Thurlestone, South Devon
Thurlestone Apartments
Self-catering flats above the west-facing bay, a short walk from the sand and the coast path.
All apartments we list in Thurlestone
5 properties, with the street or area each one sits on. Prices and availability are shown on Booking.com when you open a property.
- Horizon — Kingsbridge
- 9 The Downs, Thurlestone overlooking Burgh Island — 9 The Downs
- 11 The Downs - Thurlestone — TQ7 3NG 11 The Downs
- 12 Burgh Island Causeway — Kingsbridge
- 6 Burgh Island — Kingsbridge
Apartments in Thurlestone
Apartments in Thurlestone put you on the ridge above the bay with a kitchen of your own and, in a good many cases, a view of the water and the arched rock standing off it. For two people it is usually the more sensible booking than a whole house in a village where whole houses are the norm.
Everything here is a short walk: Thurlestone Bay below the village, Leas Foot Sand round to the south-west, and the South West Coast Path running the length of the shore in both directions. This is the open, west-facing side of the South Hams, so the sun goes down over the sea rather than behind a hill.
It is a genuinely small village — under two thousand people in the parish at the 2011 census — so there is no high street to fall back on. Kingsbridge is about five miles east and is where the shopping happens.
View of the bay
The ridge sits above the water, so a great many of these look west over the bay and the rock. The evening light is the reason to book this side of the peninsula.
Everything on foot
The beach, Leas Foot Sand and the coast path are all a short walk. A car helps for the wider area but is not needed to fill a day here.
Small village, so plan
There is no high street. Kingsbridge, five miles east, is the supply run — worth doing on the way in rather than on the second morning.
Features & Amenities
More about Thurlestone
Thurlestone is built along a ridge above its bay, in the dark grey slate quarried in this part of Devon — the parish church of All Saints is built of it. The chancel went up early in the 13th century and the rest of the church through the 15th and 16th, and it is worth the few minutes it takes to look round.
The village takes its name from the rock offshore: the thirled stone, an arch worn through by the sea, standing in the bay in front of the village. Thurl is simply the Old English word for a hole. Below the ridge the sand runs north and south, with Leas Foot Sand tucked in just to the south-west.
This is the open, west-facing side of the South Hams, and it behaves differently from the estuary a few miles away. The water is livelier, the sun goes down over the sea rather than behind a hill, and the South West Coast Path along this shore is some of the easier walking on an otherwise demanding coastline. Hope Cove is the next village south.
Frequently Asked Questions About Thurlestone
About five miles (8 km) west of Kingsbridge, north along the shore from Hope Cove. Like Hope Cove it looks west into Bigbury Bay rather than into the Kingsbridge Estuary, and it is a small place — 1,886 residents at the 2011 census.
The arch-shaped rock standing offshore in Thurlestone Bay, and the reason the village has its name: the "thirled" stone, from the Old English thurl, meaning a hole. It is the landmark in every photograph of the bay.
Thurlestone Bay lies below the village, with Leas Foot Sand a small beach just to the south-west and more sand running north along the shore. These are open-coast beaches facing west, so conditions vary a great deal more than inside the estuary — read the local signage on the day.
Yes. The South West Coast Path runs the length of this shore, south towards Hope Cove and Bolt Tail and north towards Bantham. It is a gentler stretch than the cliffs beyond Bolt Head, which makes it more usable for a casual day out.
It is on the other side of the peninsula, so it is a drive of a few miles inland and back out rather than a walk along the coast. If your trip is mostly about Salcombe and the estuary, stay closer to it; if it is about beaches and the coast path, this side has the better of both.