Short answer: Roadside parking here is free entirely outside the summer dates, which includes Boxing Day. The Valley of Rocks is free, spectacular under a hard winter sky, and has an easy level path as well as the higher routes.
Exmoor, the harbour and the Valley of Rocks — all free, all open. This is the most dramatic place on this list in winter and it costs nothing to stand in.
Roadside parking in designated bays is free for two hours between 10am and 6pm from Good Friday to 31 October — and outside those dates and hours there are no restrictions at all. Boxing Day falls well outside them, so roadside parking is simply free.
Blue Badge holders park free on the road all year, though they are chargeable in the car parks.
A dry valley of dramatic rock formations with wild goats and sweeping sea views. There is an easy level path as well as the higher routes, so it suits a mixed-ability group.
A wooded gorge where two rivers meet, sheltered by trees and at its best after rain — which December provides. The walk down is straightforward; the climb back up is the part people underestimate.
Ring before you set off. Boxing Day hours are decided late, change year to year, and are the single thing most likely to be wrong online. A two-minute call beats a wasted drive.
Several places up here are cash only with patchy phone signal, and the nearest machine is in Lynton. The water-powered cliff railway between the two villages has reduced winter operating days — check before relying on it, because the alternative is the steep hairpin road.
If you want to eat out, book now rather than in December. The pubs that do serve on Boxing Day fill weeks ahead, and the ones that do not take bookings have queues instead.
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