County motto: By divine aid
Best thing The celebrated landscape from Exmoor to the Exe valley is as fine as any in England
Heroes Sir Francis Drake; Sir Walter Raleigh; explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett (the inspiration for Indiana Jones); the Duke of Marlborough
Local food Devon clotted cream; scrumpy cider; Devonshire Splits; Beenleigh Blue cheese; Burts Crisps; Barnstaple Fair Pears simmered in cider; Tavistock farmer’s market
Oldest F. H. Jacka, the oldest commercial bakery in the world, made biscuits for the Pilgrim Fathers setting sail from Plymouth
Artistic connections Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Agatha Christie; Sir Joshua Reynolds (the first president of the Royal Academy); Peter Cook
Events Devon County Show; Widecombe Fair; Teignmouth Regatta; Tar-Barrel Racing, Ottery St Mary; Turning the Devil’s Stone (dropped on his way to Hell), Shebbear; Hunting the Earl of Rone, Combe Martin
Houses and churches Robert Adam’s Saltram; fortified medieval Compton Castle; Lutyens’ Drogo Castle; the ‘cabinet of curiosities’ A La Ronde; Buckland Abbey; Exeter Cathedral
Etymology Devon is named for the Celtic people known as the Dumnonii, thought to mean ‘deep valley dwellers’
Worst thing The deep bogs capable of swallowing a whole tractor in a single gulp
One for the road The ‘unfussy and exceptionally friendly’ Duke ofYork, Iddesleigh, is an award-winnng pub
Fauna Devon is a stronghold for the cirl bunting, one of the rarest breeding birds in England; Dartmoor ponies have been roaming the moor for 3,500 years
Architectural identity Thatched cottages made of cob, an inexpensive and sculptural building material
Population 1,122,100 Acreage 1,690,413 County flower Primrose Miles of footpath 2,1198 Hours of sunshine 1524.3 Highest peak High Willhays 621m/2,039ft Life expectancy 80.6 years Did you know? The world’s first Jack Russell was bred in Dartmouth by a parson called John Russell
