often worth a try before giving up on the day.
The local skill is reading which kind of wet it is. Sea fog rolls in and burns off; a westerly front comes through in bands with real gaps between them; and rain that has settled on the high moor generally means the whole day. From the harbour you can often see which one you have by looking at whether the top of the cliff is in cloud.
The other half of it is that this coast rewards bad weather. The gorges are at their best with water in them, the sea off Foreland Point is worth watching in a blow, and the wet-weather list below exists because the villages have had two centuries of practice at rainy afternoons.
Common questions
Is there a cinema in Lynton?
Yes - a small community-run single screen in Lynton, showing current releases and occasional live broadcasts. Capacity is small, so book ahead in season.
What is there to do in Lynton and Lynmouth when it rains?
The cinema in Lynton, the Flood Memorial Hall and the Lyn Model Railway in Lynmouth, Glen Lyn Gorge, and the sheltered Watersmeet path along the East Lyn.
Does it rain a lot in Lynton and Lynmouth?
The moor above catches a great deal of it, and the cliffs make their own cloud. The coast and the high ground are effectively different climates, so check both forecasts before writing off a day.
What is good to do with children in bad weather?
Glen Lyn Gorge, where the water power is set up to be played with, and the Lyn Model Railway. Both are short and both work when it is wet.
