Everything about Torbay totally explained
Torbay is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of
Lyme Bay in the south-west of
England, situated roughly midway between the cities of
Exeter and
Plymouth. Historically part of the county of
Devon, Torbay was made a
unitary authority on
April 1,
1998. Tourist authorities call it the English
Riviera on account of its beaches and mild climate; it's a popular area with holiday makers.
Geography
There are three main towns around the bay:
Torquay in the north,
Paignton in the centre, and
Brixham in the south, which have become connected over the years, swallowing up villages and towns such as
St Marychurch,
Cockington,
Marldon,
Churston Ferrers and
Galmpton.
Torbay, as an administrative area, was created in
1968 as a
County Borough, from the amalgamation of the
Boroughs of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. In October
2005 Torbay became the first area of the South West to have an elected Mayor with Nick Bye being the successful candidate.
The southern limit of Torbay is
Berry Head, and the northern limit is
Hopes Nose, although Torquay itself stretches further north into
Babbacombe Bay, where the beaches at
Oddicombe and
Babbacombe can be found; these are noted for their interesting
Breccia cliffs.
Torbay is bordered by the
South Hams to the south and west, and by
Teignbridge to the north. Nearby towns include
Totnes and
Dartmouth in the South Hams
Newton Abbot and
Teignmouth in Teignbridge.
Because of the mild climate, Torbay palm trees are a common sight along the coast. However, this 'palm' is in fact a cabbage tree (
Cordyline australis), originating from
New Zealand. These trees flourish elsewhere in the UK. It is suggested that the popularity of cabbage trees in Torbay is attributable to their first being introduced to the UK in that region.
The area has a large number of
European students learning
English.
The fishing port of Brixham is home to one of England and
Wales's most successful fishing fleets and regularly lands more value than any UK port outside of
Scotland.
Transport
Torbay has three stations on the
National Rail network:
These stations are now operated by
First Great Western, as are some of the journeys that operates through them since Wessex trains was taken over by the company in
2006.
Torbay lacks direct
motorway links and is served by the A380 road from
Exeter.
This road route into Torbay from Newton Abbot is congested in summer and during
commuter hours. There are plans to remedy the situation though no clear alternative have been found as the road passes by areas of outstanding natural beauty.
The bus franchise is largely operated by Stagecoach Devon of the similarly named group, that operates a large share of the market in Torbay and the neighbouring towns of South Devon.
Famous people
Famous former residents of Torbay include authors
Agatha Christie (who set many of her novels in a thinly disguised version of the borough),
Charles Kingsley,
Edmund Gosse and
Rudyard Kipling, the great industrialist and architect of the nearby
Atmospheric railway,
Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Prog-rock band
Wishbone Ash, and
supermodel Lily Cole also come from the borough. The
BBC1 actress Rebekah Gibbs who played Nina Farr in
Casualty and current
Pink TV (France) presenter
Mark Binmore also orginate from the area.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Torbay'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://torbay.totallyexplained.com">Torbay Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
