From the wide wilderness of Dartmoor to the intimate creeks around Dartmouth, from holiday jollity in Torbay to the sleepier sands at Salcombe, south Devon offers rich pickings for visitors. But to get the very best out of it, you need the inside track. We asked six local luminaries to reveal all about their favourite haunts.

PHIL DE GLANVILLE

The former Bath and England rugby captain was brought up in Tavistock. He now works for Sport England South West

“My mum is mad on Dartmoor letterboxing — a sort of lifelong treasure hunt that involves solving cryptic clues to track down stashes of hidden booty. As children, we would traipse all over the moor looking for these tiny metal boxes, hidden behind clumps of heather.

“The best walk was to Pew Tor, because it’s got tiers and tiers of rocks at the summit, like a fairy-tale castle. My sister and I would play hide and seek there, and now I take my three young sons and do the same. It’s a fair hike up, but you’ll see wild ponies on the way and, from the top, you look out across miles of rippling moors, over to Bodmin and down to the sea. The sense of space is so liberating.”

Details: Pew Tor is three miles east of Tavistock, or about a mile’s walk from Sampford Spiney. For more on letterboxing, visit www.dartmoorletterboxing.org

WILFRED EMMANUEL-JONES

A former BBC producer and Tory candidate, the self-styled “Black Farmer” keeps 30 acres of cattle and sheep at St Giles on the Heath

“When I first came looking for a farm, eight years ago, the Arundell Arms at Lifton became my second home. It’s an 18th-century coaching inn on the original road to Cornwall, and it has been run for 40-odd years by an amazing lady, Anne Voss-Bark. Going there feels like visiting a dear old aunt.

“Anne does five-star hospitality, but totally without pretension — great service, top-quality food, children and animals welcome. The hotel is comfortable in its own skin. It is most famous for angling, and I myself learnt to fish there, along with nine youngsters from the inner city taking part in my Black Farmer Scholarship scheme. I never thought I’d have the patience, but Anne’s ghillies are great characters and the trout lake is idyllic. When I got my first bite, I was as excited as a seven-year-old.”

Details: a day’s fishing starts at £23; doubles from £155, B&B; 01566 784666, www.arundellarms.com

BRIAN PATTEN

One of the Liverpool poets who came to prominence in the 1960s, Brian is currently compiling his Selected Poems for Penguin

“I’ve always loved the peace and beauty of the Dart estuary, and I finally moved down here five years ago. My favourite time is autumn mornings, when the river is silent and ghost-like, and mist weaves among the creeks and inlets like smoke.

“I keep a little boat on the quay at Dittisham, and take it chugging upriver to Sharpham Vineyard to buy a bottle of their rather good white wine. Across the river is Greenway, Agatha Christie’s old place, with a rambling woodland garden.

“Back in Dittisham, I like to sit and watch the water from the Anchorstone Cafe, which is very rough-and-tumble, but serves wonderful crab. There are usually cormorants and egrets about, and I’ve seen huge seals clamber aboard rowing boats anchored in the river, and settle down for a snooze.”

Details: the Anchorstone Cafe (01803 722365; crab salad £9.95) rents out boats from £65 per day. Admission to Greenway’s “secret garden” costs £5; 01803 842382.

JOHN BURTON RACE

The presenter of Channel 4’s French Leave and Return of the Chef, John now runs the Michelin- starred New Angel in Dartmouth

“When you’ve got a kitchen and six kids to run, you need somewhere to think. For me, it is Wistman’s Wood, a strange little forest of miniature oaks and licheny boulders in the middle of Dartmoor. Legends say the Wistman is the keeper of the devil’s dogs, and they run out of the wood every night to roam the moor, turning to stone on their return. If you see a rock with two red eyes, it’s your turn to die. I have a pint of lovely Badger Ale at the Old Inn in Widecombe and walk out there and contemplate. Very enigmatic.

“Our great family haunt is Wonwell beach on the Erme estuary. Not many people find it, even locals, because the slip road gets flooded at high tide. Our children go crazy for the place. There are caves full of crystals and you can walk for ever on pure white sand, collecting tiny, sweet mussels. I cook them with a bottle of dry Devon cider and some apples, butter and garlic.

“Consult the tide table before you go, and you’ve got the best beach in Devon — probably all to yourself.”

Details: Wistman’s Wood is a mile north of the B3357 at Two Bridges. Near Wonwell, John suggests Burgh Island Hotel: 01548 810514, www.burghisland.com; doubles from £295.

SETH LAKEMAN

Nominated for last year’s Mercury prize, the ferocious fiddler made his latest album in his brother’s kitchen in Horrabridge

“On Wednesdays, when I’m not touring, we pack into the old farmers’ bar at the Royal Oak in Meavy, and just jam. There’s me, my dad on concertina, a brilliant singer called Blind Phil...15 of us sometimes, playing Cornish folk tunes. Last night, we were going till 2am.

“It’s my favourite Dartmoor pub, with slate flagstones, a huge fireplace and lots of pictures of the old-timers who drink there. It is owned by the parish, so you can knock back the local Jail Ale knowing that the proceeds help to support the church.

“From Meavy, walk round Burrator reservoir. When I was a kid, I thought it was Middle-earth: surrounded by a triangle of tors, with the landscape turning every colour you can think of.”

Details: The Royal Oak is on 01822 852944, www.royaloakinn.org.uk

JILLY SUTTON

Cornworthy sculptor Jilly is known for woodcarving. Her bust of poet laureate Andrew Motion is in the National Portrait Gallery

“Dartington Hall is a must. They stage marvellous concerts in the medieval great hall: we saw Ravi Shankar there and it was magical, all the windows open and people lazing on the lawns, listening in. There is also Devon’s smallest cinema, and a very good restaurant, the White Hart, set in the 14th-century kitchens.

“Best of all are the gardens, which you can wander for free. When my children were little, we’d spend whole afternoons charging around the jousting court, and clambering on Willi Soukop’s sculpture of a donkey.”

Details: you can stay at Dartington (01803 847100, www.dartingtonhall.com), doubles from £90, B&B. For concerts and cinema, visit www.dartingtonarts.org.uk

Interviews by Vincent Crump

Times recommends

• Overlanding then and now
• Live Q&A: ski fitness and injury
• Get the right payment card and deny Ryanair its hefty fee