Dartmouth’s Lower Ferry named one of UK’s best

We’re excited to be named as one of the Guardian newspaper’s six best ferry crossings in the UK!

We’ve always known this is a jewel in our crown but have a read below about what they had to say about our historic Lower Ferry. Perhaps an excuse for a family day out!

Dartmouth has a huge heritage of sailing and boats, and the lower ferry across the mouth of the River Dart is an absolute classic. The best approach is on the steam railway from Paignton, which brings you into what was once the Great Western Railway’s imposing Kingswear station on the east bank of the river. Alternatively, you could walk to Kingswear on the South West Coast Path from Brixham (a 10-mile yomp). 

There has been a ferry here since the 14th century and the latest incarnation is a barge with room for eight cars towed by a tugboat. The crossing is short but memorable, the flanks of the steeply wooded valley looming over a fast-moving tidal river that froths around the barge as it picks its way through a busy shipping lane. 

Landing is right in town, next to the blue plaque for John Davis, one of the great sea dogs of Devon, who searched for the Northwest Passage and died at the hands of pirates near Singapore in 1605. 

If the crossing has whetted the appetite, walk upriver along the historic waterfront to the Upper Dart ferry, another interesting boat. Originally a floating platform linked to cross-river chains that were pulled by horses, today it’s a diesel-electric paddle engine combined with cables that can manage about 18 cars.