See Smeaton's Tower, the upper part of the third Eddystone lighthouse, on the Hoe

Stand at the Mayflower Steps on the Barbican, near where the Pilgrims left in 1620

Walk the Hoe promenade below the walls of the Royal Citadel

Take the boat trip round the naval dockyard from the Barbican

Smeaton's Tower, the upper part of the third Eddystone lighthouse, stood on its rock from 1759 until 1882, when it was taken down and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe as a memorial to its engineer, John Smeaton — a major step forward in lighthouse design. Below the Hoe, the Barbican keeps its Elizabethan streets, and the Mayflower Steps commemorate the Pilgrims' departure nearby in 1620.

Plymouth: The Hoe, Smeaton's Tower and the Mayflower Steps

See the Black Friars Distillery building of 1431 on Southside Street

Try the 57% navy strength, the traditional strength the Royal Navy demanded

Find the Black Friars name embossed on the bottles, from the friary the building is said to have been

Walk the cobbled streets of the Barbican around it and find the Elizabethan House

Plymouth Gin has been distilled on one site on the Barbican since 1793, in a building put up in 1431 that is said to have been a Dominican friary — which is why it has always been the Black Friars Distillery, a name embossed on the bottles. The Navy took its gin from here, and the distillery still makes a navy strength at 57% ABV, the traditional proof the Royal Navy demanded.

Black Friars: Gin Distilled on the Same Spot Since 1793

Walk across the sand bar to Burgh Island at low tide

Ride the sea tractor back when the tide covers the bar

Walk up to the ruined huer's hut on the island's summit

Have a drink at the Pilchard Inn on the island

Burgh Island lies a few hundred metres off Bigbury-on-Sea and is cut off at high tide; when the sand goes under, a sea tractor on tall wheels carries people across the water. The Art Deco hotel on the island drew Agatha Christie, who used the place in And Then There Were None and Evil Under the Sun, and the Pilchard Inn on the island has parts dating from the 14th century.

Burgh Island and Bigbury: The Sea Tractor

Eat a Devon cream tea the Devon way, with clotted cream spread first and the jam on top, in Tavistock

Browse Tavistock's Pannier Market, the market hall of 1860

Walk the canal and the mining remains at Morwellham on the Tamar

Tavistock grew rich on tin and copper — its stannary town and mining landscape are part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining World Heritage Site — and the Pannier Market of 1860 still fills the hall in the middle of town. A Devon cream tea is served the Devon way here, with the clotted cream spread first and the jam on top.

Tavistock: The Pannier Market and the Devon Cream Tea

Climb High Willhays (621m), the highest point on Dartmoor and in southern England, and neighbouring Yes Tor (619m), from Okehampton Camp; check the MoD firing notices first

Walk to the Merrivale stone rows, the two Bronze Age double rows of standing stones on the western moor

Walk into Wistman's Wood, the stunted ancient oakwood in the West Dart valley

See the Dartmoor ponies roaming free on the open moor

High Willhays, 621m, is the highest point on Dartmoor and in southern England, climbed with Yes Tor from Okehampton Camp on the edge of the military ranges. On the western moor, Merrivale has two Bronze Age double rows of standing stones running side by side, with a stone circle and a tall standing stone nearby, and in the West Dart valley Wistman's Wood is a stunted ancient oakwood among the boulders. Dartmoor ponies roam free across the open moor.

Dartmoor: High Willhays, Merrivale and Wistman's Wood

Walk down into Polperro past the Shell House to the harbour

Visit the Polperro Heritage Museum of Smuggling and Fishing

Polperro is a fishing village packed into a cleft with a harbour that can be shut against the sea by a gate, and smuggling reached its height here in the late 18th century, financed by a local merchant, Zephaniah Job, known as the Smugglers' Banker. The Heritage Museum on the quay tells that story, and Looe, four miles east, is a working fishing port either side of a seven-arched bridge.

Polperro and Looe: The Smuggling Harbours

Photograph the night sky above the Hurlers, three Bronze Age stone circles by Minions

Climb Stowe's Hill to the Cheesewring, the stack of weathered granite slabs

Look into the Cheesewring Quarry, which supplied the granite for Tower Bridge

Climb Brown Willy (420m), the highest point on Bodmin Moor

Bodmin Moor's east side, around the old mining village of Minions, holds the Hurlers, three Bronze Age stone circles, and on Stowe's Hill above them the Cheesewring, a natural stack of weathered granite slabs beside the quarry that supplied the granite for Tower Bridge. The moor has dark-sky status, and Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, rises to the north-west.

Bodmin Moor Dark Sky Landscape

Tour the Gothic Revival interiors at Knightshayes Court, with Burges's restored ceilings and furniture

Walk the walled kitchen garden and terraces at Knightshayes

Ride or walk beside the horse-drawn barge on the Grand Western Canal

Walk the canal towpath out of Tiverton towards Halberton

Knightshayes Court above Tiverton is a Victorian Gothic house by William Burges, built for the lace-making Heathcoat-Amory family, with a walled kitchen garden and terraces looking over the Exe valley. In the town, the surviving arm of the Grand Western Canal is now a country park where a horse-drawn barge still works the water.