Newton Abbot is a market town in South Devon, inland from Torbay and sitting at the head of the Teign estuary. It is primarily a commercial and transport hub for the surrounding area — the railway junction was historically important, and the town still serves as a practical base for exploring Dartmoor, the Teign Valley, and the Torbay coast.
The weekly market is a lively affair — a market town since 1220 and still trading on Wednesdays — and the centre has decent shops and cafes around St Leonard's Tower, the medieval stub on which William of Orange's declaration was first read in 1688. Just outside the centre, Bradley House is a remarkably intact 15th-century manor, and the Templer Way follows the Teign estuary out to the sea.
Dartmoor's open moorland begins just a short drive inland.