Lyn and Exmoor Museum

The Lyn and Exmoor Museum sits in Lynton, Devon, inside the town’s oldest surviving stone cottage. The whitewashed building, listed Grade II, holds seven rooms of exhibits and a small garden. It stands on the edge of Exmoor National Park, where the cliffs meet the Bristol Channel. The cottage itself dates from the 17th century, its thick walls and low doorways unchanged. Visitors step from the street straight into a quiet slice of local history. Inside are displays that bring Exmoor’s past to life. A recreated 19th-century kitchen shows how families cooked and lived. Photographs, paintings and engravings trace two centuries of life here, including the Lynmouth Flood Disaster of 1952. Models and pictures recall the narrow-gauge Lynton and Barnstaple Railway, which once linked the towns. Stone Age tools, fossils and rocks reveal Exmoor’s ancient landscapes, while maritime items tell of the area’s seafaring stories. The garden behind the cottage holds natural history displays and a Victorian doll’s house. Toys, birds, animals and minerals sit beside exhibits on the novel Lorna Doone, set on Exmoor. Agricultural tools show how local farms once worked the land. The rooms feel intimate, each object placed to tell part of the story. Outside, the garden offers a sheltered spot to pause before returning to Lynton’s steep lanes.