The Season That Gives You Permission to Start Again
There is a moment in Devon every spring — usually sometime in late March or early April — when the light changes. The evenings stretch out just enough that you notice. The air loses its bite. Daffodils appear along hedgerows as if someone flicked a switch overnight. And something shifts in you, too. After months of dark mornings, early nights, and the gravitational pull of the sofa, you start to feel a tentative urge: maybe I should go outside. Maybe I should see people.
If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. Winter in the South West can be beautiful — the moors under frost, the coast wild and empty — but it is also isolating. The cold and the darkness have a way of shrinking your world down to a handful of rooms, a handful of routines. Social plans get cancelled. Invitations dry up. By February, many of us have fallen into a pattern of comfortable solitude that would have horrified our September selves.
Spring is the antidote. Not in a forced, "new year, new me" sort of way, but in the quiet, biological way that longer days and warmer air simply make it easier to say yes. The question is: what do you say yes to?
Here is our guide to using Devon's spring — its walks, its gardens, its markets and its gatherings — as a launchpad for the social life you have been meaning to rebuild.
Bluebell Walks That Give You a Reason to Invite Someone
There is no better low-pressure social activity than a walk through a wood full of bluebells. You don't need to make intense eye contact. You don't need to think of conversation topics — the scenery does half the work. And in Devon, we are spoilt for choice.
Ashclyst Forest
Just twenty minutes from Exeter city centre, Ashclyst Forest is one of the largest woodlands in Devon and a National Trust gem. Come late April and early May, the forest floor is carpeted in bluebells, and the four waymarked trails range from gentle half-hour loops to longer ninety-minute routes through ancient woodland. The easy loop is pushchair-friendly and relatively flat, while the longer routes take you to the southern edges of the forest where you might spot silver-washed fritillary butterflies and hear woodpeckers hammering away in the canopy.
The forest is free to visit with a donation car park. It is the kind of place you can suggest to a friend you haven't seen since October without it feeling like a big deal.
Plymbridge Woods
Down near Plymouth, this National Trust wooded valley of the River Plym comes alive in spring with bluebells, wild garlic, primroses, and wood anemone. The rangers have been working to thin the canopy and restore light to the woodland floor, bringing back wildflower species that had declined. It is a walk that feels properly wild — ancient woodland on the edge of Dartmoor, with a rich industrial past adding layers of interest. If you're combining it with a day trip further afield, the Plym Valley Trail connects all the way out towards the moors.
Killerton Estate
Closer to Exeter, the Killerton estate is another National Trust property worth visiting in spring. The garden — designed in the 1770s by John Veitch — is spectacular in April and May, with rhododendrons, magnolias, and azaleas in full bloom. One of the most remarkable features is the cyclamen display in the chapel grounds, where two plants originally set by Lady Anne Acland in 1968 have multiplied into hundreds of thousands of vivid pink flowers. From the estate, you can easily walk into Ashclyst Forest, making it a perfect half-day outing.
A bluebell walk is one of the easiest social plans to make after a quiet winter. Text someone you haven't seen in months with a simple "fancy a walk?" — the bar is low and the payoff is high. If you've been cancelling plans when you need them most, this is a gentle way back in.
Garden Openings and the Joy of Just Wandering
Devon has some of the finest gardens in England, and spring is when they come into their own. Garden visits are a brilliant social activity because they work at any pace. You can wander and talk, or sit on a bench and say nothing for ten minutes. Either is fine.
RHS Garden Rosemoor
Set across sixty-five acres near Great Torrington in North Devon, RHS Rosemoor is a horticultural destination worth the drive. The Spring Flower Showcase in mid-March features daffodils, rhododendrons, camellias, and magnolias. The RHS National Rhododendron Show follows in late April with sixty competition classes, and the Plant Heritage Spring Plant Fair in May brings local nurseries together selling rare trees, shrubs, and perennials. Beyond the events, the garden itself — with its rose garden, arboretum, alpine house, and Wisteria tearoom — is the kind of place where a couple of hours slips by without you noticing.
Castle Drogo
Perched above the wooded Teign Gorge on the edge of Dartmoor, Castle Drogo is the highest garden cared for by the National Trust. The formal garden was designed by Lutyens with planting input from Gertrude Jekyll, and in spring the rhododendron garden is at its peak. The circular lawn, surrounded by yew trees with views straight down the terraces, is genuinely beautiful. Combine it with a walk along the Teign Gorge — one of Dartmoor's finest valleys — and you have a full day out that barely costs anything beyond fuel and a National Trust membership.
Darts Farm Tulip Fest
Not a garden in the traditional sense, but Darts Farm near Exeter hosts its annual Tulip Fest from early April onwards, with 350,000 homegrown tulips bursting into colour across sixty varieties handpicked from Holland. You can pick your own, eat Dutch-inspired street food, and listen to live music. It is cheerful, Instagrammable, and the kind of outing that works equally well with one friend or a group of six.
