Celebrate Easter in Ilfracombe

Easter breaks in Ilfracombe

Shake off the winter blues and get away for a wonderful Easter break in Ilfracombe, packed with attractions and activities to suit all ages and set against the stunning North Devon coastline.

With the Easter weekend in April this year, with Good Friday on April 7, the weather should be much warmer too so why not enjoy the first warmer days of spring in a stunning coastal resort?

Where to stay in Ilfracombe this Easter

There is no shortage of places to stay in and around Ilfracombe for your Easter break, whether you’d like to go camping, a self-catering cottage, hotel or bed and breakfast – there is something to suit all preferences and budgets.

The Carlton Hotel is offering an Easter Weekend Break special and is pleased to introduce its newly refurbished family rooms too.

The package includes dinner, giving you and extra 20% to spend in the Brasserie and offering great value to help stretch the budget further.

A superb breakfast is served every day and there is an Easter Sunday lunch too, which promises a handsome feast for the family with local ingredients and top class produce plus great ambience and service.

So why not make your Easter break a real foodie weekend with plenty of time for relaxation?

There is an EV charge point on site too, so those with EVs can top up on arrival without the hassle of having to search for a recharging station.

Would you like to wake up and help feed the new spring lambs every morning during your Easter break? For something a little different, Lower Campscott Farm at Lee just outside Ilfracombe offers the chance to do just that.

Each year the farm adopts some orphan lambs and guests staying in the high class self-catering cottages and lodges can join Farmer Tony on his morning rounds to help bottle feed them.

The farm has updated all of its cottages and lodges throughout the winter too ready for reopening at the end of March.

To find out more about taking a break on the farm, click here.

Ilfracombe Holiday Park offers a variety of apartments to suit couples or large and small families, as well as dog-friendly accommodation too.

Well placed at the top of the town within easy reach of the town centre or the wider North Devon beyond, the park has in-house entertainment, an indoor swimming pool, The Monkey Puzzle restaurant, soft play, regular events and much more.

The holiday park will be serving an Easter Sunday and Easter Monday roast for residents and the public on April 9 and 10, from 1pm to 7pm. Call 07503 695749 to book.

To see many more accommodation offers in and around Ilfracombe,
from caravan parks to B&Bs and hotels, visit our full listing.

Awesome Easter attractions

Ilfracombe is surrounded by some brilliant family attractions that will appeal to all ages, come rain or shine.

Combe Martin Wildlife & Dinosaur Park offers a great day out with plenty of animals to admire, from an African lion to primates, wolves, meerkats, penguins and sealions, as well as sealion shows, animal encounters and daily talks and displays.

The park is also full of dinosaurs, lurking behind every corner – and some of them move! Including the mighty T-Rex, walk past him at your peril!

The park is running a Dino Easter Egg Hunt from March 27 through to April 16 – find all 10 eggs hidden around the park and collect a prize.

Spaces may be limited so please do book your visit in advance.

The Big Sheep is one of North Devon’s premier attractions and is offering plenty of fun on the farm this Easter.

There is absolutely loads available for all ages to see and do – feed the new born lambs, meet the animals and the Easter Bunny, ride the Rampage roller coaster and Twister or perhaps a more sedate ride, watch the sheep racing or climb and slide in the Indoor Play Zone.

The attraction has teamed up with Bloomsbury Books for The Big Sheep Easter Egg Hunt Challenge – go on and Easter egg hunt around the farm and solve the hidden word challenge. Plus enter a prize draw to win your weight in books!

Book your Easter visit to The Big Sheep now.

The Milky Way Adventure Park is promising a unique Easter experience with an Easter Grotto and the chance to meet the Easter Bunny too!

Ages one to 10 can go down the rabbit hole to visit the newly expanded Easter Bunny HQ, meet the Eggsperts who control chocolate egg production and join in with them to help solve puzzles, make music and have lots of fun learning the egg making process. Then it’s on to meet the Bunny and receive a chocolatey treat!

Book tickets to meet the Easter Bunny and much more – click here.

Lynton & Barnstaple Railway at Woody Bay is the last narrow gauge adventure and the steam heritage railway in the UK where you can travel in Victorian carriages that were designed in the 1890s.

Open from the start of April, ride steam trains through rolling countryside with views out to the wild moorland and rugged coasts, just as people visiting North Devon would have during the heyday of steam.

What you see at the restored Woody Bay Station and surrounds today is just the start of a major project to rebuild one of the most famous and picturesque narrows gauge railways in the world.

For train timetables and much more, visit the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway website.

For the full list of attractions in and around Ilfracombe, make sure you click here.

Easter events in Ilfracombe

There is fun for all the family at the Ilfracombe Lifeboats big Easter Egg-stravaganza on Saturday, April 8 from 11am to 3pm at the RNLI lifeboat station right in the harbour.

