Short answer: The Tarka Trail starts in Barnstaple — flat, paved, traffic-free and genuinely accessible. The Pannier Market is a huge covered Victorian hall that is wheelchair accessible. The Long Bridge is pleasant to cross now traffic uses the bypass.
Barnstaple is the terminus of the Tarka Line from Exeter and the start of the Tarka Trail, which makes it one of the few places in Devon where you can arrive by train and head straight onto a flat, paved, traffic-free path. It is one of the genuinely accessible long walks in the county.
A huge covered Victorian market hall in the centre of town, wheelchair accessible and dog friendly, with independent stalls covering crafts, plants, books, clothes and food. It is properly indoors and properly flat — a good hour whatever the weather.
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon is free, sits by the Long Bridge and has a Victorian-style tea room. Closed Sundays. The Long Bridge itself is medieval and, now that through traffic uses the bypass, a pleasant, flat crossing.
A trampoline park at Roundswell with free parking and a café. Worth knowing about for older children in the group; not an accessible activity in itself, so check with them directly.
Barnstaple has proper town parking and nothing like the coastal squeeze. Arriving by train is genuinely easy here, which makes the parking question optional.
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