Torre Abbey Sands

Three point two miles of cliff and cove walking out to the fossil headland at Hope's Nose and back over the flat limestone top of Walls Hill, about two hours with 210 metres of climbing and several long flights of steps. Start at the pay-and-display car park on Anstey's Cove Road, a ten-minute walk from Kents Cavern and on the number 22 bus route; the descent to the cove itself is steep and Redgate Beach beyond it is fenced off because of rockfall. Anstey's Cove and Babbacombe are two of the Torbay beaches where dogs are allowed all year, so this is the reliable Torquay walk in August, but the meadow on Walls Hill is grazed in places and the cliff edges above Hope's Nose are unfenced and crumbling.

A 3.4-mile loop of the whole 450-acre estate, an hour and a half on tarmac drives, laid paths and bridleways through parkland, water meadows, three ornamental lakes and the woods above Manscombe, with only 110 metres of climbing. Park in the pay-and-display car park by Cockington Court, five minutes from Torre Abbey and served by town buses, and note that the shorter lake circuit is fully surfaced if the woodland tracks are wet. Dogs are welcome across the park and there is water in the lakes and the stream, though the ornamental rose garden and the craft studios are best done on a lead; the Drum Inn at the village end takes dogs and serves food daily.

Britain's oldest scheduled monument, a prehistoric cave system under a Torquay hillside. The caves themselves are closed to dogs and so is the Woodland Trail, but the gardens are open to them and the cafe describes itself as very dog friendly, which makes this a coffee stop rather than a day out with a dog in tow.