Join the Easter Egg Hunt, browse stalls, games, crafts, a tombola, books, enjoy refreshments and much more.

Plus look around the boathouse itself, admire the town’s all-weather and inshore lifeboats and meet some of the volunteers dedicated to saving lives at sea.

Join Devon Ghost Tours for a blend of local history and the spooky side of Ilfracombe with a Harbour Ghost Tour on Thursday, April 13 at 7pm.

This paranormal-themed historical tour will introduce you to the history of the harbour, the many local ghost stories and a variety of reputed haunted locations, some of which may surprise you!

The tour runs every Thursday evening – visit the Devon Ghost Tours website for more information.

Broomhill Estate has a variety of events running throughout April, as well as its amazing Sculpture Gardens packed with a fascinating array of modern sculptures to inspire and amaze.

On Saturday and Sunday, April 1-2, join Max Woosey, ‘the boy in the tent’; for Max’s Final Camp Out Festival.

After living in a tent for three years and raising almost one million pounds for North Devon Hospice, Max has decided to come in from the cold after one final big camping adventure in the grounds of Broomhill.

For more information and tickets, click here for more Broomhill events including a contemporary cooking masterclass.

Activities in Ilfracombe this Easter

Warmer weather means there’s so much to see and do in and around Ilfracombe, from coastal walks and cycling to fishing or taking a boat trip from the harbour. Plus, there are plenty of indoor activities to enjoy this Easter too!

Easter wouldn’t be Easter without chocolate and a visit to Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium in the High Street is an absolute must for chocholics!

A variety of family-friendly chocolate making workshops will be running throughout April, including the opportunity to decorate and take home your own Easter egg.

This is ideal for younger children, teens and parents too – perfect to keep the family happy when the weather is not so great outside.

Get yourself a fabulous-looking Easter egg … a super introduction to chocolate, learn a little about chocolate and create a personalised Easter egg just how you like it.

Plus the Emporium stocks a wide range of chocolates to suit all tastes, as well as a Chocolate Museum, complete with six foot tall chocolate man!

For workshop details and how to book, visit the Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium website.

Pop along to Bicclescombe Mill Tea Rooms on Good Friday and join their Easter Egg Hunt to find coloured Eggs throughout the park

Take a dive this Easter with a series of sessions to try scuba diving at Ilfracombe in a heated outdoor pool – it could be the start if your brand new adventure hobby.

Easy Divers will be running the two hour sessions during the Easter holidays – these sessions are open to anyone aged 10 and above who can swim 25 metres unaided.

Why not give it a try if you’ve always fancied scuba diving? And next time you visit, you could learn to dive and meet the seals at Lundy Island!

Click here to find out more.

Ilfracombe Holiday Park is offering plenty of family fun to visitors as well as on site guests this Easter, including use of the heated swimming pool following its grand re-opening on April 1. No need to book, just turn up and pay at reception.

Easter Kids Club is running daily at the park from Monday, April 3 to Thursday 6 and again from Tuesday 11 to Friday 14. This includes pool parties, Easter egg hunts, a visit from Exmoor Zoo animals, plus various workshops including a movie-making workshop! Click on the link for more information and tickets.

The park is also hosting a Teddy Bear Picnic and Easter Egg Hunt on Friday, April 7 from 1-4pm.

Ilfracombe Museum

There is lots to do at Ilfracombe Museum this Easter, as well as plenty of great interactive exhibits to browse covering a wide variety of local history from Victorian times to the war years and beyond, plus a host of fascinating – and sometimes bizarre – natural history collections.

Spring-themed children’s craft activities will be running on Wednesday, April 12 from 10am to 12noon, priced at £3 for the first child and £2 for siblings, with accompanying adults free. Visit the Ilfracombe Museum Facebook page for more on the latest evets and activities.

Take to the water this Easter

Ilfracombe harbour comes to life in April and you can book a variety of sight-seeing boat trips and fishing trips from the kiosks on the quay or in advance.

Explore the rugged Exmoor coastline, watch for seals, dolphins and porpoises and enjoy a wide array of bird life.

It is also possible to visit the magnificent Lundy Island for a day, on board the MS Oldenburg or via one of the Ilfracombe Sea Safari shuttles.

For trips on the Oldenburg, please click here. Please note there has been a short delay to her sailing season up to and including April 8, due to maintenance.

For much more about the many boat trips and harbour activities on offer, weather permitting,
please visit our activities page.

Come rain or shine, there will be lots for you to see and do in Ilfracombe this Easter as the wonderful North Devon coastline shakes off its winter coat and dons its lovely spring mantle.

After such a long dark winter and one with a sting in its tail, treat your family to a break in Ilfracombe and forget those winter blues!