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Lynton & Lynmouth and surrounding coast and countryside; Valley of Rocks, Watersmeet and Heddon Valley often being referred to as 'Little Switzerland' can be attributed to the Romantic poet, and later Poet Laureate, Robert Southey: "From the Summerhouse Hill between the two is a prospect most magnificent - on either hand, combes and river; before, the beautiful little village, which, I am assured by one who is familiar with Switzerland, resembles a Swiss village".
Robert Southey had traveled to Lynton in 1799, journeying along the Exmoor coast via Porlock, and staying at one of Lynton's Inns. The poet's praise of Lynton & Lynmouth was used widely in publicity as "England's Little Switzerland" for the developing tourism industry, while his likening of the area to Switzerland sparked off a fashion for building in a Swiss style.
Lynton & Lynmouth were discovered in the early 1800s when the Napoleonic Wars closed the Continent to travelers; unable to make their Grand Tour of Europe due to the conflict visitors to Lynton & Lynmouth christened the area “Little Switzerland” as it was reminiscent and evocative of their earlier sojourns through the Alps en route to Italy.
The twin villages of Lynton & Lynmouth are situated on the heritage coast of Exmoor National Park in North Devon. Lynton stands above the harbour village of Lynmouth nestling beneath the cliffs to which it is connected by the water powered funicular railway, Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway.
The area was visited by other literary figures such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blackmore and Shelley, and years later it was the scene of the devastating Lynmouth flood when overnight over 100 buildings and 28 bridges were destroyed, 35 people died, with a further 420 made homeless.
Lynton & Lynmouth is now often referred to as the 'Walking Capital of Exmoor': "No wonder then, that the area is known as ‘the walking capital of Exmoor’!" The South West Coast Path and Tarka Trail pass through, while the Two Moors Way, Samaritans Way South West and the Coleridge Way all finish there. The twin villages are also the centre for the 21 Mile Drive figure of eight scenic route around 'Little Switzerland'.