Whenever I've travelled to the Devon coast, I've always headed east but after catching an incredible sunrise over Teignmouth while on the train to Plymouth, I've always wanted to explore this part of the county. Earlier this week, I decided to get off at Starcross, a sometimes overlooked village situated on the western part of the Exe Estuary.
But don't be fooled. Just because visitors - dare we say grockles - might make a beeline for the seaside doesn't mean that Starcross doesn't have anything to offer in its own right. The village is steeped in history with Brunel's failed Atmospheric Railway line and home to one of the oldest sailing clubs in the world.
Not to mention the stunning views. Upon arrival, I was struck with the tranquillity of the place and felt all my stresses melt away as I strolled along The Strand, surrounded by charming and well-kept buildings on the one side and the sea breeze blowing from the other.
The first person I spoke to was Nia and she also gushed over the place. She moved to Dawlish from South Wales five years ago and comes to Starcross working for coffee van business Teign Bean. The company has multiple sites throughout Teignbridge.
Nia said: "It's beautiful, it's absolutely stunning. You can get on the water and see it from that angle and I think a lot of people don't get to see that. It looks completely different. I catch the train to Exeter and back sometimes and it constantly blows my mind that I get to live near here. I think it's so underrated. I think because I'm not from here that I appreciate it more. The train journey is incredible."
While some might be put off by living or working so close to a railway line, Nia explained that it captures the spirit of the village. She said train drivers always beep when local children wave at them passing through the station.
She said: "You can see people sitting along here on the benches, watching the trains go past. The kids walk up and down and they wave at the train drivers and they always beep and wave back. It's lovely to see. It's those things that I think people tend to miss but because I'm here all day, I see those things. It's a lovely part of the world."
She added that she's got to know the locals and says she even misses them when working at other Teign Bean sites, saying: "They're great. There's people who work across the road who come to us for their lunch breaks. They are great, always have a friendly smile, ask how we are and you sort of build up a relationship with them. When I don't work here, I miss it because I want to go back and see how everybody's doing."
I watched as traffic squeezed through the narrow streets of the village at peak time. Nia said this is probably the only annoyance, especially during the summer, but explained that it comes with the territory and helps to boost the local economy.
She said: "The traffic in peak season with the holidaymakers but you've got to accept that to keep things going through the winter. We've got to appreciate that they keep us going and keep the locals in jobs."
When you look up Starcross online, one of the most talked about features is its Atmospheric Railway. This was an ambitious experiment by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for atmospheric propulsion, or trains that 'ran on air', on the South Devon railway in the 1840s. Within a year, the scheme was abandoned due to a flawed system.
Nonetheless, the idea hasn't been forgotten and the pumping engine house still stands and is home to Starcross Fishing & Cruising Club. In another nod to the village's history, the pub opposite the train station is called The Atmospheric Railway Inn.
There we found Gill Angliss, who has worked as front of house for two and a half years. Born and bred in Teignbridge and currently living further up the estuary, she knows Starcross well. While she says she doesn't "need to work", she jumped at the opportunity when landlord and lady John and Clare took over. Gill said: "After the pandemic, John and Clare took this on and gave me a job here. I don't really need to work but I just like to get out and meet people."
When asked what life is like in Starcross, at first she said she only thought of it as "somewhere that you drive through". However, she did say that it had more to offer than some other villages.
She said: "It's somewhere that you drive through but, having said that, there is a lot here. We've got a pub, the spa. The village where I live, there's nothing anymore, it's all closed down. The ferry is very popular and the train's stop here for main line to Paddington. It's got two pubs. We do well for food here.
"Next week it'll be very busy. They've got all the camps nearby so they all come here. There's a lovely garden out the back which families like to go in and we're dog-friendly."
In a small corner of The Strand, a patch of grass has been fashioned into a village green with a hedge running alongside it. Despite being on the village's main road, it offers a quiet place to sit and watch the world go by. That's exactly what I found Ruth, a local of ten years, and her daughter doing on a sunny afternoon.
Ruth moved to Starcross from Exeter 10 years ago and says the village mostly attracts dogwalkers. She said: "I love it, it is absolutely beautifully calm. It's lovely, it's fresh, it's unpolluted. You wouldn't be able to sit like this at the end of a main road. Not much happens here but we're mostly dogwalkers.
"No one stops, it's more of a passing place because of the camps down the road. People come as day visitors for the view along the estuary and the walk from here to Dawlish and to Teignmouth and to Powderham Castle.
"We've got little bits going on and we're so close to everything else but off the beaten track."
Another defining feature of Starcross is its ferry that runs to and from Exmouth everyday between April and October. Working at the end of the pier I found Jonathan Rackley who is part of the family that has operated the ferry since around 1985.
While he says Starcross is "like any other place", he says the spectacular view is something that he certainly takes for granted while working there. He went on to say that the village appears to be better kept than his hometown of Dawlish.
Jonathan said: "It's a small village but you do take the view for granted when you're here everyday. At least they do stuff here. No one seems to do anything nowadays. Everything's overgrown [in Dawlish]."
