Ilfracombe Aquarium

Set in the Old Lifeboat House on Ilfracombe's pier since 2001, the aquarium follows the water home: its tanks trace a single journey from an Exmoor stream source down through the rivers to the harbour and out to Lundy, through as many as seventy-five local species — everything in the building from the neighbourhood, nothing tropical flown in. It is an independent company under founder-director Lawrence Raybone, with a café and gift shop attached, and it keeps a long season, February to November, from ten each morning.