When people stop off in Devon (all too frequently on their way to glitzier Cornwall) they rarely make it far north. The well-to-do, pretty villages dotted around Dartmoor and the lure of the ‘English Riviera’ down south so often pull in the crowds that the north coast can often be left feeling a little lonely.
Growing up in the area and popping down to Bude (traitor, yes, it’s in Cornwall), the feeling of gazing out at the actual Atlantic Ocean was an incredible feeling. None of your English Channel tininess; just pure, massive sea. The coastline is rugged, often topped with a toupee of gorse bushes, and you can (on a clear day) stare out at Lundy island, that puffin-topped craggy rock out at sea.
When we started researching our trip to Devon, one chef was more excited, gregarious and downright passionate than all the others – Noel Corston, a local in Woolacombe since the age of fifteen (though anyone who’s from Devon will say you’re not a true local until you’re a few generations in the area).
Now, if you’re familiar with Woolacombe, you might find it hard to believe that there’s a chef there running a ten-seat, counter-eating, open-kitchened, seven-course tasting menu, dinner-only type of place, at what many would most definitely call ‘London prices’. But there he is in his kitchen, four nights a week. This kind of a concept would be hard to pull off in central London, but he’s smashing it in this sleepy seaside village, more known for its award-winning beach and hoards of seasonal surfers than its fine dining scene.