Lynton and Lynmouth, also known as Little Switzerland, is the scenic landscape in and around the villages of

Lynton Lynton is a town on the Exmoor coast in the North Devon district in the county of Devon, England, approximately north-east of Barnstaple and west of Minehead, and close to the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers. Governance ...

and

Lynmouth Lynmouth is a village in Devon, England, on the northern edge of Exmoor. The village straddles the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers, in a gorge below Lynton, which was the only place to expand to once Lynmouth became as built ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, which resembles the landscapes of Switzerland. It includes the surrounding coast and countryside:

Valley of Rocks The Valley of Rocks, sometimes called Valley of the Rocks, is a dry valley that runs parallel to the coast in north Devon, England, about to the west of the village of Lynton. It is a popular tourist destination, noted for its herd of feral ...

, Watersmeet and Heddon Valley. The resemblance was popularised by the Romantic Movement poets

Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...

, Shelley and Southey: Southey had traveled to Lynton in 1799, journeying along the

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath ...

coast via

Porlock Porlock is a coastal village in Somerset, England, west of Minehead. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 1,440. In 2017, Porlock had the highest percentage of elderly population in Britain, with over 40% being of pensionable ag ...

, and staying at one of Lynton's Inns. The poet's praise of Lynton and Lynmouth was used in publicity as the "English Switzerland" for the developing tourism industry, while his likening of the area to Switzerland sparked off a fashion for building in a Swiss style. Lynton and Lynmouth were discovered in the early 1800s when the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

closed the Continent to travelers; unable to make their

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

of Europe due to the conflict, visitors to Lynton and Lynmouth found the area evocative of their earlier sojourns in the Alps en route to Italy. The twin villages of Lynton and Lynmouth are situated on the heritage coast of

Exmoor National Park Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath. ...

in North Devon. Lynton stands above the harbour village of Lynmouth nestling beneath the cliffs to which it is connected by the water-powered

funicular railway A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway The Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway is a water-powered funicular railway joining the twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth on the rugged coast of North Devon in southwest England. Lynton and Lynmouth are separated by a high cliff, making it har ...

. In 1952 it was the scene of the devastating Lynmouth flood when overnight over 100 buildings and 28 bridges were destroyed, 35 people died with a further 420 made homeless. The Lynton and Lynmouth area is now often referred to as the 'Walking Capital of Exmoor': "No wonder then, that the area is known as 'the walking capital of Exmoor!'" The

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises a ...

and

Tarka Trail The Tarka Trail is a series of footpaths and cyclepaths (rail trails) around north Devon, England that follow the route taken by the fictional Tarka the Otter in the book of that name. It covers a total of in a figure-of-eight route, centred o ...

pass through, while the

Two Moors Way The Two Moors Way is a long-distance trail mostly in Devon, UK, first established in 1976. It links Dartmoor and Exmoor and has been extended to become a Devon Coast-to-Coast trail. History The Two Moors Way was the brainchild of Joe Turner ...

Samaritans Way South West Samaritans Way South West is a Long-distance footpath in South West England. It was officially opened on 21 April 2004 by the Ramblers Vice Chairman, the Samaritans (charity) Chief Executive and a farmer from Gloucestershire who headed the Farm ...

and the

Coleridge Way The Coleridge Way is a long-distance trail in Somerset and Devon, England. It was opened in April 2005, and the route links several sites associated with the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge starting from Coleridge Cottage at Nether Stowey. Or ...

all finish there. The twin villages are also the centre for the ''21 Mile Drive'' figure of eight

scenic route A scenic route, tourist road, tourist route, tourist drive, holiday route, theme route, or scenic byway is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. It often passes by scenic viewpoint ...

around ''Little Switzerland''. The civil parish was formerly called "''Lynton''" but was renamed to "Lynton and Lynmouth".

References

Further reading