New Year's Day in Totnes: A Free Garden and a River Walk

Short answer: Leechwell Garden is a free community garden with wooden climbing equipment and a sandpit — useful on 1 January with children. The Plains by the river are the flat ground.

The walk

The river

The Plains and the quays beside the Dart. Flat, which matters here because Totnes climbs steeply everywhere else — and on 1 January nobody wants the hill.

Leechwell Garden

A free community garden tucked behind the town, with wooden climbing equipment, a sandpit and a shallow stream. The answer if the party includes children with new things to try out.

The hill

Up the High Street to the castle for the view over the valley. The castle closes in winter, but the climb and the view cost nothing.

Inland, which helps

Totnes sits eight miles up the Dart at the tidal limit, so it does not take the weather the coast does. On an unpredictable 1 January that is worth something.

Where to warm up

• The Steam Packet Inn on St Peter's Quay — riverside, with a cosy interior for winter.
• Waterside Bistro on the Plains — open ten till ten every day in normal weeks, good with young children.
• Bruto Lounge on the Plains — comfortable, with a careful allergy menu.
• The Pig & Whistle at Littlehempston — an old beamed country pub just outside town.

Almost everywhere opens later than usual on New Year's Day, and some places do not open at all. Ring in the morning rather than assuming.

Stay low

The flat ground is the Plains by the river, which is also where most of the good places to eat are.