There is still some fishing activity here, and a few working boatyards, but a certain serenity prevails, with the ruined Fort Charles at the entrance to the harbour injecting a touch of romance amid the villas and hotels.

From a quay off Fore Street, a regular ferry crosses the narrow channel to East Portlemouth, from where you can follow the coastal footpath past the craggily photogenic Gammon Point to Devon's most southerly tip at Prawle Point, where a broken-backed freighter is a reminder of the hazards of this stretch of coast.