The English Riviera

“Quel bon pays!”, exclaimed the Frenchman on first sighting this stretch of the English coastline: “What a beautiful country!” The foreigner was Napoleon Bonaparte. After his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, the military leader was held captive in a ship called the HMS Bellerophon, which dropped anchor for a couple of days near the Devon fishing village of Brixham. Like many before and after him, Napoleon was captivated by the particular light and beauty of this stretch of coast, with its steep wooded cliffs plummeting down to the sparkling English Channel.

Napoleon was captivated by the light and beauty of this stretch of coast, with its steep wooded cliffs plummeting down to the Channel

Though Bonaparte didn’t actually set foot in Devon, the resorts along Torbay’s coastline have much to thank him for. In the early 19th century the Napoleonic Wars convulsed the continent, making it difficult for rich elites to escape for their