Kingsbridge Day Out for £50 or Less

Short answer: Slapton Ley nature reserve has free parking and is free to walk. Start Point lighthouse is a free walk. East Soar has an honesty-box tea barn doing cream teas. The best meal in the South Hams, Verse, is not the budget option.

The free things

Slapton Ley is the largest freshwater lake in the south west, with bird hides, waterside paths and free parking at the memorial car park. Free, and genuinely good for wildlife.

Start Point Lighthouse is a three-quarter mile walk down a tarmac track from the clifftop car park, on a dramatic headland with seals common offshore. Free.

Kingsbridge quay and the embankment walk are free, and the long-stay car park is right beside them.

The honesty-box cream tea

East Soar is National Trust coastal farmland with well-defined paths and the Walkers' Hut — an honesty-box tea barn doing cream teas in the middle of nowhere. Cheap, charming, and dolphins are seen from the cliffs here.

The single biggest saving on any Devon day out is lunch. A picnic on a free beach or in a free park turns a £50 day into a £25 one, and the money you keep pays for the one thing actually worth paying for.

Eating for less

• Seven Stars on Mill Street — reliable and reasonably priced.
• Creeks End Inn — next to the long-stay car park, Sunday carvery with a proper vegetarian alternative.
• The Crabshell Inn on the quay — crab pizza and a good Sunday roast.

Not the budget choice

Verse is the best restaurant in the South Hams and the only place in this guide with a perfect rating. It is worth saving up for, not squeezing into a £50 day.

A £50 day

• Park at the long-stay by the quay.
• Morning at Slapton Ley — free.
• Picnic.
• Afternoon at Start Point — free.
• Cream tea at the East Soar honesty box.