Kingsbridge, South Devon

Kingsbridge Holiday Homes

Self-catering houses and cottages in the market town at the head of the estuary, and in the countryside around it.

All holiday homes we list in Kingsbridge

21 properties, with the street or area each one sits on. Prices and availability are shown on Booking.com when you open a property.

Holiday Homes in Kingsbridge

Kingsbridge is the market town for this corner of Devon and the one place on this site that behaves like a town all year — shops, supermarkets, somewhere open in February, and main roads out of it rather than single-track lanes. A holiday home here is a base for reaching the coast rather than a house on it.

That trade is the whole argument. Salcombe is at the far end of the estuary; Thurlestone and Hope Cove are on the west-facing coast about five miles away; Slapton and Start Bay are east. From Kingsbridge all of them are a straightforward drive. From any one of them, the others are not.

Properties here split between the town itself — within a walk of the quay and the main street — and the farmland and hamlets around it, which is where the larger houses and the converted barns tend to be. The town options are the ones that work in winter; the outlying ones are the ones with the space and the parking.

A base with reach

Both coasts of the peninsula are a short drive, and so is the estuary. If the trip takes in several beaches rather than one, this is the sensible place to put the car.

Open out of season

The coastal villages here are seasonal in a way the town is not. A February stay in Kingsbridge has shops, supermarkets and places to eat; a February stay in a cove often does not.

Town or countryside

In town you are walking to the quay and the main street. Out of it you get space, parking and quiet, and you are driving to everything — including the bread.

Features & Amenities

Whole property with a kitchen and your own entrance
Walking distance of the shops and the quay, or space and parking outside town
The one base here that works through the winter
Both coasts of the South Hams within a short drive
Bedrooms and sleeping capacity stated per listing

More about Kingsbridge

Kingsbridge sits at the top of the water. The Kingsbridge Estuary is a ria — a river valley drowned when sea levels rose — and it extends to the sea six miles (10 km) south of the town. At the town end that produces a broad expanse of mud and wading birds at low tide and a full basin at high, which is a better thing to watch than it sounds.

It is the market town for the South Hams and it behaves like one: a main street of independent shops, supermarkets, a quay, and enough open through the winter that a February stay here is a different proposition from a February stay in a coastal village. The Cookworthy Museum occupies the old grammar school, founded and built by Thomas Crispin in 1670.

For a visitor the argument for Kingsbridge is reach. Salcombe is at the far end of the estuary, Thurlestone and Hope Cove are over on the west-facing coast, Slapton and Start Bay are east, and all of them are a short drive. It is also, at 6,116 residents in the 2011 census, the only place on this site big enough to be a town in the ordinary sense of the word.

Frequently Asked Questions About Kingsbridge

At the northern end of the Kingsbridge Estuary, which extends to the sea six miles (10 km) south of the town. It is the market town for this whole corner of Devon, with a population of 6,116 at the 2011 census — several times the size of anywhere else on this site.

Because it is a town that works all year. There are shops, supermarkets, places to eat that are open in February, and a road network that reaches the whole of the South Hams without first getting down a single-track lane. It is the sensible base for a trip that takes in several beaches rather than one.

Not quite. It sits at the head of a ria — a drowned valley — so the water at the quay is salt and tidal but the open sea is six miles south. At low tide the upper estuary is largely mud and wading birds, which is part of its appeal rather than a disappointment.

The Cookworthy Museum occupies the former grammar school, founded and built by Thomas Crispin in 1670, and covers the history of the South Hams. Beyond that it is a working market town: the quay, the independent shops along the main street, and the estuary path. Most visitors use it as a base and a supply stop rather than a sight in itself.

Salcombe is at the far end of the estuary; Thurlestone and Hope Cove are on the west-facing coast about five miles away. All of them are a straightforward drive from here rather than a lane-by-lane expedition, which is the argument for the town. The argument against is equally simple — you are not on a beach.