Short answer: Cockington Country Park is free and is the best value day out in Torquay — a thatched village, craft workshops, lakes and playgrounds with no entrance fee. The cliff railway is a couple of pounds each way. Torre Abbey Sands costs nothing beyond parking.
Torquay has more paid attractions than anywhere else in this guide, and that is a problem on fifty pounds. Kents Cavern, Babbacombe Model Village and Dinosaur World are all worth doing and none of them is cheap for a family of four. Pick one, or pick none — because the free options here are genuinely good.
Cockington Country Park has no entrance fee at all. A thatched village, a manor house, a collection of craft workshops, lakes, formal gardens, woodland walks and children's playgrounds — plus two tea rooms, an ice cream shop and a Lutyens-designed pub if you want to spend something. Reviewers point out plainly that the best part is that it is accessible to all because there is no charge.
Bring a picnic and you have most of a day for the cost of the parking, which is the only difficulty — it gets busy.
The Babbacombe Cliff Railway is around £2.50 per adult each way, takes four minutes, and has run since 1926. Card payment only. It is a genuine bit of heritage, the views going down are the point, and dogs travel. Ride down, walk back up the path if you are feeling energetic and want to halve the cost.
Torre Abbey Sands is wide, sandy and the cleanest part of central Torquay, with plenty of paid parking along the front. Meadfoot is quieter with a café above the beach huts. Both cost nothing beyond the parking, and Babbacombe Downs — the highest promenade in England — is free to walk with the best views in the bay.
Burridge's on Victoria Parade bakes everything from scratch and is the best coffee and brunch in town. Meadfoot Beach Cafe does food made to order with outdoor tables facing the sea, and stays open in poor weather. Both are café prices rather than restaurant ones.
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