Picture perfect and so much more...

Cobbled streets, flower-strewn cottages and resident donkeys have helped Clovelly become ‘the most Instagrammable village in the UK’. But this place is much more than just a good photo opportunity, as CHRISSY HARRIS discovers

- CHRISSY HARRIS

C lovelly’s harbourmaster Stephen Perham has seen it many times. “People arrive here, walk down the street as quick as they can, have something to eat and disappear again,” he says. “But you’ve got to take your time in Clovelly; you’ve got to fully absorb it to appreciate it. When you’re sitting on the harbour wall, just think, that was built in the 1300s. Walk through the side streets, look in the museum, explore the woods, the Victorian gardens. Enjoy your time here.”

This North Devon village perched 400ft high on a clifftop has been attracting visitors from all over the world for centuries.

Clovelly is privately owned so you have to pay an entry fee, making it one of the most unique places in the country.

People love its unspoilt feel and come to admire the quaint, whitewashed cottages with flowering hanging baskets, which tumble ‘like a waterfall’ down to the port.

And then there are some of the most breath-taking views over Bideford Bay and across the coastline, towards the North Atlantic Ocean. It’s easy to see why Clovelly makes it into so many social media feeds. But this village was built around the herring fishing industry and still has a deep connection to the sea and its ‘silver darlings’, as the herring are known.

Each November, the village comes out to celebrate its world-famous heritage at the annual Herring Festival, which features cookery demonstrations, exhibitions, live music and plenty of food and drink.