The Double Locks Hotel is not easy to find but it has long been a special favourite of mine. You need to determinedly drive through an unappealing industrial estate then turn down an inconspicuous lane that gives no clue to your final destination and then finally over a canal bridge almost too narrow to take a family car. However once there, few would deny that the Double Locks has been worth persevering for and we have returned a number of times since first discovering it almost 20 years ago.

When I say the Double Locks is hard to find, I mean it is hard by road. In truth, it is perfectly located for visiting by boat or via an easy walk or cycle ride from Exeter Canal Basin just one and a half miles away. And this is what makes it so appealing - its one of those tucked away places that encourages you to leave the car behind and explore by more traditional means.

And if you insist upon seeking it out by car, well, that is almost an adventure in its own right...

Double Locks Hotel
Canal Banks,
Exeter, EX2 6LT
01392 256947
www.doublelocks.com

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Get the train from Exeter to Teignmouth, walk from the station to the seafront, and walk towards the ness, along the beach, around from the channel to the mouth of the river Teign, then walk along the river beach - you will be opposite Shaldon, and see Dartmoor up the River Teign.

Get the Teignmouth ferry to Shaldon, walk up to the ness, go through the smuggler's tunnel on to the beach. Return to Teignmouth on the ferry, and continue walking along the river beach, you will pass a row of original fisherman's cottages, and come to the Ship Inn, buy a pint and watch the sun setting over the moors.

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