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Rainy Day in Barnstaple: What Is Worth Doing

2026-06-12·Barnstaple

Short answer: The Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon is free and good. The Pannier Market is a huge covered Victorian hall, Tuesday to Saturday. Air Extreme Trampoline Park at Roundswell has sessions on the hour and free parking. All three are indoors.

The town north Devon retreats to

Barnstaple is the region's main town and it is where you go when the beach is off. It has the museum, the pannier market, the trampoline park and a covered shopping centre — more indoor options than the whole of the north coast put together.

The museum is free

The Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon sits by the Long Bridge and covers the region's history, trades and wildlife. It costs nothing and it is genuinely well done. Closed Sundays, which catches people out.

The Pannier Market

A huge covered Victorian market hall in the centre of town running Tuesday to Saturday, with independent traders throughout. It is dog friendly and wheelchair accessible, and it is properly indoors — this is not a row of stalls under an awning.

Air Extreme

A clean, well-run trampoline park at Roundswell with sessions on the hour and free parking. Book ahead for a discount. It is the answer for teenagers, who are the hardest group to please on a wet Devon day.

Where to sit it out

The wet-weather walk

The Tarka Trail starts in Barnstaple and is paved and traffic-free the whole way, so there is no mud even after days of rain. Cycle hire at the town end. Benches and refreshment stops throughout.

If you would rather drive

The Milky Way past Bideford is largely indoors and about half an hour. Ilfracombe has the aquarium and the museum, around twenty-five minutes north.

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