Short answer: January is quiet, and that is the point of it. The <strong>New Year’s Day swims</strong> are on Friday the 1st. Almost everything else ends in the first three days: the pantomimes close on the 2nd and 3rd, and the <strong>Bay of Lights</strong> and <strong>Plymouth Winter Wonderland</strong> both finish on Sunday the 3rd. After that it is empty beaches, storm watching, village pantomimes and the wassails.
Friday 1 January: the New Year’s Day swims. Organised locally rather than county-wide, in the coastal towns, and free. Our page has how they actually work and where to find each town’s time, because almost none of them are advertised more than a week ahead.
Friday 1 January: Plymouth Winter Wonderland, 12pm to 7pm.
Saturday 2 January: the pantomimes close at Torquay, Exeter Corn Exchange, Paignton and Exmouth.
Sunday 3 January: the last day for a great deal at once — the Bay of Lights, the Winter Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty at Exeter Northcott, Cinderella at Theatre Royal Plymouth and Snow White at Barnstaple all finish. By Monday the Devon winter season is over.
Sunday 10 January: Cinderella at the Palace Theatre, Paignton. A single date, and the last Christmas show standing in Devon.
Monday 18 January (expected): the Whimple Wassail, in the orchards at Whimple near Exeter. The village holds it on the evening of Old Twelvy Night, 17 January, or the following day when the 17th falls on a Sunday — which it does in 2027, so the rule puts it on Monday the 18th. Gather from 6.30pm at the Whimple Heritage Centre on Church Road, wassailing from 7pm, finishing at the cricket club. Free, with donations. Bring a torch and something to make a noise with. Parking is very limited and the village asks people to come by train; Whimple station is a third of a mile away. Confirm the date with the Heritage Centre before you travel.
Saturday 23 to Monday 25 January (unconfirmed): Shrek the Musical Jr at The Flavel, Dartmouth. Listed without a year, so check before booking.
All month: the village pantomimes. Most Devon villages with a hall run theirs in January rather than December, and they are rarely advertised more than a fortnight ahead — the parish noticeboard and the village Facebook group are where they turn up. A few pounds, and the cheapest night out of the winter. The theatre pantomimes are here.
Storm watching. The north coast and the south-west facing bays get the weather first. Dawlish is the classic — the railway runs along the sea wall and the waves come over it — but watch it from the station end rather than the wall itself.
Empty beaches. Woolacombe, Westward Ho! and Saunton, from Braunton are three miles of sand with nobody on them, and the winter dog restrictions have lifted.
Cheap parking. Winter parking rates run until Easter in most towns, and several seafront car parks are free outright.
Things that stay open. What is actually open in Devon in winter is the honest list, and Exeter in winter is the one day out that works whatever the weather does.
New Year's Eve in Devon covers the night before.
December was the busy one. February half term is the next thing in the diary, and the light trails and Santa trains do not return until the end of November 2027.
Pick a town and plan the day around who's with you.
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