The UK is famous for its quirky place names.
Across the country are charming towns and villages with unique titles, some even rather rude sounding.
But there is only one settlement with an exclamation mark in its name. Westward Ho! is a Victorian coastal village resort in Devon.
Its tourist board says the area has “charm” because of its historic character alongside “reinvestment and modernisation”.
The village is named after the 1855 novel of the same name by Charles Kingsley.
It proved extremely popular, and led to a tourism boom in the Bideford area.
Local businesspeople built the Westward Ho! Hotel and villas to accommodate visitors, and the wider community acquired the same name to reflect the title of the book.
The village is surrounded by cliffs, burrows, beaches, estuary and open fields.
It has proven popular with visitors.
A review on Tripadvisor from 2023 reads: “Lovely beach Nice and sandy, great for paddle boarding and body boarding, can relax , walk and take in the views.
“Lovely places to eat and drink We spent the whole day there.”
A person who visited last year wrote: “The beach is so expansive you really don’t feel like there’s tonnes of people.
“Being north coast we expected it to be very choppy but this made for great body boarding or there were surf schools operating providing lessons.
“We found a spot by the rocks – another bonus for rockpooling.”
It was a good day out for the younger members of the family.
They added: “There was a great little pool that had formed when the tide was out and had warmed up perfectly for our four children to enjoy for over an hour despite the chill of the wind the water was lovely and warm.
“There is a couple of convenience shops nearby – such as a Tesco extra and lots of arcades and pubs/restaurants.
“A really lovely family beach destination we’re glad we’ve visited!”
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