Easter and the First Social Weekend of the Year
Easter 2026 falls on the 5th of April, and in Devon it marks the unofficial start of the social season. The long weekend — Good Friday on the 3rd, Easter Monday on the 6th — is the first proper stretch of time off since New Year, and it arrives just as the weather turns.
Devon's attractions pull out all the stops. Coleton Fishacre, the Arts and Crafts house near Dartmouth, runs Easter egg hunt trails through its exotic coastal gardens. Darts Farm hosts its Easter trail through the wetlands and farm walk. RAMM in Exeter — free to enter — runs family workshops over the holidays, from LEGO engineering to space-themed crafts. Exeter Cathedral hosts leaf and flower print workshops.
But Easter doesn't have to be about organised events. Sometimes the best thing about a bank holiday is the lack of agenda. A walk along the Exeter Quay to the Double Locks pub — about thirty minutes along the canal towpath — is one of the simplest pleasures in the city. The pub has a huge beer garden, locally brewed ales, and the kind of atmosphere where muddy boots and dogs are more than welcome. It is the perfect destination for that first outdoor pint of the year.
The Exeter Farmers' Market runs every Thursday from 9am to 1pm on the corner of Fore Street and South Street, and there's a monthly market at Exeter Quayside on the third Saturday of the month. Spring is when the stalls start to overflow with seasonal produce — asparagus, wild garlic, new season lamb — and the atmosphere shifts from huddled and transactional to leisurely and social. It's a great place to stay connected without spending much.
The Devon County Show: The Social Event of May
If there is one event that captures the spirit of Devon in spring, it is the Devon County Show. Held over three days at Westpoint near Exeter — Thursday 21st to Saturday 23rd May 2026 — it is part agricultural exhibition, part food festival, part county fair, and entirely a day out.
Gates open at 7:30am for competitions, with trade stands and features from 9am. There are livestock displays, local food and drink producers, live entertainment, and the kind of cheerful, unpretentious atmosphere that makes it easy to strike up conversations with strangers. It is also the sort of event where you bump into people you haven't seen in ages — friends from the gym, neighbours, work acquaintances — which makes it a natural catalyst for rekindling dormant connections.
Go with someone if you can. But even going alone, the County Show is social by design. You are surrounded by people who are there to enjoy themselves, and the food and drink stalls provide natural gathering points.
Lighter Evenings and the Art of Saying Yes
Here is the thing about spring that nobody talks about enough: it is not just the weather that changes. It is the friction. In winter, every social plan requires willpower — getting dressed, going out in the dark, driving on wet roads, knowing you will get home late and tired. In spring, the barriers quietly dissolve. It is still light at 7pm. Then 8pm. Then 9pm. The walk to the pub doesn't feel like an expedition. The idea of meeting someone for a coffee after work doesn't require a diary negotiation.
This is the window. This is when habits get built or lost for the rest of the year. The people who arrive at September with a rich, varied social life are usually the ones who said yes to things in April and May — not grand gestures, but small, repeatable ones. A Thursday evening walk. A Saturday morning at the farmers' market. A standing invitation to someone's garden when the weather is good.
If you have been meaning to prepare your mind for a better social week, spring is the time to start putting that into practice.
Five Ways to Use Spring Energy to Rebuild Your Social Life
1. Set a low bar. You don't need to host a dinner party. You need to text one person and suggest a walk. Start there.
2. Use the landscape. Devon's outdoors is your greatest social asset. A bluebell walk, a coastal path, a garden visit — these are all activities that make socialising feel natural rather than performative.
3. Anchor to something regular. The Thursday farmers' market. The monthly Quayside market. A fortnightly walk with a friend. Routines build momentum, and momentum builds connection.
4. Say yes before you think about it. The instinct to decline is strongest when you have been out of practice. Spring is the time to override it. Say yes, then figure out the logistics.
5. Join something. This is the season when clubs, groups, and activities restart after winter. Running groups, walking groups, book clubs, community gardens — Devon has all of them. The hardest part is the first session. After that, it gets easier every time.
If you're looking for something specifically designed to help you meet new people over great food, our Dinners With Friends events run throughout spring and summer at restaurants across Devon. Each dinner seats you with a small group of people you haven't met before — no awkward mingling, just good food and real conversation. Check what's coming up in the Exeter events guide.
Spring Is Not a Season. It Is a Second Chance.
Winter can make you forget what you are like when you are social, when you are active, when you are out in the world. It can make you believe that the quiet, contracted version of yourself is the real one. It is not. It is just the winter one.
Spring gives you the chance to remember. To walk through a wood that smells of wild garlic and think, "I should do this more." To sit in a pub garden with someone you haven't seen in months and realise how much you missed it. To feel the warmth on your face and know that this is the start of something — not dramatic, not life-changing, but genuinely, quietly good.
Devon in spring is one of the most beautiful places in England. Use it. Get outside. Bring someone with you. And if you don't have someone to bring, come to one of our dinners. That is what we are here for.