TORQUAY'S FOR ME

A weekend in England's most controversial seaside town is a revelation for Milo Boyd

- Milo Boyd

Stand on the boardwalk of Torquay in the sun, and it's easy to forget you're in the UK and not in the Med. Rows of palm trees sway, the sea laps onto a long sandy beach and grand white Art Deco buildings sit on the hill above. Look a bit harder, however, and there are signs you're in the English rather than French Riviera.

I've not visited Saint-Tropez before, but I'm confident fish and chip shops, bucket and spade emporiums, and 2p arcades aren't major fixtures of the Côte d'Azur. The average July day in the Devon town of 50,000 is 20C and cloudy, while the French Riviera enjoys 29C days of blue skies.

Comparisons between the Devonshire coastline and the glitzy French region originated in the Victorian era, when visitors compared the 22-mile Torbay - with Torquay at its northern tip - to the original Riviera.

While the French Riviera can be too hot, a bit snobby and expensive, Torquay occasionally comes in for harsh words of a different variety. In fact, it seems to get a disproportionate amount of heat.

Last year, a Which? survey named Torquay as Brits' least favourite seaside town, while The Telegraph named it its 13th worst coastal spot. Even one of my cabbies called the high street a "dump".

I could not disagree more. After a weekend break in Torbay, I came away enchanted by Torquay - a seaside town unlike any other I've come across.